Analysis Of Grey By Alice Walker

The poem Gray by Alice Walker focuses on the defining characteristic of an indirectly mentioned character that the author explicitly states is an adoration of hers. To develop such a character Walker uses a notion of love or rather the understanding of love as a lens for the reader to be guided into a perceived judgment. By doing so, the reader is made to focus on such an aspect that brings attention to a more intricate and hidden connection that otherwise may have been passed over. This connection is never fully stated but explored by the author through rhetorical questioning and an image of a physical appearance that itself is not the important matter. This is combined with the cover theme of love. Alongside antiphrasis these basic elements come together in a web of similar meaning. Meaning which is only subtly revealed until the end. The maturing of views leaves one with a lack of
Pink, if you don’t.” (Morrison 4) The absence of color represents the absence of love. Baby Suggs has lost all of her children; “four taken, four chased” (5) and all she can remember is that her first born loved burnt bread or that was all she let herself remember. It may have taken her more than three weeks to stop loving them but one can also argue that she never truly did. Baby Suggs was a free slave but her children were not. Every time she gave birth to something it was taken away from her and sold. She never had the chance to love any of them other than Halle who took care of her for most of her life but now even he is gone. Baby Suggs was not a mother but a breeder, used to produce goods and for nothing more. The absence of color in her life is hindering her from seeing color or hope, she is “turning gray” (Walker 2) and so are the things around her. She ponders colors so that she can feel something more, with death creeping up on