The literary criticism on Alice Walker exemplifies her style and content, in relation to being a poet, womanist, and nonconformist. As I go through each of the three literary criticisms on Walker, I will make commentary on what they say about Walker’s style and content. I will observe and comment on the literary criticism of David Bradley, Robyn Warhol, and Laurie McMillan.
David Bradley, a writer of the New York Times, had an interview with Walker and made a variety of comments on her writing. In the beginning of his criticism, he recognizes all the different types of periodicals she has been in such as “periodicals directed at a primarily black readership, in the feminist standard, Ms., and in mainstream magazines like Harper’s, a spectrum that hinted at the range of Alice Walker’s appeal” (Bradley 1). This shows that right away Bradley acknowledges that Walker is a big part in civil rights and feminism. As he goes on, he criticizes and questions on how Walker “should balance the demands of technique with the demands of emotion…with larger political concerns” (Bradley 1). In her writing, Walker creates such an incredible emotional connection while also relating it to something bigger. This relation to the political concerns supports my point that in each of Alice Walker’s essays, she is a poet, womanist, and nonconformist. As I mentioned in the introduction, Walker reveals many hidden voices in her writing. During Bradley’s interview with Walker, he states that the ideas she writes about “”are about . . . (and for) those few embattled souls who remain painfully committed to beauty and to love even while facing the firing squad’…Those ”embattled souls” included members of her own large (eight children) family: a sister who escaped, through education, the narrow and impoverished world of Alice Walker’s native Eatonton, Ga” (Bradley 2). This relates to Walker uncovering voices and being a nonconformist. Walker does not go with society’s norms, for she goes against them. She acknowledges the “embattled souls,” and mentions the hardships that most people do not talk about. These hardships include poverty and segregation. After Bradley searches into her motives for writing, he looks at her actual works. He states “”In Search of Our Mother’s Gardens” forced me to look at all of her. As it turned out, much in the book is not only pleasing, but impressive and moving…Her descriptions are elegant. Her sarcasm is biting, her humor pointed” (Bradley 7). In her writing, Walker creates deep descriptions of her narratives, making the reader feel really moved. Behind these deep descriptions are political concerns. With the combination of deep description with her long sentences and the interruption of bigger ideas with her poetry, Walker not only makes the reader dive into a story, but also dive into deeper concerns she has of the world. Bradley ends his criticism quoting Walker: “’Part of our tradition as black women is that we are universalists. Black children, yellow children, red children, brown children, that is the black woman’s normal, day-to-day relationship…When a black woman looks at the world, it is so different . . . when I look at the people in Iran they look like kinfolk’” (Bradley 9). With this quote from Walker, Bradley sums up the ideas of her being a womanist, civil rights activist, and nonconformist.
In a chapter from Feminisms: An Anthology of Literary Theory and Criticism, Robyn Warhol discusses Alice Walker in his chapter on women writers of color and feminism. The essay the Warhol focuses on is “Beauty: When the Other Dancer is The Self.” He comments on the end of the essay: “Walker ends with a celebratory dream of herself as two selves, a dream that resolves an anxiety, in this case about her appearance and by extension about her value in the world” (Warhol 420). By Warhol addressing the dream that resolves conflict, he is addressing how Walker started to become content with herself. However, Walker “devises a collective self that is both one and many” (Warhol 420). This idea of not just having one defining self, goes with the notion that Walker is a nonconformist. She does not stick to just one term or definition. Warhol mentions that “Walker has suffered from having a divided self —as figured synecdochally by her having two eyes (I’s) that operate independently of each other—then she can also turn that division to her advantage in avoiding an imprisoning self identity” (Warhol 420). This quote addresses how Walker could have let something considered a flaw by society be a disadvantage to her, but she did not let that happen. She took it to her advantage and avoided “an imprisoning self identity.” By not having a stable self identity, Walker is going against the average and focuses on people that are being oppressed rather than herself. Warhol mentions “It is a world that her eye resembles, the body understood as politicized even in that intensely personal and physical moment in her daughter’s bedroom: the eye or I is founded not on the notion of a core self but rather on the glocal village” (Warhol 420). This quote goes with my claim that Walker is a nonconformist, for she focuses on the world and its inequalities rather than her own issues. The quote says “the eye or I is founded not on the notion of a core self but rather on the glocal village.” The idea of finding identity in the world, is shown in the content of her essays when she uncovers voices that have not been heard.
Laurie McMillan, who wrote in the Journal of Modern Literature, criticizes Walker’s essay “In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens.” McMillan mentions how “Walker uses the story narrative to combine her highly particularized experience with literary allusion and symbolism, helping her to bring “real life” onto the page while paradoxically highlighting the fictionalized presentation of that “life”” (McMillan 112). This idea of bringing real life onto the page is sprinkled throughout all of Walker’s essays, for she wants to demonstrate the life of those who were suppressed. This idea of acknowledging the oppressed is mentioned by McMillan: “Walker’s volume challenges dominant ideas of the time by asserting the value of marginalized voices (those of African American women in particular in this case)” (McMillan 112). By Walker declaring the value of African American women, she is confirming my claim of being a nonconformist, civil rights activist, and womanist. In relation to Warhol’s criticism, McMillan states: “If Walker presented herself in naturalized terms, however, much of her political work would be sabotaged with the implication that race and gender are stable categories that define the individual. Instead, Walker presents herself as a somewhat fictionalized character, inhabiting certain roles in each narrative” (McMillan 112). This quote shows how Walker does not believe in the ideas society deems as true, such as how race and gender are stable categories. Also the idea of Walker’s political work is brought up in this quote, for her political work goes hand in hand with her writing. Her political work is all about helping communities who undergo inequalities, and McMillan brings this up and states “She tells simple stories of ordinary lives, but these stories are written as a matter of communal survival. Walker is very aware of the history of oppression of African Americans, and she recognizes the importance of building a heritage to help African Americans thrive” (McMillan 113). This idea that Walker is recognizing the importance of helping African Americans thrive, goes along with her being a nonconformist and wanting to lift people up. Most of her essays go back to the central idea of her being a womanist and civil rights activist. Supporting those who have been victims to inequalities, like women and African Americans, is shown throughout this essay. McMillan mentions how “Walker values her own mother’s use of gardening as an alternative expression of black women’s creative ability. Together, the essays turn again and again to the invisibility of a black women’s literary heritage and begin to build or rebuild a tradition of storytelling and creative expression that can help support the African American community” (McMillan 114). Walker continues on this creative expression from her mother in forms of poetry, essays, and novels. This idea of helping “build or rebuild” the tradition of African American creative expression is shown not only in the content of the essays but also in Walker’s profession itself. All of Walker’s essays demonstrate the subjectivity of African American women, because she is using her voice and her agency. She is using her voice and agency to support African Americans, women, and the other mistreated voices through her writing.
Alice Walker 