In Alice WalkerÆs ôBeauty When the Other Dancer is the Self,ö the author provides an account of childhood years and the accident that made her blind in one eye. In the story, we see that oneÆs family relations in childhood often have a significant impact on later development that can take years for the individual to come to terms with.
The young girl before the BB accident is a happy and pretty girl who likes to win favors from her father by telling him ôIÆm the prettiest,ö (Walker, 1). Before the accident, the girl does well in school, takes pleasure in her appearance, and enjoys reciting speeches in public. She also enjoys observing everyone and everything within view.
After her brother shoots her in the eye with a BB, the young girl changes. She no longer does well in school, she no longer feels like her father desires her company, and she no longer wants to look up at anyone or anything. She harbors animosity and resentment toward her brother, wondering whether it was an ôaccident,ö (Walker, 2). She also is distanced from her family when her mother becomes ill, ôAll I know is that my mother might die, my father is not so jolly, my brothers still have their guns, and I am the one sent away from home,ö (Walker, 3).
We see that the girl develops into a young woman but still harbors self-hatred over her appearance and still resents how her family relations have change because of it; ôI consider that day the last time my father, with his sweet home remedy of cool lily leaves, chose me, and that I suffered and raged inside because of this,ö (Walker, 4). Eventually, with college success, a man that loves her, and a baby daughter, the narrator is able to come to peace with her appearance and integrate her fragmented psyche into a complete, whole and happy person. She does so when her daughter tells her ôThereÆs a world in your eye,ö (Walker, 5).
In sum, we see that family relations often
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