Read The Way Forward Is With a Broken Heart Online
Authors: Alice Walker
Tags: #Adult, #Biography, #Philosophy, #Feminism
Q:
Your career thus far has spanned thirty years. You’ve written nearly as many books. With
The Color Purple
(1982), you became the first black woman to win a Pulitzer prize in fiction. Has the willingness of the world to receive you been a surprise?
A:
Well, everything has surprised me. But fundamentally, when people respond to me, they are actually responding to a version of themselves. That’s what excites them. It’s like looking at a really good race-car driver. Now, I will never be one. But there is a part of me that thoroughly appreciates the skill and daring of driving a race car. Of thinking, “I’m going to drive this car as far and as fast as I can, and see what happens. Maybe it will fly.” I can identify with that feeling.
When people read my books, I think a similar feeling gets activated. They see what they could be, if only … I trust in the world’s receptivity to my life and art because of my own response to people who came with gifts. On the outside these people may not have resembled me at all. But when I opened the gift, I was staring into a mirror. That said, I am surprised I have lived this long.
Q:
Why?
A:
For starters, they were shooting people in Mississippi, quite regularly. It’s not as if people didn’t get killed. Then I had to deal with my own depression about that very fact and all the other difficulties of life. However, having lived this long, I feel such a gratitude and freedom. If I died this minute, my life has been more than I could have ever imagined.
Evelyn C. White
is editor of
The Black Women’s Health Book: Speaking for Ourselves
.
1. In the Jim Crow South, whites had daily, often intimate contact with blacks whom they trusted to work in their homes and care for their children. Given that context, what was their rationale for enacting laws against interracial marriage?
2. What are some of the societal messages put forth about interracial relationships today?
3. How does the epistolary technique have an impact on the narrative in “To My Young Husband”?
4. What can be learned from the experiences of biracial children in an increasingly diverse society?
5. In “Kindred Spirits” the narrator makes reference to Cuban immigrants in the United States. Discuss the Cuban revolution and its impact on American politics.
6. Discuss the relationship between Marcella, Angel, and Sally as depicted in “There Was a River.” How would you handle such a scenario?
7. How is the subject of pornography addressed in “The Brotherhood of the Saved”? Is it possible to limit access to pornography without breaching First Amendment rights?
8. If you brought your gift to Alice Walker, what would it be?
ALSO BY ALICE WALKER
By the Light of My Father’s Smile
Anything We Love Can Be Saved
The Same River Twice
Possessing the Secret of Joy
The Temple of My Familiar
In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens
The Color Purple
Meridian
In Love & Trouble: Stories of Black Women
You Can’t Keep a Good Woman Down
The Third Life of Grange Copeland
Living by the Word
Alice Walker won the Pulitzer prize and the American Book Award for her novel
The Color Purple
, which was preceded by
The Third Life of Grange Copeland
and
Meridian
. Her other bestselling novels include
By the Light of My Father’s Smile, Possessing the Secret of Joy
and
The Temple of My Familiar
. She is also the author of two collections of short stories, three collections of essays, five volumes of poetry and several children’s books. Her books have been translated into more than two dozen languages. Born in Eatonton, Georgia, Walker now lives in Northern California.