Stephen King Essay

Submitted By babyrocks28
Words: 610
Pages: 3

Emma Kaye In order to be beautiful do you have to have a certain look or personality? When someone feels their appearance is ugly, it affects their whole outlook on life in the way they carry themselves. Self esteem and confidence play a strong role in self acceptance, if we can’t feel beauty within, then others will not be able to either. In the essay,” Beauty: When The Other Dancer Is The Self,” Alice Walker emphasizes the way she looked affected her overall well being. For quite some time of her journey, her perception of beauty was so called for perfection. Every aspect of life was blocked out, pessimistic to the future, as to her relationships with her family and lack of commitment to school. As her mind matures, she illustrates three different periods of living in one person, from a little cute conceited girl, then a tomboy with a negative attitude, and finally to a woman who finds herself. Looking back as a child we all looked at Barbie as the epitome of perfection, flawless from head to toe, from beautiful eyes and hair to long luscious legs. If we saw a pretty face in the mirror, day in to day out, we were happier than ever. Through out Alice Walkers essay, she transitioned a change that was clear and apparent, empathizing her personality change through her aging years before and after her accident. As a child, she certainly saw herself as Barbie, confident, as she flaunted herself on stage giving her speech with pride and expectation as stated, “I can tell they admire my dress, but it is my spirit, bordering on sassiness, they secretly applaud.” This duration of time shows that beauty was the only thing she knew, haunting her as she aged into adolescence. When she was shot in the head with a gun, her whole perspective of life changed. This episode of time focused on the negative effects of feeling unbeautiful. Once her face was no longer flawless she had to learn that beauty comes from within, her world that was enclosed opened up as a whole. She proves that one’s mindset can be altered because of a traumatic experience. When she no longer pleads for beauty, and is grateful that she had seen the desert, a symbol of womanizing is present. This is shown when her baby son says ”Mommy,