Beauty is in the Eye

In “Beauty: When the Other Dancer is the Self,” Alice Walker relates a childhood accident that altered her perception of her beauty and herself. When Walker was eight, her right eye was damaged by an errant shot from a b.b. gun by her brother, resulting in a large, white cataract on her right eye. From this experience, Walker not only loses her vision in her right eye, her entire perception of herself changes from one of a cute, pretty little girl to one who is ugly and damaged. Through several episodes covering nearly thirty years, Walker explores the changes in her perception of her beauty and what beauty is.

As a young child, Walker’s definition of beauty revolved primarily around material goods. She wears frilly, cute clothing, such as a “starchy frock,” “biscuit-polished patent-leather shoes” and “lavender socks,” topped off with colorful ribbons in her hair (722). To Walker, she is not just pretty, but the prettiest, primarily by the virtue of the clothes she is wearing. She is the center of attention wearing a “green, flocked, scalloped-hem dress” as she recites her Easter poem, and all of those who look upon her are pleased and smiling (722). To Walker, she is looked upon so admiringly not solely because of how well she performs, but also because of her adorable clothes: because of how she looks on the outside. She views herself not just as the prettiest, but the luckiest one; a view that is enhanced by the way others treat her. Her father chooses her to go to the fair because, in her mind, she is the prettiest; the people at church admire her Easter speech because of how cute she looks. The outside world’s reaction to her outer appearance further supports her own view that the cuter, the prettier, she is on the outside, the prettier she is on the inside.

When Walker’s right eye is damaged, her view of herself as beautiful is damaged. In her opinion, having a large white cataract on her eye mars her overall appearance and losing the vision in that eye damages her view of the world around her. Combined, both alter and reduce her view of herself as a beautiful person. With some irony, on the day of her accident she is not dressed as a cute, pretty little girl; instead, she is dressed as a “tomboy,” wearing cowboy hats and boots (723). Such clothing does not make her into a boy (assumedly an ugly boy) – she is still a girl – but Walker uses the change in clothing as foreshadowing of the change that she is about to experience within herself. Walker ceases to see herself as a cute girl; to her, she is now damaged goods. Eyes are windows to the soul, with one of her eyes now damaged, her soul and subsequently her self image is damaged. The fact that the cataract is white advances her view of herself as ugly; after all, in her experience, white is ugly. The rich white lady treated her mother demeaningly, and a white man refused to drive the injured Walker to the doctor. These white people acted appallingly, their actions are ugly; therefore, to Walker, white is ugly. Having a large white cataract on her eye – the window to her soul – is ugly, resulting in her viewing herself as ugly.

Over time, Walker learns that beauty is so much more than how one appears on the outside. Upon having the cataract removed, she begins to look up and around: she stops hiding within herself and starts interacting more with the world around her. She begins to truly see and finds beauty all around her – not the beauty of frilly dresses, but the stunning beauty of true friends, success in school, popularity, and the boyfriend of her dreams (726). She discovers the beauty of the desert, of having a family that never viewed her differently, the miracle of some damaged sight instead of complete blindness, and, of course, the ultimate beauty of motherhood (726-727).

Walker ultimately finds the true definition of beauty through the love and wisdom of her 6-year-old daughter. While watching a view of Earth from outer space - a view that shows the Earth as beautiful but “a little battered-looking” – her daughter exclaims that she has a world in her eye (727-728). The world is beautiful but a little battered, she has a world in her eye, the eye is the window to the soul; therefore, she is beautiful even though she is a little battered. Her daughter’s view of her disfigurement as beautiful as the entire world provides Walker with resolution, acceptance and healing.

It has been said that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Throughout her life experiences - from a damaging childhood accident through her daughter’s love - Walker relates and learns the truth of this statement, but goes one step further. She discovers that true beauty is found in loving and being loved; especially, in loving oneself.


Written for Professor Sutter's English Composition I class at Pikes Peak Community College, 5th May 2004