SSRJ#1: Walker
Reading through Alice Walker’s Roselily brought me back to a time when I was a little boy, 5 years
old, lost in a supermarket. It was a
horrible feeling of confusion and terror, much like what the young woman is
feeling in this story, and much like I felt reading through it. I didn’t get it. I still don’t completely get it, but I guess
that’s the point. This story scared the
hell out of me. Even though she’s up on
the porch surrounded by people she is still all alone, unsure of things to
come.
The literary element I believe holds the most weight in this
story is structure, specifically the conflict occurring in our central
character’s head. Also I like the way
the story is broken up and how each verse relates to its italicized caption. Through our central character’s inner
conflict I think Walker is making a statement about gender and the role of a
man and a woman in a marriage. Here she
is, independent woman with 4 kids (3 whom she takes care of) marrying a man whose
beliefs are contrary to her way of life.
She’ll be moving from a Christian lifestyle down in Mississippi to a
Muslim household in Chicago. The
narrator repeats the idea of her wearing a veil, robes, and covering her head
and emphasizes her uncertainty of the situation. A couple lines that hit me were, “Her place
will be in the home, he has said . . . Her hands will be full. Full of what? Babies. She is not comforted.” And “She does not even know if she loves him.” Can you imagine? Committing yourself to someone you don’t even
know if you love? Scary stuff. In the end she makes a full transformation
from our single mother to dependent wife even though “She feels ignorant, wrong, backward,” and the thought is reaffirmed when the story
closes with her just following behind her now husband as he doesn’t even look
back. I got the feeling she was just
being led like a lost puppy.
Obviously the situation has its pluses and minuses. At the climax of the story she seems to just
go with it. She doesn't even hear anything
past “his peace” and just follows. Is
she happy? Does she think she will be or
is she doing this for her children?
