“Am I Blue” by Alice Walker: Analysis & Summary

“am i blue” by alice walker summary, “am i blue” by alice walker analysis, “am i blue” by alice walker symbols, works cited.

The story Am I Blue? by Alice Walker narrates about a horse named Blue. At the very beginning, the story is an ordinary account about author’s horse, but further exploration provides a deeper interpretation of emotions that animal experiences. In particular, the tale introduces a vivid comparison between the emotions of animals and those of humans.

Alice Walker, therefore, strives to convince the readers to understand sufferings and hardships that animals can feel, as well as persuades that animals can experience the same as humans do. In this respect, the literary piece aims to prove that emotion is a universal concept which cannot be judged with regard to gender, race, ethnicity, or social status. Moreover, animals can teach humans to experience genuine emotions, as well as cognize the nature of feelings.

Walker emphasizes that animals, particularly horses, have emotions that differ from those displayed by humans. She provides a comparative analysis by describing the suffering experienced by the horse and contrasting it to human suffering. In the story, Walker pays attention to the eyes of the animal, noting, “…I had forgotten the depth of feeling one could see in horses’ eyes” (Walker 380).

In such a way, the author tries to explain that horses can express their feelings in their eyes. Walker also reveals a sense of disappointment with humanity’s attitude toward animals. The story, however, evaluates animals as creatures that are not capable of disclosing their emotions. In this respect, Walker tells humans to reconsider their treatment and take a closer look at animals’ capability to experience suffering and grief.

In the story, humanity does not differ much from animals, which is directly highlighted in the title of the narrative Am I Blue?. ‘Blue’ can symbolize sadness and loneliness and, therefore, it is represented as an allegoric name for the horse. So, Walker manages to render frustration in the horse’s expression when the breeding process is finished and Blue had to be taken away. In this situation, Walker writes, “If I had been born into slavery, and my partner had been sold or killed, my eyes would have looked like that” (382). Once again, the author resorts to the problem of national identity and compares the horse with an enslaved person.

The author refers to the comparison of African Americans and the indigenous population and indicates similarities between these groups. In fact, the story introduces the impact of destruction, as depicted in Blue’s case. The Blue’s look, therefore, becomes “…more painful than the look of despair; the look of disgust with human beings, with life” (Walker 382). Through this statement, the author tries to show the reluctance of humans to analyze animals deeper than the surface of things. The novel focuses on the evident connection between animals and humans.

In conclusion, the story Am I Blue? presents a comparative analysis of human emotions through the employment of animal imagery. In particular, Walker indicates the evident similarity between humans and animals and highlights such urgent topics as racism, identity, and inequality. Also, by introducing a detailed description of emotions and feelings experienced by the horse, the author proves that animals are more apt for disclosing their genuine attitudes to the world as compared to humans who sometimes fail to express themselves freely. Such a perspective is especially appropriate for discussing the problem of slavery.

Walker, Alice. “Am I Blue?”. pp. 379-382. Print.

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Am I Blue Alice Walker

It is often said that blue is the color of sadness. This may be why the protagonist of Alice Walker’s short story “Am I Blue” feels so despondent. The narrator, a black woman, tells the story of her close friendship with a horse named Blue. She describes how they would spend hours together, talking and sharing their innermost thoughts.

The woman is clearly emotionally attached to Blue, and she is devastated when he is sold to a new owner who mistreats him. She begs the new owner to let her buy Blue back, but he refuses. The woman then decides to take matters into her own hands and sets Blue free.

While “Am I Blue” is ostensibly about a woman’s relationship with a horse, it is also about the struggles of being black in America. The woman feels a deep connection to Blue because he is one of the few creatures that truly understands her. In a way, Blue represents the black community, which has been oppressed and mistreated for so long.

The title of the story, “Am I Blue?”, is a reference to the blues music genre, which was created by black Americans as a way to express their pain and suffering. The protagonist’s feelings of sadness and despair are representative of the blues tradition.

Alice Walker is a Pulitzer Prize-winning author who is best known for her novel “The Color Purple.” “Am I Blue” was first published in 1978 and has become one of her most popular stories.

For most of her life, Walker has been an activist. To assist fight for the poor and downtrodden, she travels throughout the globe. She is also a champion for those who want to improve the world in fundamental ways. She is a supporter not only of human rights but also of animal rights.

In “Am I Blue”, Walker explores the psychology of blue. Emotionally, blue can represent sadness, anger, or even depression. But it can also be seen as a color of hope and resilience. For Walker, blue is the color of her people and their struggles. She writes that “the blues are not only music; they are also a way of looking at the world”. To Walker, the blues are a way of life.

They are a way of understanding the world and its problems. And they are a way of fighting back against oppression. Walker’s writing is beautiful and powerful. She has a gift for words and for emotions. Her writing will make you feel everything she is feeling. It will make you think about the world in a different way.

In “Am I Blue,” she explores the emotions of a horse named Blue. The essay’s aim is to show another side of animals as well as demonstrate human-like qualities in horses. She compares the treatment of African Americans and American Indians with how we now treat animals, implying that similar oppression may have occurred in both cases.

She believes that we should all be kind to animals because they are living, breathing creatures that feel pain and suffering just like us. Walker uses the story of Blue to show us that animals are not so different from us after all.

In comparing Blue to the oppressed, Sharon may be seen to offer light to a different perspective on animals. By making Blue’s emotions seem similar to those of a human, the reader is able to relate and feel for him.

She also uses emotions to draw the line between humans and animals to show how we are not that different. Emotions are powerful, and Alice Walker does a fantastic job of using them to her advantage in “Am I Blue”.

Walker begins by discussing Blue’s life before he was taken away from his companion. She describes him as being “happy as a clam” and “gamboling” around (Walker 2). This allows the reader to see Blue as a carefree animal who was living a joyful life. It is important for the reader to see Blue in this light so they can feel sympathetic when his companion is taken away. If Blue had been described as being miserable before, the reader would not feel as bad when he is taken away because they would think that he was going to be happy anyway.

When Blue’s companion is taken away, Walker describes Blue as being “miserable” and “lonely” (Walker 3). The reader can see the stark contrast between how Blue was before and how he is now. This helps the reader understand just how important Blue’s companion was to him and why he is so upset.

Alice Walker also uses emotions to show how similar humans and animals really are. She does this by describing Blue’s emotions in human terms. For example, she says that Blue is “bewildered” and “lost” (Walker 3). These are emotions that anyone would feel in Blue’s situation. By describing Blue’s emotions in human terms, Walker is showing how we are not that different from animals. We both feel pain, love, and loss.

When Blue is spoken of, Walker employs phrasing that emphasizes his human qualities. The use of description in Walker’s thoughts of Blue reveals them. For example, when Walker speaks of Blue’s “eyes full of the wisdom of suffering” (13), she is not only emphasizing the emotional depth that exists within him, but also hinting at the many years of pain and hardship that he has likely experienced. This allows readers to connect with Blue on a much deeper level, as they are able to see him not only as an animal, but as a living being with feelings and emotions.

In addition, Walker uses first person point of view when talking about Blue, which further emphasizes the close bond between her and him. She speaks of how he “follows me with his eyes” (14) and how he is “my friend” (15). This use of first person creates a sense of intimacy between the reader and Blue, as if we are hearing his story directly from Walker herself.

Overall, Alice Walker’s “Am I Blue” is a beautiful and moving piece that allows readers to see animals in a new light. Through her use of description and first person point of view, Walker creates a deep connection between the reader and Blue, ultimately leading us to question our own perceptions of animals and their emotions.

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Sentence Variety in Alice Walker's Essay 'Am I Blue?'

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Alice Walker's essay "Am I Blue?" is a powerful meditation on the effects of enslavement and the nature of freedom. In these opening paragraphs, Walker introduces the central emblem of the essay, a horse named Blue. Notice how Walker relies on a variety of sentence structures (including participial phrases , adjective clauses , appositives , and adverb clauses ) to hold our attention as she develops her affectionate description .

From "Am I Blue?"*

by Alice Walker

1 It was a house of many windows, low, wide, nearly floor to ceiling in the living room, which faced the meadow, and it was from one of these that I first saw our closest neighbor, a large white horse, cropping grass, flipping its mane, and ambling about--not over the entire meadow, which stretched well out of sight of the house, but over the five or so fenced-in acres that were next to the twenty-odd that we had rented. I soon learned that the horse, whose name was Blue, belonged to a man who lived in another town, but was boarded by our neighbors next door. Occasionally, one of the children, usually a stocky teen-ager, but sometimes a much younger girl or boy, could be seen riding Blue. They would appear in the meadow, climb up on his back, ride furiously for ten or fifteen minutes, then get off, slap Blue on the flanks, and not be seen again for a month or more.

2 There were many apple trees in our yard, and one by the fence that Blue could almost reach. We were soon in the habit of feeding him apples, which he relished, especially because by the middle of summer the meadow grasses--so green and succulent since January--had dried out from lack of rain, and Blue stumbled about munching the dried stalks half-heartedly. Sometimes he would stand very still just by the apple tree, and when one of us came out he would whinny, snort loudly, or stamp the ground. This meant, of course: I want an apple.

*The essay "Am I Blue?" appears in Living by the Word , by Alice Walker (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1988).

Selected Works by Alice Walker

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  • The Complete Stories (1994)
  • Collected Poems (2005)
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am i blue alice walker essay

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“Am I Blue” by Alice Walker: Analysis & Summary

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As a society, we have accomplished so much in so little time. Because of this, it is quite simple to disassociate from our own roots. In this day and age, the mere notion that our own ancestors were chimpanzees seems bewildering. However, although animals may not have the same technological advances that we have, they still possess the most fundamental component of all living things – a soul. This is the connection between us and the world. We are not separate, we are all one.

The title “Am I Blue?” accurately portrays this concept. At first glance, the reader believes that the term blue refers to its literal meaning, which could also apply, however, this is not the author’s true intent.

In reality, Walker questions if the feelings of the horse and herself are mutual. The story Am I Blue? by Alice Walker narrates about a horse named Blue. At the very beginning, the story is an ordinary account about author’s horse, but further exploration provides a deeper interpretation of emotions that animal experiences. In particular, the tale introduces a vivid comparison between the emotions of animals and those of humans.

Without having previous background knowledge, the immediate first impression that the title gives off is the questioning of an emotional state. In other words, “Am I Blue” is interpreted as “Am I Sad?” Although this is not the central concept of the piece, it is also a reasonable statement. For instance, throughout the passage, the author notices how blatantly ignored animals are. Only seen a source of food, clothing, or entertainment, society disregards their title as living creatures.

This realization brought much sorrow and anguish to the author. The agony was so extensive that Walker even prompted a dietary shift from omnivore to vegetarian. This is illustrated in the last paragraph as she claims in reference to streaks, “I am eating misery, I thought, as I took the first bite and spit it out.” Upon recognizing the conditions that animals are put through, she could hardly seldom the thought of eating them.

After reading the article, and comprehending that the horse’s name is in fact, Blue, it is clear that the true meaning of the title is that of a comparison between the emotions of humans and animals. In other words, the title poignantly illustrates how unlike contrary belief, humans are not the sole possessors of feelings.

For instance, in her reference to horses, Walker states, “it is their nature to express themselves…..And they do. And, generally speaking, they are ignored.” Meaning, that animals have the capability to joy, grief, and even cry. Yet these emotions are neglected by the rest of the world.

This point is further demonstrated as Walker continues to humanize Blue. “ It was a look so piercing, so full of grief, a look so human, I almost laughed (I felt too sad to cry) to think there are people who do not know that animals suffer.” Walker recognizes that Blue’s pain is real. His pain is human.

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Article Contents

Why “am i blue”, strategic empathy and the narrative strategies of “am i blue”, empirical support for our hypothesis, works cited.

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Narrating Human and Animal Oppression: Strategic Empathy and Intersectionalism in Alice Walker’s “Am I Blue?”

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W P Małecki, Alexa Weik von Mossner, Małgorzata Dobrowolska, Narrating Human and Animal Oppression: Strategic Empathy and Intersectionalism in Alice Walker’s “Am I Blue?”, ISLE: Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment , Volume 27, Issue 2, Spring 2020, Pages 365–384, https://doi.org/10.1093/isle/isaa023

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In recent years, there has been a growing recognition of the conceptual and material entanglements between human and animal oppression. Perhaps most importantly, it has become evident that the ideologies underlying both these kinds of oppression have an analogous logical structure (Singer). If humans feel justified in oppressing and exploiting non-human animals, this is because they think that creatures belonging to a different species do not deserve as much moral consideration as do humans, or any at all. By the same token, if humans belonging to certain social groups feel justified in oppressing and exploiting humans belonging to other social groups, this is because they think that members of those latter groups do not deserve as much moral consideration as humans belonging to certain other groups, or at all. Moreover, it has been shown that ideologies underlying human and animal oppression share not only a logical structure, but also key premises. If humans belonging to a certain social group feel humans belonging to a different social group to be less worthy of moral consideration, ceteris paribus, this is very often not merely because they see the latter as different, but rather because they see that difference as making those people sub-human or animal-like or as making them animals indeed (Huggan and Tiffin; Peterson; Kasperbauer). This is particularly prevalent when the people in question are of a different race or gender. As ecofeminist scholarship has shown, Western intellectual tradition historically has devalued “whatever is associated with women, emotion, animals, nature and the body, while simultaneously elevating in value those things that are associated with men, reason, humans, culture, and the mind” (Gaard 5). To sum up, all ideologies justifying oppression, whether it is the oppression of non-humans or certain groups of human beings, seem to be conceptually interconnected through their roots in anthropocentrism.

This ideological interconnectedness has important consequences for how the oppression of humans and the oppression of animals intersect in social practice. Consider that it is precisely because people from underprivileged groups are considered less worthy of moral consideration by dominating groups that today’s societies typically assign to the former the most dangerous and poorly paid jobs related to animal exploitation. For instance, with nearly thirty-six injuries or illnesses for every hundred workers, meat packing is the most dangerous and most psychologically damaging industry in the United States (Sinclair; Eisnitz; Genoways). Yet, this industry has been shown to rely for decades on the cheap labor of members of underprivileged groups such as illegal immigrants, many of them people of color (Schlosser; Stuesse). This is but one of the many examples of how human and animal oppression coalesce on the level of material social practice.

Given the problematic nature of the conceptual and material entanglements between human and animal oppression, it is no wonder that intersections of species, gender, class, race, and ethnicity have been the subject of significant scholarly interest across academia (DeKoven and Lundblad; Halley; Kheel; Ruffin; Wright). And since the way these intersections are understood and approached by the public depends to a significant extent on how they are represented in film, literature, visual arts, and other media, it is no wonder that such representations have been the subject of scholarly interest as well (Boggs; Chen; Wolfe). However, to our best knowledge thus far there have been no empirical studies on the impact of representations of the intersections of human and animal oppression. This is an important lacuna because empirical research can give us sound evidence on their social consequences (cf. Małecki et al.; Małecki, Pawłowski, Cieński, et al.; Małecki, Pawłowski, et al. 2016 ).

This article takes a step towards filling this lacuna. It tries to do so by approaching the intersections of human and animal oppression in Alice Walker’s iconic essay “Am I Blue?” from the perspective of empirical ecocriticism, a branch of ecocriticism aimed at studying the impact of environmental narratives by combining the empirical methods typical of contemporary social science with humanistic methods such as narratological analysis (Schneider-Mayerson; Małecki). We will begin by explaining why we think “Am I Blue?” is a suitable text for studying the social impact of cultural representations of the intersections of human and animal oppression. In particular, we will show how the essay indicates the potential problems involved in trying to persuade one’s audience to join the cause of animal liberation by drawing parallels between the oppression of underprivileged human groups and the oppression of non-human species. We will put forward the hypothesis that “Am I Blue?” exemplifies that such a strategy may be unsuccessful, at least in the case of some audiences. We will then try to provide support for that hypothesis by using three kinds of data. First, we will analyze the narrative structure of the text, highlighting how it draws various parallels between human suffering and animal suffering in order to illustrate its premise that the oppression of underprivileged human groups is analogous to the oppression of non-humans. Second, we will look at the controversy around the 1994 decision of the California State Board of Education to ban the essay from a statewide test for 10th graders because it was considered “anti-meat eating” (Holt 2). Finally, we will compare the previously published experimental data on the impact of “Am I Blue?” on readers’ attitudes toward animals ( Małecki et al. 2019 ) with the available experimental data on the impact of that essay on readers’ attitudes toward human minorities. In the final discussion of our results, we will indicate how these three kinds of evidence shed light on one another.

Since the 1970s, the world has seen a sweeping wave of changes in law, custom, technology, and morality that aimed at improving the welfare of non-human animals in society and resulted in actual improvements in this regard. Some sectors of animal farming, animal experimentation, hunting, and the use of animals in entertainment were subjected to legal regulation for the first time, while some others were subjected to regulations that were more stringent and considerate of animal welfare (Grimm). There has been a growing number of pro-animal organizations, pro-animal campaigns, and pro-animal works of art in film, literature, music, and other media, and a growing number of like-minded politicians and celebrities (Eisenman; Herzog). While animal exploitation and abuse continue in animal agriculture, these regulations and messages have had a measurable effect on social practices. The number of vegans and vegetarians has been growing in some countries over the past decades, including the United States and the UK, while, for instance, the number of hunters per household and animals hurt in the process of making movies has declined (Pinker; Reinhart).

Arguably, this would not have been possible without the so-called animal liberation, or animal rights, movement, and that movement would not have been possible had the idea of parallels between the oppression of underprivileged groups and non-human animals not gained a wider recognition around mid-1970s. Instrumental in this was the popularization of the notion of speciesism by Peter Singer through his 1975 book Animal Liberation , aptly called the bible of the movement (Singer). As presented by Singer, the notion of speciesism was an explicit analogon of notions such as sexism and racism, and its point was to stress that to slight or ignore the suffering of animals solely because they are animals is akin to ignoring or slighting the suffering of people solely because they belong to a different race, ethnicity, or gender. If we all seem to be in agreement that racism and sexism are both irrational and unacceptable, Singer argued, then should we not agree that so is speciesism? And should we not change the way we treat other species? Many of his readers agreed and some of those changed their own ways and started insisting that others should do the same. This was the beginning of the animal liberation movement; a movement that became part of the wave of so-called new social movements that included feminism, civil rights movements, and others, and which generated the aforementioned new laws, customs, and cultural productions, including literary works (Munro).

One such literary work is Alice Walker’s “Am I Blue?” (2010 [1988]). Indeed, the essay may well be the single most famous contemporary Anglophone literary articulation of the idea of parallels between animal and human oppression (Hooker). The reason we call it literary is not simply that its language has aesthetic qualities, but rather because it represents the idea through the medium of narrative. Ecofeminists such as Marti Kheel have urged us to consider narrative’s “relevance for facilitating ethical interactions with the natural world” (247), citing “Am I Blue?” as a pertinent example. In Kheel’s view, Walker’s provocative essay is a rumination on ethical obligations to animals after feminist and anti-racist social movements. It is also what Anthony Lioi has called “an exercise in holding wildly different subject-positions at the same time” (22).

In the essay, Walker presents the story of a horse she calls Blue, which intersects with her own life-story in both the literal and metaphorical sense. On the one hand, Walker describes how she first met Blue and learned about his predicament, and on the other she draws a parallel between the story of the horse and her own story as an African American woman, as well as the story of her imagined ancestor. Walker also draws parallels between these stories and stories of members of other underprivileged groups (Asian women, black nannies) and situates all this narrative material in the context of her general reflections on the oppression of people and animals. One could hardly find a more direct literary realization of the critique of speciesism that underlies the animal liberation movement. Since Walker’s essay has literary qualities and enjoyed considerable popularity, it is particularly interesting to us as an example of cultural representations of human/non-human intersectional politics.

Another point of interest is that there already exists empirical data on the impact of the essay on readers. That data comes from a larger research project devoted to establishing whether literary animal narratives may improve attitudes toward animals and their welfare (Małecki et al.). The project focused on literary narratives depicting unnecessary, human-inflicted suffering of animals where the animality of the sufferer is a salient element of the suffering. The inspiration for the project came from two sources. One was historical evidence indicating that such narratives may indeed positively affect attitudes and behavior toward animals (Pearson; Davis; Dorré). For instance, Anna Sewell’s Black Beauty reportedly had such a profound effect on its nineteenth-century readers that this led to a legal ban on some forms of cruelty toward horses that were depicted in the novel (C. D. Johnson and Johnson; Sewell; Chitty; Nyman). The other source of inspiration was the experimental psychological evidence showing that a story depicting the plight of a member of a given human outgroup may positively affect attitudes and behavior toward that group as a whole. For instance, a story portraying the suffering of a Muslim-American after 9/11 has been shown to reduce prejudice toward Arab-Americans (Johnson et al.). Similarly, stories portraying the suffering of a particular HIV-patient or a drug addict have been shown to improve attitudes toward HIV-patients and drug addicts in general (Batson et al.; Batson).

The aim of the project was to test experimentally whether a similar effect could be observed in the case of stories of individual animal plight in general, or whether cases such as Black Beauty were merely happy accidents. To that effect, a series of experiments was conducted involving a number of texts, including Walker’s “Am I Blue?” (Małecki et al.). What transpired was that, unlike some other literary depictions of animal plight, “Am I Blue?” turned out not to have a positive impact on attitudes toward animals in general. Researchers initially hypothesized that this might have been due to the fact that the experiment was conducted in Poland on uniformly white and Polish citizens and that the African-American perspective presented by the narrator of the essay might have been alien or alienating to them (Małecki et al., 94). But this hypothesis was eventually dropped as it turned out, in a later experiment conducted also on uniformly white Polish citizens, that the essay did improve attitudes toward horses. Arguably, had the perspective of the narrator been alien or alienating to the participants, such a persuasive effect could not have been obtained. Something else must have been responsible for the fact that “Am I Blue?” does not improve attitudes toward animals in general, while many similar works do.

The point of this article is to explain what might have been responsible for that result. But before we do so, a word is due on how narrative works achieve the effect of improved attitudes toward a given group, be it an underprivileged human outgroup, a non-human species, or non-human animals in general. Given the available data, the most convincing hypothesis in this regard is the following one. First, a narrative depicting the plight of a member of a given group may induce empathic reactions toward that character. That is, the reader begins to “feel with” the protagonist. Then those reactions translate into so-called empathic concern, that is “feeling for” the character, and this concern then extends to the group as a whole, resulting in improved attitudes (Batson et al.; Bal and Veltkamp). Note that this process appears not to consist in the reader drawing inferences from the individual suffering depicted in the story to the situation of the whole group. Rather, it has a character of emotive association (Małecki, Pawłowski, Sorokowski, et al.). There seems to be an associative chain that leads from the story of the protagonist to the group he or she or it belongs to. Note also that the nonhuman nature of the protagonist does not seem to matter in this process of associative extrapolation. What happens in the case of “Am I Blue?,” however, is that this chain appears to break at some point. “Am I Blue?” extends our concern from the animal protagonist to horses, and thus to the species level, but not to animals in general. If this is true, then we can reformulate our initial question thus: What causes the chain to break or what stops the progress of emotive associations?

Our hypothesis is that it is precisely the parallel Walker draws between the perspective of the horse and her own perspective, and the parallels she then draws between the oppression of human outgroups in general and the oppression of non-human animals in general. The animal stories that have been shown to improve attitudes toward animals typically do not draw such parallels, focusing on animals only (Małecki, Pawłowski, Sorokowski, et al.; Małecki et al.; Małecki, Pawłowski, and Sorokowski; Małecki, Pawłowski, Cieński, et al.). This difference is important in that for most readers, the perspective of a human being is by default more important than the perspective of a non-human being, and the suffering of humans more important than the suffering of animals. But in order to fully see why this is so important we must have a closer look at how “Am I Blue?” operates as a story. This is what we are going to do in the next section.

Walker opens her famous essay with an epigraph from the song that also provides its title. “Ain’t these tears in these eyes tellin’ you?” asked Harry Akst and Grant Clarke, who copyrighted the song in 1929, as well as every artist who performed “Am I Blue?” throughout the decades, including African American jazz legends Ethel Waters and Billie Holiday. It is a song about finding one’s lover gone one day “without a warning,” a song about loneliness and sorrow, about love, loss and betrayal. The song does not explicitly mention that the speaker with the tear-filled eyes is human, but most people listening to it will take it as a given. It turns out, however, that the love Walker remembers in her essay was not lost inside in the “small house in the country,” that she once rented with her companion, but just in front of it, on the “large meadow that appeared to run from the end of our deck straight into the mountains” ( Banned 31). This is where her younger self meets Blue, “a large white horse, cropping grass, flipping its mane, and ambling about” (32). Blue’s owner, we learn, “live[s] in another town” (32) and shows little interest in the emotional needs and physical well-being of his possession. The horse is kept all by itself and only occasionally does a child or teenager “climb up his back, ride furiously for ten or fifteen minutes, then get off, slap Blue on the flanks, and not be seen again for a month or more” (32–33). Blue, then, is a neglected horse, a gregarious animal kept all by himself with no one checking whether he needs equine company, water, a farrier, or anything else. Except for Walker herself the attitude of the humans who interact with him is marked by instrumentalization and carelessness, foreshadowing the heartbreak Blue will have to endure later on.

The narrative arc of the story stretches from Walker’s first encounter with the horse and what she perceives as a growing friendship sustained by caresses and apples to a moment of great happiness when Blue receives a companion, a brown mare that “amble[s] and gallop[s] along together” with him across the meadow (39). It ends with the sudden separation of the two horses after they have mated. Blue at first is “crazed” (40) and then turns apathetic, no longer showing any interest even in the apples he used to like so much. His dark eyes do not show tears, but Walker reads disappointment, pain, disgust, and hatred in them. “What that meant,” she explains to the reader, “was that he had put up a barrier within to protect himself from future violence; all the apples in the world wouldn’t change the fact” (42). The violence Blue is subjected to is not physical harm, but it is suggested that he is in deep emotional pain.

Throughout the story, Walker’s autobiographical first-person narrator provides readers with a human “outsider perspective” on animal subjectivity (Weik von Mossner 107) as her narrator empathizes with the horse across species lines and attributes a range of thoughts and feelings to him. Such attribution by default involves a significant degree of anthropomorphism, thus running the risk of “empathetic inaccuracy” (Keen 81), but the outsider perspective can nevertheless be quite effective in engaging readers’ empathy and inviting their sympathy for a suffering nonhuman animal (Weik von Mossner 133). 1 Moreover, it would be too simple to assume that Walker is projecting human emotions onto an unfeeling horse. As Lioi suggests, “Blue may not be able to speak in human words, but he can communicate in other ways” (22). Just as important, it is plausible that the narrator understands him. Cognitive ethologists and neuroscientists alike have shown that animals feel emotions and that we can genuinely feel along with them across species lines (Bradshaw and Watkins; Bekoff,; De Waal; Pankseep and Pankseep). Walker employs such inter-species empathy strategically throughout her story, and it is important to note that she in fact offers readers not only one but two mental routes to empathize with Blue’s plight.

As the cognitive narratologist Suzanne Keen has noted, strategic empathizing involves the employment of “empathy in the crafting of fictional texts … in the service of ‘a scrupulously visible political interest’” (83). It has been argued that the same can be applied to nonfiction texts (Weik von Mossner 71), and the visible political interest foregrounded in Walker’s essay is the desire to make readers understand that “animals suffer” ( Banned 41). One of the two empathetic strategies employed by her is to invite readers to feel along with her autobiographical narrator, a human who experiences empathetic pain and related feelings of sympathy, compassion, and pity for a horse. This, one could argue, is the indirect route toward trans-species empathy. When Walker’s narrator tells us that she “dreaded to look into [Blue’s] eyes—because I had of course noticed that Brown, his partner, had gone” (40) she invites us to share her dread in that moment.

The other narrative strategy involves the attribution of mental and emotional states to the horse itself, inviting the reader to experience trans-species empathy directly, without the detour through the human interlocutor. When reading that Blue “whinnied until he couldn’t. He tore the ground with his hooves. He butted himself against his single shade tree. He looked always and always toward the road down which his partner had gone” (41), readers are enabled to visualize those scenes in their minds and to understand empathetically and across species lines that they are physical expressions of pain and despair. The scenes are still channeled through the consciousness of the narrator, but rather than explaining the narrator’s emotions in relation to them, they depict the cause of those empathic emotions, namely the suffering of the horse.

Walker’s use of these two routes of strategic trans-species empathizing thus encourages readers to understand, on an emotional level, the central tenet of animal liberation that non-human animals are sentient beings and we therefore have ethical responsibilities and moral obligations towards them (Singer 94). As David Herman has noted, narrative “affords a bridge between the human and the nonhuman … By modeling the richness and complexity of ‘what it is like’ for nonhuman others, stories can underscore what is at stake in the trivialization—or outright destruction—of their experiences” (159). And so it is perhaps not all that surprising that the aforementioned experiment showed Walker’s essay to improve readers’ attitudes toward the well-being of horses ( Małecki et al., 2019 ). It seems that the story succeeded in raising concern for Blue and that readers were able to make the imaginary leap form the individual horse to its entire species.

The narratological analysis can also give some pointers at least as to why Walker’s essay nevertheless failed to change attitudes toward animals in general. At first, this result might seem particularly surprising given that, on its final page, the essay makes the explicit imaginary leap from horses to other animals. After a visiting friend comments on the white horse in the meadow being “the very image of freedom” ( Banned 43), Walker’s narrator thinks to herself that

the animals are forced to become for us merely “images” of what they once so beautifully expressed. And we are used to drinking milk from containers showing “contented” cows, whose real lives we want to hear nothing about, eating eggs and drumsticks from “happy” hens, and munching hamburgers advertised by bulls of integrity who seem to command their fate. (43)

And not only does the narrator make the mental leap from an individual horse to its species and to the exploitation of other animals, she also shows readers how she was physically affected by it when she later “sat down to steaks. I am eating misery, I thought, as I took the first bite. And spit it out” (43). What happens in this pivotal moment of the essay is that what Carol Adams has called “the absent referent” (136) becomes present suddenly, shocking the narrator into awareness. The absent referent, in Adams's definition, is “a conceptual process in which the animal disappears” in order to become the thing we call meat . “Without animals,” she writes, “there would be no meat eating, yet they are absent from the act of eating meat because they have been transformed into food” (136). When Walker’s autobiographical narrator thinks “I am eating misery” (43), the absent referent animal surges into presence with all the pain and the suffering and the horror that goes into the process of making dead meat out of a living animal. In this moment of empathetic identification not only with Blue, but also with the animal that once was her steak, the narrator experiences a violent disgust response and spits out the corpse.

This final twist is, as Lioi has put it, “a shocking turn for the essay to take” (20). The logical chain that culminates in it—from the suffering horse to suffering humans to other suffering farm animals and, finally, to dead bodies on a plate—is presumably the reason why the California State Board of Education deemed it to be “anti-meat-eating” (Holt 2). Still, as Lioi also notes, the “issue of the consumption of meat is not even implied by Blue’s narrative,” and “there is no attempt to construct a logical argument against factory farming or slaughterhouses; Blue is not in danger of being eaten” (21). Only other animals are in that mortal danger. What to do, then, with the experimental evidence ( Małecki et al., 2019 ) which suggests that the story fails to raise concerns for the wellbeing of animals other than horses?

One possible explanation for this result may be related to the fact that Walker not only links Blue’s fate imaginatively to those of other animals, but also to herself as an African American woman. “Blue was like a crazed person,” she writes of the unhappy horse. “Blue was , to me, a crazed person” (40). The important difference between the first and the second sentence is not only that the horse gets promoted from being like a person to being an actual person. Walker also emphasizes that Blue is a person to her , and that, as a black woman, she can relate to his suffering. “If I had been born into slavery,” she writes, “and my partner had been sold or killed, my eyes would have looked like that” (40). The comparison implies that Blue has been enslaved by humans and that his feelings are much the same that a human would feel in his position. Walker does not stop there, but extrapolates to the treatment of African American slaves more generally: “The children next door explained that Blue’s partner had been ‘put up with him’ (the same expression that old people used, I noticed, when speaking of an ancestor during slavery who had been impregnated by her owner) so they could mate and she conceive” (40). This puts a very different spin on the jazz song that serves as the title and epigraph for the essay. The question “Am I Blue?” suddenly takes on a literal dimension, asking not only whether the (human) speaker is sad, but also whether she and the horse are one and the same.

What Walker puts before her readers here is what Marjorie Spiegel has called “the dreaded comparison”: an acknowledgement of the troubling similarities between the enslavement of humans and the enslavement of animals. As Walker points out in her foreword to Spiegel’s book, “it is a comparison that, even for those of us who recognize its validity, is a difficult one to face. Especially so if we are the descendants of slaves. Or of slave owners. Or both” (Foreword 13). Comparing “speciesism with racism” (Spiegel 15) might be difficult to face precisely because it resonates with the discriminatory practices of animalization we mentioned earlier. “People might feel that it is insulting to compare the suffering of non-humans to that of humans, acknowledges Spiegel, “in fact, in our society, comparison to an animal has become a slur” (15). That line of argument posits a categorical difference between human and nonhuman life. However, both Spiegel and Walker seem to be interested in turning that argument on its head, and they are not alone. “Such eminent thinkers, writers, and activists as Frederick Douglass, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Richard Wright, Paul Lawrence Dunbar and many others … were acutely aware of the similarities between human and animal slavery,” writes Spiegel, admonishing us to “follow their example and begin to object all forms of oppression” (32). Without doubt, following that example would lead to potentially far-reaching consequences for our treatment of animals. Once animals qualify as sentient oppressed persons who are being enslaved just like humans, as Walker suggests in “Am I Blue?,” they can be considered to have inalienable rights that must be recognized and protected in a modern, enlightened society.

It might be for this reason, too, that Walker’s essay was deemed to be inappropriate reading material for children by the California State Board of Education, since eating animals is even more difficult to square with an acknowledgement of their personhood than enslaving them or separating them from their loved ones. As Patricia Holt reports, the Board insisted that its decision did not represent censorship but instead served to “protect” the children from a story that was “anti-meat-eating” and “seemed to violate rural children’s family occupations” (5). Apparently, then, most Board members feared that the essay might have a significant impact on the impressionable minds of young readers, in some cases even alienating them from the livelihood of their parents. Such processes of reflection might have been exactly what Walker hoped for when she wrote down the lesson she had learned from Blue. “By extending the concept of slavery to nonhuman animals,” observes Kimberly Ruffin, “Walker invites her readers to ponder a didactic reciprocity among the Earth’s inhabitants” (106). And the lesson to be learned here is the moral necessity of abolishing all forms of slavery. Lioi even detects structural parallels between “Am I Blue?” and the American slave narrative, not least in that final “moment of personal transformation like the kind asked of the people of the North” (21) by abolitionist writers such as Douglass, Harriet Jacobs, and Beecher Stowe.

Whether the Board also had that dimension of the dreaded comparison on their minds when banning the essay, we cannot know. The political dynamite involved in Walker’s comparison of animal suffering to that of African slaves, Native Americans, and immigrants from Japan, Korea, and the Philippines ( Banned 37) is not mentioned in the Board’s official statement on its decision. But the transcript of the respective Board meeting reveals that one board member, Diane Lucas, claimed in defense of Walker’s essay to have taught it to sixty 10 th and 11 th graders, “who thought, with no coaching from [her], that the story was about people. Not one student mentioned the dietary preferences of the character. Even [her] least able student thought it was about differences between people. Other students mentioned ethnic diversity and that the story condemned racism” (quoted in Walker 82). It is remarkable that Lucas did not even mention the suffering horse, or the dreaded comparison made by Walker. Instead, she focused on the culinary aspect, insisting that “those who claim the story promotes vegetarianism or feel that the story discourages beef-eating think more literally than [her] lowest-ability student or base their challenge on some hidden agenda” (82). Lucas’ defense of Walker’s story, then, rested on an insistence of the prevalence of its metaphorical dimension and the argument that young readers, including her “lowest-ability student” (a problematic assertion in itself), did not even notice the animal liberation argument that Walker proposes on the literal level.

This anecdotal evidence—if we assume that Lucas told the truth about her students in this politically charged meeting—seems to suggest that the human dimension of “Am I Blue?” might actually interfere with, rather than strengthen, its animal rights appeal, regardless of the author’s actual intention. Together with the narratological analysis, this led us to form the hypothesis that the story’s metaphorical link between the fate of the horse and the fate of African American slaves might block in some way the metonymic associative link from the individual horse to all animals and thus explain why the story does not improve attitudes toward animals in general. 2 In other words, given that Walker relies in her story on a comparison between the oppression of humans and animals and given that, for most people, the suffering of humans is more important than the suffering of animals, the associative chain which in the case of animal stories that focus solely on animal suffering leads from a single animal to the species level and then to animals in general ( Małecki et al., 2019 ), in the case of “Am I Blue?” would lead to human outgroups instead, with this effect being due to the pull of the readers’ default anthropocentric attitudes.

The empirical data we want to use to support our hypothesis was extracted from the very experiment that showed “Am I Blue?” not to have any impact on attitudes toward animals in general. In order to see how this was possible, consider the design of that study. The purpose of the experiment was to test whether “Am I Blue?” improves attitudes toward animals, and it was conducted as a controlled and randomized study. This means that it involved an experimental group, which read “Am I Blue?,” and a control group, which read a narrative placebo, that is a narrative whose topic was not related to animals at all. Participants were assigned randomly to either group, then read their assigned text, and having done that, filled in a questionnaire. In order for the results of the experiment to be valid, the study had to be blind. That is, the participants had to be unaware of its actual purpose. Had they been aware of it, they might have given answers that would reflect the impression they wanted to make on experimenters rather than their actual attitudes (Schlenker; Tedeschi).

As is typical of psychological studies, in order to avoid that, the participants were misled about the actual purpose of the study and told that its aim was to learn more about the relations between the personality and worldviews of readers and their impressions from the texts they read. Accordingly, the questionnaire contained items that concerned the experience of reading the respective text and what looked like items concerning the personality and worldviews of participants. For instance, the personality and worldviews part of the questionnaire comprised items such as “I see myself as calm, emotionally stable” and “The health care system should be privatized.” These were mock-items whose main purpose was to hide items concerning animals that were buried among them. Had the animal items been more prominent, the participants in the experimental group, reading “Am I Blue?,” might have guessed that the study has something to do with animals and this might have skewed the results.

It is precisely one of the mock-items that we hoped could allow us to give empirical support for our hypothesis. This was the item “Cultural minorities should be protected and supported,” which the experimenters thought might look convincing in a questionnaire purportedly measuring people’s worldviews. We conjectured that if our hypothesis were true, then “Am I Blue?” would have improved the participants’ attitudes toward underprivileged human groups such as those depicted in “Am I Blue?” and that this might have been reflected in answers given on that item. (While none of the particular groups Walker talks about explicitly in her essay is a cultural minority per se, her general points about human oppression apply to cultural minorities as well.) We therefore submitted questionnaire data on that item to statistical analysis. It revealed that there was a statistically significant difference in responses to that item in the control and experimental group. 3 The participants in the experimental group showed better attitudes toward cultural minorities as measured by the item “Cultural minorities should be protected and supported,” which means that this effect must have been due to their having read “Am I Blue?” before filling in the questionnaire. For the reasons already given, we think that this data yields support to our hypothesis.

It is worth stressing what our data shows and what it does not show. First of all, as we have already said, it lends some support for our hypothesis. This is because Walker switches between animal and human perspectives in the text in a way that might cause readers to focus more on the plight of humans rather than animals, and indeed while empirical evidence shows that the essay does not improve attitudes toward animals in general, it shows that the text does improve attitudes toward at least some human minorities.

However much support this data yields to our hypothesis, it cannot be said to confirm it. This is because there might have been other factors responsible for the lack of impact on attitudes toward animals in general than the mere fact that Walker draws parallels between animals and humans in her story. One likely possibility is that the emotional suffering Walker attributes to Blue might have been perceived by some to be imaginary or not as serious as the severe physical suffering depicted in the animal stories that have been shown to have a positive impact on attitudes toward animals in general. Those stories depicted, for instance, the bloody atrocities involved in the illegal slaughter of horses, a horse being clubbed to death by a drunken crowd or a monkey that is submitted to an experiment on brain transplants that eventually leaves her dead (Eisnitz; Fallaci; Dostoyevsky). Arguably, some readers might have thought that Walker projects her own imagined feelings of losing a loved one on the horse, while some others might have thought that even if there was no projection involved here, Blue must have not suffered that much given that, according to Walker’s own account, he wasn't harmed physically.

In order to unanimously confirm our hypothesis, a separate experiment would be needed. Such an experiment could use two versions of a text, both written in the same style and presenting a roughly similar story, with one juxtaposing a narrative of animal plight with a narrative of human plight, and the other not. Or we could study the impact of a story which would be similar to “Am I Blue?” in as many respects as possible while at the same time presenting the kind of physical animal suffering that would be unanimously considered to be serious. Furthermore, we would have to test potential difference in response between different cultural groups. For example, it is conceivable that the essay would be received differently by American readers. It is only data from such experiments that could confirm our hypothesis. For now, the data that we have only suggests that our hypothesis is right. But we think that this data is still valuable as it not only deepens our insight into the psychological workings of “Am I Blue?” but also draws our attention to the hitherto unexplored features of strategic empathizing that are of crucial scholarly and practical importance.

After all, strategic empathizing has been used as an instrument of intersectional human-animal politics not only by Walker in her essay, but also more widely, including by some of the biggest pro-animal organizations. In fact, PETA’s perhaps most widely known campaign, “The Holocaust on Your Plate,” does precisely this (Deckha; Buettner, chap. 6; Munro). It juxtaposes pictures of Holocaust victims with pictures of farm animals precisely to make the viewer empathize with all the depicted subjects and to thereby improve attitudes toward farm animals. Similarly, the 2013 campaign “Beaten, Lonely, and Abused,” apparently aims to make the viewer empathize with both circus animals and women who are victims of domestic abuse in order to improve social attitudes toward the latter. What our research suggests is that, leaving other problems with those campaigns aside (Semigran), they simply might have been unable to achieve the kind of effect PETA hoped for.

What it suggests, too, is that there may be general problems with strategic empathizing that have thus far fallen under the radar of both researchers and activists. To our best knowledge, until now researchers have not studied empirically, if at all, the possible attitudinal effects of inducing people to empathize simultaneously with similarly oppressed subjects belonging to different groups, focusing instead on the possible attitudinal effects of inducing people to empathize with oppressed subjects belonging to one specific group (Batson et al.; Batson; D. R. Johnson; D. R. Johnson et al.). While that latter research showed that empathizing with an oppressed or otherwise harmed subject belonging to a certain group may lead to improving attitudes toward that group as a whole, our research suggests that when one is induced to simultaneously empathize with subjects belonging to more than one group, the attitudinal effect may not involve all the groups in question. These would be the cases in which there are disproportions between those groups in their perceived moral worth. If this were actually the case, then this would have important implications for intersectional campaigning in general, not only that which deals with human-animal relations specifically. But in order to know if this is actually the case, we would need more empirical evidence.

This work was supported by a grant from the National Science Center, Poland (grant number 2012/07/B/HS2/02278) and a grant from Austrian Science Fund (FWF) (grant number P31189-G30).

According to Keen, empathetic inaccuracy can manifest itself as failure or as falsity. In the first case, the author’s empathetic imagining of a fictional world does not “transmit to readers with-out interference,” evoking empathy in readers in ways that are against the author’s “apparent or proclaimed representational goals” (81). In the second case, “narrative empathy short-circuits the impulse to act compassionately or to respond with political engagement” (81).

We would like to thank the cognitive linguist Alexander Onysko for his making us aware of the potential blockage of the metonymic associative link between the individual horse in the story and animals in general.

We obtained our result by using the so-called Kruskal–Wallis test by ranks. It is a method commonly used in situations such as ours, where “researchers have an independent variable with more than two levels and the data are non-parametric—rankable interval or ordinal scale data” (Turner 243, cf. Gibbons, chap. 5). The value of p (i.e., statistical significance) indicated by the test was 0.04.

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Alice Walker's "am I Blue?": Allegory for Ecofeminism

Profile image of Bilal Hamamra

Alice Walker's "Am I Blue?" (1986), the protagonist of which is a horse named Blue, reveals Walker's interest in animals and her criticism of the harsh ways human beings treat them. Walker points out that "Am I Blue?" is "about how humans treat horses and other animals; how hard it is for us to see them as the suffering, fully conscious, enslaved beings they are" ("The Universe Responds" 188). In the same vein, Arisika Razak points out that "Walker's writing consistently indicates that the animal world and its creatures have lives that parallelin the importance of feeling, suffering, families and wisdomthe human one" (103). The title of the storyoriginally a song written and composed by Grant Clarke and Harry Akst in 1929shows Walker's equation of animals and black people who are oppressed by the white people and her ecofeminist conception of the relationship between animals and women in an attempt to put an end to the systems and discourses that have enabled their oppression by the...

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Am I Blue – Summary and Questions and Answers

Table of Contents

About the Story: “Am I Blue” deals with a horse – Blue, who used to live a dreary and weary life in five beautiful but fenced acres. The narrator started feeding Blue apples which the horse would relish. After some time, Brown, a mare, was also brought there. Blue felt excited and elated to have a companion and began leading a blissful life. But Brown was taken away from there when she became pregnant. It came as a jolt from the blue for the horse and a total change took place in his life. The horse may not have experienced in its full complexity the kind of shock the writer attributes to him, but he certainly felt greatly disturbed when the mate was taken away from the grassy field where he had now to live all by himself. He had certainly developed a deep attachment for the mare and missed her badly. Alice Walker makes us aware through this story of the emotional needs which animals do have and the bonds of affection they develop for each other. We are generally obtuse and selfish in our attitude towards the animals and callously reduce their being to a few gross appetites. But the more important aspect of the meaning of the whole story lies in the fact that the horse becomes a symbol of those oppressed and neglected sections of humanity which are treated like animals. It is a symbol of oppressed humanity that the feelings attributed to the horse gain the special significance.

We can then understand how the horse developed a deep dislike for humanity and its selfish ways. The writer actually highlights the selfishness and the gross obtuseness with which racists treat the African – Americans and the bigoted male chauvinists treat women. The story thus sensitizes us to the needs of all those whom we treat as others. It takes due recognition of the fact that animals also suffer mentally and emotionally. The story reveals the callousness which we unconsciously show when we treat animals as commodities and not as living creatures who also undergo emotional and psychological turmoil just like us. Alice Walker also touches indirectly upon the sensitive issues of slavery and racism in this story.

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Summary of the Poem

The narrator and his friend rented a small house at a beautiful spot with extensive grassy fields around the house. It had several windows which would provide a scenic view of the place. The narrator saw his closest neighbour – a large white horse who was grazing the grass and enjoying its walk. The horse, Blue, would stroll about in the five acres of fenced land where he could graze and move about. The owner of the house used to live somewhere else and Blue was reared up by the narrator’s next door neighbour. Sometimes, somebody could be seen riding on Blue and then pat on its flanks.

The narrator and his companion started feeding apples to Blue which he would enjoy. Blue would come and stand by the apple tree and on seeing the narrator or his companion would whine, breathe noisily and produce loud sound by thumping the ground with his feet. This meant that he wanted apples. The narrator would also enjoy collecting apples and holding them before Blue. The writer in this way makes us aware of the full existence of the horse. We get to know how animals also want company and love to receive affectionate attention from those around them. In fact the horse loomed large in the narrator’s mind and he himself felt rather small before that “broad-breasted enormity”. He also recollected his childhood riding: how he was thrown from the horse and how he fell against the tree. He recalled that the members of his family did not consider riding safe for him. After that he preferred walking to horse riding.

The narrator did not know earlier how deeply horses could also feel. He found that the life of Blue was terribly lonely and boring. The narrator regretted having overlooked the fact that all living beings, including animals, could communicate with one another. Living with animals in our childhood can make us sharply aware of this, but by the time we are grown up, we tend to forget all this and usually shut out the animal world from our minds. The narrator rightly calls animals “completed creations” as they do not change with the passage of time. He maintained that animals communicate in their own way but human beings ignore that. Now, however, he could understand Blue’s eyes and his need of apples and for affectionate companions.

The narrator also brings in the issue of racial differences prevalent in U.S.A. He tells us how a black woman who looks after and nurses a white infant just like her child is later ignored or treated as other. Her sweat and hardships are forgotten and she is called “old mammy” when these infants grow up. Even a white woman would treat her in the same manner as if she is not a fellow human being, but an inferior being. She would express her failure to understand Negroes because their race is different. She would not even understand what the black people really wanted. For her, they are no more than objects who can move about on their own, do certain types of work when fed with instructions. She may also look upon them as ferocious and treacherous wild beasts against whom she has to keep herself constantly on guard. The narrator added that Indians were also treated “like animals” by those whites who believed in their racial superiority. The narrator observes that those Americans who marry non-English speaking women lead a joyous life initially. They, however, fail to maintain that happiness when their wives start learning English because the language makes them sharply aware of the feelings of racial superiority which were implicit in the whole mindset of their husbands but which did not come to the fore in their personal behaviour earlier. In some cases, this leads to a break down of the marriage relationship. Before learning the same language, these people could communicate effectively within a limited range of experience and lead a blissful life. The narrator also felt annoyed on seeing older people disapproving of the tendency among their young children to play and listen to the music of the oppressed African-Americans.

The narrator did not know for how long Blue had been leading a secluded life in those five beautiful but “boring acres”. However, in the second year after they had occupied that house, a change took place when Blue got the companionship of Brown – a brown mare. In the beginning, Blue hesitated to go near her, but after some days, he started moving about near Brown and making friendly advances towards her. They would amble or gallop together. Now, Blue won’t come to the apple tree as often as he used to do earlier. He had a different look and appeared free and contented with himself. Brown had brought about this magical change. This shows how close even animals are to human beings. But a racist society did not acknowledge the claims of friendship and inter-dependence which the African-American people could make on the whites. The narrator would feed both Blue and Brown and a mutual understanding developed between him and the horses. This relationship was based on acknowledgement of the mutuality and equality between human being and their fellow creatures who lived close to them. After some time Brown became pregnant, the purpose for which she had been brought near Blue for a temporary period.

One day the narrator found Blue waiting for someone. He shook the apple tree but Blue did not move. He, then, carried a few apples to Blue. Blue half-crunched the one and let the others fall on the ground. When he looked into Blue’s eyes, he found the expression of a person whose partner had either been auctioned like a slave or killed. He learnt that Brown was brought there only for the limited purpose of being impregnated and since the purpose had been served, she was taken back to her owner.

Answer: Blue, the closest neighbour of the narrator, was a large white horse that was fed with apples by the narrator. The narrator would feel small before the enormous size of the horse because as soon as one took into account his full existence, he became more impressive and beautiful than the smaller-sized narrator. Blue had flexible dark lips, huge, cublike-teeth and high, broad-breasted size. The muscular and giant body of Blue would leave the narrator feel petty before him.

Question 2: Why does the narrator prefer walking to riding on horseback?

Answer: The narrator was quite fond of riding a horse in his childhood. One day, when he was riding on Nan, his favourite mare, his brother intentionally frightened Nan and she threw the narrator against the trunk of a tree. His head struck against the tree and he fell unconscious. He had to have bed rest for a few days. He was advised not to ride a horse because it was not safe for him. After that accident the narrator preferred walking to riding on horseback. He developed towards the horses an attitude of shrewd caution which became a barrier in any kind of communication between him and the horses.

Question 3: What feelings were evoked in the narrator by the bored expression of the horse in summer?

Answer: The secluded and weary life of Blue in summer shocked the narrator. Although the horse had five beautiful acres grassy land where he could tramp yet he did not feel happy there. The narrator also felt startled when he realized that he had forgotten how animals could communicate. Man can change, he formed new opinions, but animals generally did not change much because it was their nature to be authentically and fully themselves and express their full being in whatever they did.

Question 4: Why does the writer call animals “completed creations”?

Answer: The writer calls animals “completed creations” because it is their basic disposition to express themselves as they are and not partially. Man, in his childhood, can learn how effectively animals communicate but he tends to forget this when he grows up. But animals don’t change and continue to express themselves fully in all their gestures. Man grows and develops, adds new dimensions to his being through history. Animals, on the other hand, remain fully formed as nature makes them. Theirs is not a partially formed being. The fact that animals never change their disposition makes them “completed creations”.

Question 5: What change did the arrival of a brown companion bring in Blue’s attitude?

Answer: When a brown mare was brought in that five acre grassy plot, Blue’s life got transformed. He did not become friendly with Brown immediately. However, after a few days they became good friends and started ambling and galloping together. Blue became busy with his new companion Brown. He even stopped coming under the apple tree to fraternise with the narrator, because he was no longer lonely and bored. He appeared independent, self-satisfied and had a particular look of his own which made the onlooker feel that he had a sense of well-being in full measure.

Question 6: Why did Blue stop eating apple? What more changes followed in him?

Answer: Blue spent a blissful life with his partner Brown until she was taken away from the grassy land after she had become pregnant. Now, he turned desperate and started making crazy gestures. He felt desolate and was emotionally shattered. He stopped eating apples offered by the narrator because of a sense of apathy that had settled on him. In his desperation, he would gallop furiously, whine continuously till he was exhausted. He often struck the ground angrily with his hooves. He would also butt himself against the tree. His eyes remained glued towards the road down which his companion had been taken away.

Question 7: ‘All the apples in the world would not change that fact’, says the narrator. What fact?

Answer: Blue could not bear separation from Brown and felt emotionally broken. He started behaving in an altogether different manner when he lost the company of Brown. His eyes were full of despair and hopelessness. He felt a void within him which could not be filled with anything. Eating apples from the hands of the narrator looked a very paltry thing as compared to the loss he had suffered. Even hundred apples or more could be of no significance to him now. His eyes seemed to be filled with disgust for all humans because of the cruelty done to him by those who had taken away Brown from him. He did not, therefore, feel like fraternizing with the narrator any more. He, too, was one of the humans, after all. These changes which had taken place in him under the impact of despair gave him the look of a real beast. This would not change even if he was given all the apples in the world. Actually, he had created a special barrier between himself and human beings to save himself from further violence.

Question 8: ‘Looking out the window at the fog that lay like a ribbon over the meadow, I saw another horse’. What figure of speech has been used here?

Answer: The figure of speech used in this line is a simile. A similarity has been drawn between the line of fog and a ribbon laid over the meadow. Further, the writer has used imagery in this line because the simile links two images here. An image is a picture created out of words. In other words, it is a mental image that a reader experiences while reading a literary work. For the vehicle of the simile, an image has been created in “the fog that lay like a ribbon over the meadow”. The image of the ribbon brings out the contrast between the grassy land and the stretched line of fog.

Long-Answer Questions

Question 1: The writer says about animals: ‘They are in fact ‘complete’ creations (at least they seem to be, so much more than we) who are not likely to change’. What light does this observation threw on the comparative ways of humans and animals?

Answer: “Am I Blue” describes an important episode in the life of Blue – a horse. It shows how an animal feels and to what extent he suffers due to indifference of man. The real purpose of the writer in this story is to make us realize that animals are not merely sub-human or an inferior and partial for existence which would make them negligible beings when compared to human. Actually they have full and complete being which is different from that of human being but not inferior to them. In some ways, their existence is in fact better than that of human beings, if we keep the comparison limited to quality like need for companionship and the sense of acute loss that separation from a companion brings. Not many human beings will suffer as much as Blue does, when separated from Brown by the cruel and selfish human beings. Animals are complete beings in another sense. They do not pretend, they are what they are, authentically there.

Question 2: How does the writer interweave slavery and inter-racial marriage into the plot?

Answer: In “Am I Blue” Alice Walker interweaves slavery and inter-racial marriage in a skillful and effective manner. She brings forth the pitiable condition of the AfricanAmericans who were ill-treated by those believing in their racial superiority and reduced them to a sub-human status very much like what many of us do in the case of animals. Our treatment of animals becomes a powerful symbol of racial obtuseness and racial subjugation. The story brings out the similarity between our inferiorizing treatment of animals and the attitude of those white women towards the African-American women who brought up and looked after their children as nurses and wet mothers. These black mummies are soon forgotten and sold to some other families when they become useless for them. The white woman would also express herinability to understand Negroes for being different in colour and features. Alice Walker further states that the black women were misused by their white owners in the same way as Blue was used by the owners of Brown. They were used by the white racists to gratify their carnal desires and later would be ignored completely as if they never existed for them.

Those Americans lead a “happy” life who marry non-English speaking people so long as their spouses don’t know English language and can be treated as subhuman pets. But they fail to enjoy their life when their partners learn English and start speaking it. This type of inter-racial marriages which are not based on the full recognition of the human dignity of the spouse become a curse and lead to divorces.

Question 3: What prompts the narrator to say: ‘I am eating misery, I thought, as I took the first bite. And spit it out’?

Answer: Alice Walker has depicted the cold and mean attitude of man towards animals in “Am I Blue”. The narrator in the story is quite concerned about Blue and his shocked state of vacuity after his companion Brown is taken away from him. He could share the feelings of dejection and emptiness in the life of Blue. He feels ashamed of the kind of ill treatment human beings give to animals without any sense of guilt or uneasiness. The whole attitude of Blue undergoes a change and a look of disgust for mankind could be seen in his eyes for the entire humanity. This is responsible for the uneasiness and disgust the narrator feels for himself as a human being and forces him to spit out the morsel he had taken to his mouth.

The narrator felt pained and guilty when he realized that for most men animals were merely images and they ignored their feelings as living beings. Their life is made short, laborious and miserable by mercenary men who discard them as and when they become useless for them. Man consumes milk, eggs and other eatables given by animals but he never cares for them for their own sake. All this filled the narrator with a sense of disgust and he spat out the morsel after he had taken only the first bite.

Question 4: What is the theme of the story “Am I Blue”? What lesson does it convey?

Answer: In “Am I Blue” Alice Walker has enabled us to feel the powerful emotional shock which animals have to bear because of indifferent and mean treatment they receive from human beings. The story also puts forward the plea that man should rise above the selfish and opportunistic attitude which he has adopted towards animals. Man should consider them as living creatures who ought to recognize the full stature of their being. He should particularly take cognizance of the fact that animals have strong ties of affection and companionship and they also have a sturdy sense of independence which should be respected. We should also not ignore the ways by which animals try to communicate with one another and even with human beings who live close to them. The story makes a plea that animals should not be used as mere objects for personal gains.

The story also throws light on the racial differences prevalent in the American society. It shows the commodification of the African-Americans who were ill-treated by the racist whites. “Am I Blue” further presents the problem of inter-racial marriages which are not based on recognition of parity of status of the spouse.

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Analysis of "Am I Blue?" by Alice Walker

Updated 18 October 2023

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Category Literature

Topic Literature Review

Introduction

In the essay, "Am I Blue?" Alice Walker, who is a black woman uses her writing to show the nature of black man slavery, unfair treatment of women in the society as well as unfair treatment of animals. To achieve this, she tells a story of a horse called "Blue", which belongs to a neighbor and apparently, it is not treated well. The essay appears to be argumentative in nature as it tries to achieve the purpose of changing the reader's mind. She does this by pointing out the rights of the animals as well as the brutality that comes as a result of slavery. At one point, he compares her eyes to those of blue in the event that her partner had been born or sold into slavery.

Attracting the Reader's Attention

The first thing that Walker tries to do in her essay is to try and attract her readers. In the first two paragraphs, she does this successfully by describing the small house which is in a very beautiful place. Just happens to be a good narration technique because the rest of the essay is full of her angry tone which is deeply concerned with the rights of the animals as well as black slavery. When you read the essay, the first impression is that Walker just wants to display her literary work. However, you later discover that her primary concern and intention is aimed at persuading the reader to be mindful of animals. She does this by making the reader guilty of the things that are considered normal. In order to give the reader some time to think about those rights, she occasionally changes her tone throughout the essay. According to her, there happen to be some human qualities in animals. For that matter, she tries hard to persuade the reader into believing it. Her efforts are seen because she is using both emotional and rational appeals. At some point, she claims that she had forgotten that human animals and nonhuman animals can communicate very well.

Oppression and Animal Rights

Looking closely, it is clear that Alice Walker essay, 'Am I Blue' is against oppression in general. She only brings it clear to the reader by expressing animal rights. So, in general, she wants to change the way readers think about human as well as nonhuman animals. She shows the reality of how some people, (In this case black people) are treated unfairly to the extent that they are enslaved. To show us the readers that some people are considered inferior and therefore oppressed, Walker makes a comparison between marginalized humans and animals. She clearly writes about how European settlers treated Native Americans like animals since they considered them to be animals. But the settlers not being able to see beyond their oppressive nature didn't see how harmful that treatment was. For that matter, Alice Walker writes with an aim of changing the mind of her reader about all this scenario. According to her, this may be a way of reclaiming humanity.

In conclusion, Walker shows that social relations that are considered natural come from injustices of the past. Even though they are considered to be inevitable, they can be stopped by the resolve to do the right thing at all times. The resolve to do the right thing is seen when Walker sits to have a steak with a friend but after remembering the Blue's fate, she spits them out of her mouth.

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Alice Walker

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Rhetorical Analysis of Alice Walker’s “Am I Blue”

Rhetorical Analysis of Alice Walker’s “Am I Blue”

In Am I Blue? by Alice Walker, the emotions of animals are compared to human emotions. Walker argues that society only associates emotions with humans, and that animals are often considered incapable of having emotions. Using the example of a horse named Blue, Walker shows how animals can display emotions such as loneliness, happiness, and disappointment. She also parallels the idea of humans disregarding animal feelings for human selfishness, such as in the food industry. Overall, Walker emphasizes the need to recognize and respect the emotions of animals.

In the essay, “Am I Blue? ” by Alice Walker, Walker discusses the emotions that animals have and the similarities that those emotions have to human emotions. In this way, Walker is comparing her emotions, as a human, to the emotions of a horse (Blue). Walker uses imagery to portray this comparison. When speaking of the horse, Walker uses phrasing that illuminates the human characteristics of Blue. Walker claims that “Blue was lonely. Blue was horribly lonely and bored”, which are emotions that one would expect only a human to have.

One of the arguments Walker makes throughout the piece is that man only associates emotion as capable for humans, because as a society, we consider the ability to feel emotions is restricted to only humans. Furthermore, our society, or at least the society of the slavery period, believes that human emotions are restricted to those that are white, basically those who are human in the eyes of the dominant white male. Therefore, as Walker points out, the Indians and the slaves are “’like animals’”, so they are not capable of having such emotions.

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When in reality, the ‘animals’ that are discussed in this piece are most likely more capable of displaying these emotions than the dominant white male is. Walker shows the transition of Blue’s emotions as paralleled to the transitions of human emotions through the finding of love and a companion. When the family gets a brown horse for Blue to mate with, Blue becomes attached to this horse, as he shows his feelings of happiness and “this is itness” through the expression in his eyes.

However, Blue becomes sad and disconnected from his happiness when they take the brown horse away. The feelings of sadness and disappointment are not only portrayed through Blue’s expression in his eyes, but also through his actions as “He managed to half-crunch one[apple]. The rest he let fall to the ground. ” The disappointment and “hatred” seen in Blue’s eyes emphasizes the lack of understanding humans have for the emotions and feelings that animals are capable of, therefore they end up disregarding these feelings because humans need to do what is best for them.

Walker also parallels the idea of humans disregarding the feelings of animals for human selfishness through the use of animals for food. She discusses how we do not consider the impact that the methods of production have on the animals (basically, we disregard animal rights). So she ends the piece by claiming that she was “eating misery”, which again shows the emotions that animals have that are so nonchalantly disregarded.

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“Am I Blue?” a Story by Alice Walker Essay

The story Am I Blue? by Alice Walker narrates about a horse named Blue. At the very beginning, the story is an ordinary account about author’s horse, but further exploration provides a deeper interpretation of emotions that animal experiences. In particular, the tale introduces a vivid comparison between the emotions of animals and those of humans.

Alice Walker, therefore, strives to convince the readers to understand sufferings and hardships that animals can feel, as well as persuades that animals can experience the same as humans do. In this respect, the literary piece aims to prove that emotion is a universal concept which cannot be judged with regard to gender, race, ethnicity, or social status. Moreover, animals can teach humans to experience genuine emotions, as well as cognize the nature of feelings.

Walker emphasizes that animals, particularly horses, have emotions that differ from those displayed by humans. She provides a comparative analysis by describing the suffering experienced by the horse and contrasting it to human suffering. In the story, Walker pays attention to the eyes of the animal, noting, “…I had forgotten the depth of feeling one could see in horses’ eyes” (Walker 380).

In such a way, the author tries to explain that horses can express their feelings in their eyes. Walker also reveals a sense of disappointment with humanity’s attitude toward animals. The story, however, evaluates animals as creatures that are not capable of disclosing their emotions. In this respect, Walker tells humans to reconsider their treatment and take a closer look at animals’ capability to experience suffering and grief.

In the story, humanity does not differ much from animals, which is directly highlighted in the title of the narrative Am I Blue?. ‘Blue’ can symbolize sadness and loneliness and, therefore, it is represented as an allegoric name for the horse. So, Walker manages to render frustration in the horse’s expression when the breeding process is finished and Blue had to be taken away. In this situation, Walker writes, “If I had been born into slavery, and my partner had been sold or killed, my eyes would have looked like that” (382). Once again, the author resorts to the problem of national identity and compares the horse with an enslaved person.

The author refers to the comparison of African Americans and the indigenous population and indicates similarities between these groups. In fact, the story introduces the impact of destruction, as depicted in Blue’s case. The Blue’s look, therefore, becomes “…more painful than the look of despair; the look of disgust with human beings, with life” (Walker 382). Through this statement, the author tries to show the reluctance of humans to analyze animals deeper than the surface of things. The novel focuses on the evident connection between animals and humans.

In conclusion, the story Am I Blue? presents a comparative analysis of human emotions through the employment of animal imagery. In particular, Walker indicates the evident similarity between humans and animals and highlights such urgent topics as racism, identity, and inequality. Also, by introducing a detailed description of emotions and feelings experienced by the horse, the author proves that animals are more apt for disclosing their genuine attitudes to the world as compared to humans who sometimes fail to express themselves freely. Such a perspective is especially appropriate for discussing the problem of slavery.

Works Cited

Walker, Alice. “Am I Blue?”. pp. 379-382. Print.

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Alice Walker's Literary Legacy

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Celebrate the literary legacy of the iconic Alice Walker. Immerse yourself in the profound words of this Pulitzer Prize-winning author. Walker's work, from 'The Color Purple' to her empowering essays, resonates with timeless wisdom.

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  1. "Am I Blue" by Alice Walker: Analysis & Summary

    The story Am I Blue? by Alice Walker narrates about a horse named Blue. At the very beginning, the story is an ordinary account about author's horse, but further exploration provides a deeper interpretation of emotions that animal experiences. In particular, the tale introduces a vivid comparison between the emotions of animals and those of humans.

  2. Alice Walker

    Alice Walker, Am I Blue This is one of the 2 works written by the controversial Pulitzer Prize Winning African American Novelist, Political, and Human Rights activist… Read More 1 viewer...

  3. Am I Blue Alice Walker Essay

    Her writing will make you feel everything she is feeling. It will make you think about the world in a different way. In "Am I Blue," she explores the emotions of a horse named Blue. The essay's aim is to show another side of animals as well as demonstrate human-like qualities in horses.

  4. Am I Blue Alice Walker Analysis

    Am I Blue Alice Walker Analysis Decent Essays 763 Words 4 Pages Open Document In Alice Walker's story "Am I Blue", the author illustrates the suffering animals go through, and compares it to how similar their suffering is to the suffering people are facing and have faced in the past.

  5. Sentence Variety in Alice Walker's Essay 'Am I Blue?'

    Alice Walker's essay "Am I Blue?" is a powerful meditation on the effects of enslavement and the nature of freedom. In these opening paragraphs, Walker introduces the central emblem of the essay, a horse named Blue.

  6. "Am I Blue" by Alice Walker: Analysis & Summary

    The story Am I Blue? by Alice Walker narrates about a horse named Blue. At the very beginning, the story is an ordinary account about author's horse, but further exploration provides a deeper interpretation of emotions that animal experiences. In particular, the tale introduces a vivid comparison between the emotions of animals and those of humans.

  7. Narrating Human and Animal Oppression: Strategic Empathy and

    It tries to do so by approaching the intersections of human and animal oppression in Alice Walker's iconic essay "Am I Blue?" from the perspective of empirical ecocriticism, a branch of ecocriticism aimed at studying the impact of environmental narratives by combining the empirical methods typical of contemporary social science with ...

  8. Alice Walker's "am I Blue?": Allegory for Ecofeminism

    Allegory for Ecofeminism Bilal Tawfiq Hamamra Alice Walker's "Am I Blue?" (1986), the protagonist of which is a horse named Blue, reveals Walker's interest in animals and her criticism of the harsh ways human beings treat them. ... Print. Lioi, A. "An End to Cosmic Loneliness: Alice Walker's Essays as Abolitionist Enchantment ...

  9. Alice Walker's "am I Blue?": Allegory for Ecofeminism

    A Quarterly Journal of… 7 July 2019. Environmental Science, Philosophy. Alice Walker's "Am I Blue?" (1986), the protagonist of which is a horse named Blue, reveals Walker's interest in animals and her criticism of the harsh ways human beings treat them. Walker points out that "Am I Blue?" is "about how humans treat horses and ...

  10. Am I Blue

    Alice Walker makes us aware through this story of the emotional needs which animals do have and the bonds of affection they develop for each other. We are generally obtuse and selfish in our attitude towards the animals and callously reduce their being to a few gross appetites.

  11. Am I Blue by Alice Walker

    Am I Blue by Alice Walker | Goodreads Jump to ratings and reviews Want to read Buy on Amazon Rate this book Am I Blue Alice Walker 3.92 37 ratings8 reviews A short story by Alice Walker discussing a horse she once knew on a farm she once lived. Genres Short Stories Book details & editions About the author Alice Walker 267 books6,434 followers

  12. Am I Blue?

    Alice Walker's essay "Am I Blue?" is a powerful meditation on the effects of slavery and the nature of freedom. In these two opening paragraphs, Walker introduces the central emblem of...

  13. Alice Walker's "am I Blue?": Allegory for Ecofeminism

    11-37 A Lioi Lioi, A. "An End to Cosmic Loneliness: Alice Walker's Essays as Abolitionist Enchantment." Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment, vol. 15, no. 1, 2008, pp....

  14. Walker's "Am I blue" Analysis

    Walker's "Am I blue" Analysis Bonnie Chen · Follow 4 min read · Feb 13, 2022 -- Photo: Nicole Schultz/pinterest The Meaning of "Being Blue" In this text, "being blue" probably means some...

  15. "Am I Blue?" a Story by Alice Walker

    📝 The story "Am I Blue?" by Alice Walker narrates about a horse named Blue. At the very beginning, the story is an ordinary account about author's horse, bu...

  16. Am I Blue: Alice Walker

    In her essay "Am I Blue" she discovers the feelings of a horse named Blue. The essay is meant to show a different side of animals and show the audience the human-like traits that horses have. She compares the oppression of the African Americans and American Indians to the way we now treat animals.

  17. Analysis of "Am I Blue?" by Alice Walker

    In the essay, "Am I Blue?" Alice Walker, who is a black woman uses her writing to show the nature of black man slavery, unfair treatment of women in t... 572 words. Read essay for free.

  18. "Am I Blue" Summary Free Essay Example

    Categories: Alice Walker. Download. Summary, Pages 2 (273 words) Views. 7514. In the essay, "Am I Blue?" from Living by the Word in 1986 by Alice Walker, Walker explains how animals can display similar emotions to that of humans. She brings attention to her readers how to understand that an animal can experience the same emotions as humans do.

  19. Rhetorical Analysis of Alice Walker's "Am I Blue"

    In the essay, "Am I Blue? " by Alice Walker, Walker discusses the emotions that animals have and the similarities that those emotions have to human emotions. In this way, Walker is comparing her emotions, as a human, to the emotions of a horse (Blue). Walker uses imagery to portray this comparison.

  20. "Am I Blue?" a Story by Alice Walker Essay

    The story Am I Blue? by Alice Walker narrates about a horse named Blue. At the very beginning, the story is an ordinary account about author's horse, but further exploration provides a deeper interpretation of emotions that animal experiences. In particular, the tale introduces a vivid comparison between the emotions of animals and those of ...

  21. Summary of the essay "Am I Blue" By Alice Walker

    Hello friends today I am going to share about a essay named " Am I Blue" Composed by Alice Walker. So watch the full video and like Share Comment Subscribe f...

  22. Am I Blue Alice Walker Questions

    "Am I Blue?", Alice Walker . 1.) How, according to the narrator, was Blue similar to humans? According to the narrator, Blue was similar to humans by saying they were completed creations and can communicate well. Just in their own way. We humans just fail to realize that. 2.) Explain how Walker uses a number of analogies to establish this ...

  23. Alice Walker's Literary Legacy

    Celebrate the literary legacy of the iconic Alice Walker. Immerse yourself in the profound words of this Pulitzer Prize-winning author. ... Posted at 11:58 AM, Feb 21, ... Walker's work, from 'The ...