As literature has progressed throughout the centuries. one of the basic rules has remained the same and that is: for literature to be effectual. the reader must set up a connexion of some kind to the literary work. Looking at the narrative from a theological point of view. Alice Walker’s short narrative. The Welcome Table ( 1970 ) . makes the reader non merely conceive of the battles colored people had to digest but besides cognizing that holding religion in Jesus can convey about a sense of joy. This piece of literary work captured my involvement because of its true soulfulness and besides how the narrative was told. The text explains about a point-of-view called omniscient. which is used in this narrative. Omniscient. harmonizing to Clugston. is “when the narrative is being told by person who is non a character but knows the ideas and feelings of the characters in the story” ( Clugston. 2010. p. 3. 1 ) . After reading the narrative. it made me somehow experience the predicament of the old adult female. This narrative brought up feelings that challenge the reader to look within from a sociological and psychological point-of-view. Even though the civil rights motion radically changed the manner people look at race. there still are cultures out there that embrace the old ways.
Using the reader-response attack. as outlined in the text. the reader is making a connexion with the literature. Not merely that. but Clugston besides goes on to state. “you must non depend entirely on your feelings and sentiments as you develop a critical essay: you must account for your feelings by happening specific facets of the literary work that make you experience as you do ( Clugston. 2010. p. 16. 2 ) . This is particularly true when I started to read about the old black adult female. The narrative starts off depicting the old black adult female in item. which sparked my imaginativeness. The writer made no recompense for the manner she looked. merely described her as she appeared. “The old adult female stood with eyes uplifted in her Sunday–go–to–meeting apparels: high places polished about the tops and toes. a long rusty frock adorned with an old bouquet. long shriveled. and the leftovers of an elegant silk scarf as caput shred stained with lubricating oil from the many oily pigtails underneath” ( as cited in Clugston. 2010. subdivision 3. 1 ) .
The writer besides spoke of the old black woman’s strength and failing. It is non made clear whether or non she was doddering but she decidedly moved with a inclination that made one believe that she belonged in the church or possibly cognize adequate about the church. “Still she had come down the route toward the large white church entirely. Just herself. an old unretentive adult female. about blind with age… she brushed by him anyhow. as if she had been brushing past him all her life. except this clip she was in a haste. Inside the church she sat on the really first bench from the dorsum. gazing with concentration at the stained–glass window over her head” ( as cited in Clugston. 2010. subdivision 3. 1 ) . Rather than propose that the old black adult female was lost or enduring from some kind of mental dislocation. the writer creates a image of a strong-minded adult female with old ages of subjugation on her face and making a point of her life with nil else to lose but everything to derive. After being literally tossed out of the church and onto the paving. you would believe she would hold given up but non so. her religious eyes were unfastened and she walks and negotiations with Jesus conveying upon a sense of joy and pride that no adult male or adult female can take away from her.
The significance of this literary work. to me. is one that highlights racial tenseness and divide that was commonplace back in those yearss. It besides can be used as a literary tool to advance peace. Harmonizing to Adolf. “peace literature is doubtless an Aristotelean genre because it makes full usage of mimesis ( “representation” ) . a omnipresent and multifaceted literary device which. given established sets of cultural norms. elicits more or less predictable ethical and affectional reader responses” ( Adolf. 2010 ) . The narrative was made even more powerful because the church. which was supposed to be a topographic point of worship and a gathering topographic point of God’s people. still had people that looked down on the old black adult female as being from an inferior race. The descriptive endowment of the writer makes the reader non merely link with the narrative by ab initio experiencing a sense of hopelessness for the adult female. but wholly turns it around and promotes a sense of triumph.
Mentions
Adolf. A. ( 2010 ) . WHAT DOES PEACE LITERATURE DO? AN INTRODUCTION TO THE GENRE AND ITS CRITICISM. Peace Research. 42 ( 1/2 ) . 9-21. 177. Clugston. R. W. ( 2010 ) . Journey Into Literature. ( E. Evans. Ed. ) San Diego. Calcium: Bridgepoint Education. Inc.
