Alice Walkers Am I Blue free essay sample

Alice Walkers essay Am I Blue? , is on the surface, a statement about how humans treat animals and the rights of animals. However, on a deeper level, Walker is making a very powerful argument about how human animals treat each other much the same way they treat non human animals. All though history, horses have been symbols of power and grace. Gigantic herds of mustangs were once seen galloping on the American frontier. Alice Walker brings you to her reality, with the story of a beautiful horse named Blue. She uses great imagery, personification and socially thought provoking analogies to build emotional sentiment for her central ideas and effectively persuade you to see her point of view. She incorporates her techniques so well that the reader is left with an entirely new, or at the very least, greatly supported view of a horse’s life and animal captivity. Alice Walkers extraordinary use of imagery effectively creates scenes of beautiful country life in the readers mind. We will write a custom essay sample on Alice Walkers Am I Blue or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page A reader can brilliantly picture a large meadow running strait from a porch into the mountains. Her Descriptions of Blue flipping its mane, added with the scenery of the five acres, develops a full scene that one can truly observe and feel. This technique of imagery not only captures the reader’s attention, but gives the reader a firsthand view from the eyes of the writer. This leads to a greater effect when Alice surfaces arguments from her experience. Alices great use of imagery helps to enhance all aspects of her story. This story of the solitary misery of a neighbor’s horse evokes so much empathy in Alice Walker that she quits eating meat. Am I Blue is about a fond relationship between a horse and a woman. However, one may wonder if there is much more to the story than what the words say. In Am I Blue, Alice Walker conveys her high regard towards animal rights through the use of many different rhetorical devices such as description, anecdote, metaphor, personificat ion, irony, and analogy. After analyzing each technique used by the author, one can clearly say that her purpose for using such literary devices is to argue that there are human qualities in animals. Respectively, she says that through gestures, signs, and expressions, animals are in a sense, linked to humans. The story begins with a brief description about a relationship with a horse that is boarded on the farm next to where Walker lived at the time. The tender relationship began with the ritual of feeding Blue, the magnificent horse. In her story, she traces her relationship with Blue over the numerous years she had spent with him. She describes in vast detail about the life altering events they both had experienced. Walker’s perceptions of Blue are revealed through the use of description. There are people who consider that animals do not have rights and that they actually want to be abused by humans. This was a very hard short story to find. I wanted to know why, so I looked for biographies of Alice Walker. I found that she had two short stories banned. One was Am I Blue? The other was Roselily. The only reasoning I could see for this was some of the language used. In 1982, Walker went on to win a Pulitzer Prize for â€Å"The Color Purple†. Walker is an amazing writer and has a flair with words, although a bit controversial, that allows her readers to immerse themselves into her writings. To conclude, I believe Alice Walker did a fantastic job through her use of imagery, personification and analogy, to place the reader directly in her shoes. Once through reading the story, one cant help but feel sorry for Blue. Alices arguments of fair animal treatment arise as clear and understandable because of her great use of imagery, personification, and analogy. Alice Walker can produce fascinating scenes of beauty and sorrow which any reader can appreciate and enjoy. Alice Walker continues not only to write, but to be active in environmental, feminist/womanist causes, and issues of economic justice.