Analysis Of Alice Walker's Essay 'In Search Of Our Mothers' Gardens
The central argument of this essay is that Black women have a vastly unrealized creative potential. Their creativity has been suppressed for generations, as Black women have become selfless abstractions, placing others’ needs before their own. Nevertheless, most mothers have passed on the creative spark to their daughters, and these women pass it on to their own daughters. The unique circumstances of the Black woman have engendered a fierce and largely unconscious spirituality (what Walker claims is the basis of art) but the times have created restraints, or “contrary instincts” that suppress these tendencies.
Question 3:
“For these grandmothers and mothers of ours were not Saints but artists; driven to a numb and bleeding madness by the springs …show more content…
Walker uses vibrant diction to describe her mother’s passion for gardening. Her mother worked in her garden every night until it was so dark she could no longer see. She planted “ambitious gardens” of more than fifty pant varieties. Her gardens were “brilliant with colors” and “magnificent with life and creativity” (42). The gardens themselves were beautiful and vibrant with many different “colors,” Walker notes. They were full of “life” and “creativity”; Gardens were her mother’s “art” (42). Even her “memories of poverty are seen through a screen of blooms” (41). The beauty seemed to dampen the memories of poverty, one reason to thank her mother. Similarly important in this passion, however, is how gardening made her mother feel. She notes that while gardening, her mother became “radiant” (43). This passion created life and vibrancy of plants and of their caretaker. Indeed, a passion should create something exciting …show more content…
Among these, she mentions Phillis Wheatley who, despite being sick and a slave, wrote prose better than most authors of her day, and Zora Neale Hurston who was inundated with what she contrary instincts yet persisted, not afraid of what other people would think of her. She also mentions Black, female musical icons including “Bessie Smith, Billie Holiday, Nina Simone, Roberta Flack, and Aretha Franklin” (12). These women are the epitome of what the Black American woman can do with her talent, but many women also go unnoticed. She thanks the aforementioned icons for showing that it could be done, but the common mothers and grandmothers did it; they cultivated the legacy of art and passion intrinsic to society’s notion of the modern Black
Question 3:
“For these grandmothers and mothers of ours were not Saints but artists; driven to a numb and bleeding madness by the springs …show more content…
Walker uses vibrant diction to describe her mother’s passion for gardening. Her mother worked in her garden every night until it was so dark she could no longer see. She planted “ambitious gardens” of more than fifty pant varieties. Her gardens were “brilliant with colors” and “magnificent with life and creativity” (42). The gardens themselves were beautiful and vibrant with many different “colors,” Walker notes. They were full of “life” and “creativity”; Gardens were her mother’s “art” (42). Even her “memories of poverty are seen through a screen of blooms” (41). The beauty seemed to dampen the memories of poverty, one reason to thank her mother. Similarly important in this passion, however, is how gardening made her mother feel. She notes that while gardening, her mother became “radiant” (43). This passion created life and vibrancy of plants and of their caretaker. Indeed, a passion should create something exciting …show more content…
Among these, she mentions Phillis Wheatley who, despite being sick and a slave, wrote prose better than most authors of her day, and Zora Neale Hurston who was inundated with what she contrary instincts yet persisted, not afraid of what other people would think of her. She also mentions Black, female musical icons including “Bessie Smith, Billie Holiday, Nina Simone, Roberta Flack, and Aretha Franklin” (12). These women are the epitome of what the Black American woman can do with her talent, but many women also go unnoticed. She thanks the aforementioned icons for showing that it could be done, but the common mothers and grandmothers did it; they cultivated the legacy of art and passion intrinsic to society’s notion of the modern Black