Works+and+Bio+of+Alice+Walker+by+Alexis+Durand

~Alice Walker[[image:awg-banner1-V21.jpeg width="800" height="280"]]
**Alice Walker** The famous author Alice Walker entered this world to Willie Lee and Minnie Tallulah Walker on February 9, 1944, in Eatonton, GA. The youngest of eight children. . (//Contemporary Authors Online//)

Alice married Melvyn Leventhal (a civil rights lawyer) on March 17, 1967. They divorced in 1976. She has one daughter named Rebecca. Alice studied at Spelman College, Atlanta, and Sarah Lawrence College, New York, then worked as a social worker, teacher, and lecturer.

An accomplished poet, Alice Walker is best known for her novels, most notably 1982's //The Color Purple// for which she has won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. The book was later made into a successful film, which tells the story of two black sisters in the segregated world of the Deep South. Alice Walker's Later novels include //The Temple of My Familiar//, //Possessing the Secret// //of Joy,// and //By the Light of My Father's Smile//. She has also written volumes of short stories and essays, including //You Can't Keep a Good Woman Down//, //Everyday Use// and //In Search of My Mother's Garden//.

= Everyday Use 1973 = Heritage is simply something special that helps define a person and their family upon the birth of each new child through each generation. One of the main **symbols** in Alice Walker's short story Everyday Use is the importance of the family quilts. The quilts are made of materials and scrapes of everyday cloth that the Johnson family had for years. These were pieces that represented trial, triumphs, pride, hard work, love, and most of all family. These quilts were not for decoration; they were to keep the Johnson family warm for years to come. More of a nice neccessity than a pretty keepsake.

Alice Walker is speaking of African American or black culture in "Everyday Use". The characters of the story give a range of sides to the reader of African American culture. The ** theme ** of this story is that of a mother who is trying to cope with changing times and two daughters who are completely different. Maggie remains traditional,unchanged, unaffected bystander. Walker tells the story from the mother's or rather first person point of view, Dee/Wangero represents the "new black," with her natural hairdo and brightly colored clothing and new name.Walker's representation of Wangero is seeped in **irony**, and therefore Wangero's love of her African heritage becomes somewhat unreal to the reader. It gives off a feeling that if things had not changed she wouldn't be interested in the family heritage.( Heritage and Deracination) Color Purple media type="youtube" key="uALf_v0zxgE" height="261" width="376" align="right"

The award book and movie The Color Purple begings about 30 years before the second World War in a old time Georgia town.(Shmoop Editorial Team) It follows the main charachter Ms.Celie through thirty or forty hard and unhappy years of her life with her husband Mr.. The **setting** of Celie’s story is cleary among poor blacks in the back areas of the pre-war South. As a poor black wife and stepmother in the south, Celie’s is badly treated by Mr. and her step children alike and it is greatly ignored and just accepted by others. She is has not been schooled and has been brought up as somewhat a recluse, Celie lives most of her life very isolated, introverted, and ignorant.The **narraration** and **point of view** in this story does a series of flip flopping between poor, shy, depressed Ms. Celie, Who gives you a day to day observation of her life an those around her and that of her sister Nettie who was the Jewel of the family, the favorite, the pretty one. Despite Celie’s poor background, Celie tells a Work Cited
 * 1) Shmoop Editorial Team. "The Color Purple Setting." //Shmoop.com//. Shmoop University, Inc., 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 28 Apr 2011.
 * 2) 2010 AliceWalkersGarden.com
 * 3) Everyday Use: Introduction." __Short Stories for Students__. Ed. Marie Rose Napierkowski. Vol. 2. Detroit: Gale, 1998. __eNotes.com__. January 2006. 28 April 2011. .
 * 4) YoutubeVideo, []
 *  Alice Walker." //Literature Resource Center//. Detroit: Gale, 2011. //Literature Resources from Gale//. Web. 17 Apr. 2011.
 * "Alice Walker." //Contemporary Authors Online//. Detroit: Gale, 2009. //Literature Resources from Gale//. Web. 17 Apr. 2011.
 *  "Overview: 'Everyday Use'." //Short Stories for Students//. Ed. Kathleen Wilson. Vol. 2. Detroit: Gale, 1997. //Literature Resources from Gale//. Web. 17 Apr. 2011
 *  Cowart, David. "Heritage and Deracination in Walker's 'Everyday Use.'." //Studies in Short Fiction// 33.2 (Spring 1996): 171-184. Rpt. in //Short Story Criticism//. Ed. Jelena O. Krstovic. Vol. 97. Detroit: Gale, 2007. //Literature Resources from Gale//. Web. 17 Apr. 2011.