“Beauty: When the Other Dancer Is the Self”Alice Walker

“Beauty: When the Other Dancer Is the Self”

Alice Walker

The essay, “Beauty: When the Other Dancer Is the Self”, is a short narrative of the life of the author, Alice Walker. She begins with an account of her father choosing which of his eight children, Alice being the youngest at just two and a half years, would accompany him to the fair in the car he drove for Miss Mey, the “rich, old white lady up the road”. She is chosen to go and has a great time, which she thoroughly enjoyed telling her less fortunate siblings all about. The author then moves on to a memory of an Easter Sunday, three years later. She tells of a speech she had given at the church service, onlookers whispering praises of her spirit and cute countenance prior to her saying a word, spoken flawlessly unlike the others who would stammer and stutter. Then the author’s tone turns somewhat sour with the line:
“It was great fun being cute. But then, one day, it ended.”
The ess...