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  • Essay / Rhetorical Analysis of Beauty: When the Other Dancer is the Self

    In the story, Beauty: When the Other Dancer is the Self, it is written by Alice Walker and explains how the perception of anything whether by someone is always influenced by experiences. Alice discusses her perception of beauty and how an eye injury changed her perception of beauty early in her life. Her goal is to show her perspective on inner beauty and to show that she can be different from others. Throughout the story, she uses pathos, logos, and ethos to keep the reader hooked on her argument about beauty while using her early life experiences. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on 'Why violent video games should not be banned'? Get an original essay Early in Alice's life, she described herself as a very intelligent, pretty and confident young girl and everything changed when she was shot in the eye with a BB gun bullet. Throughout the story, you can see how her self-confidence transforms from Alice being a very confident person to having virtually no self-confidence by mid-childhood. At first she would describe herself as the prettiest and the reader could also see her confidence when she talks about having to give her Easter speech and receiving compliments on her beauty. Then the author explains how everything changed when she was shot in the eye by a BB gun bullet. Alice says her parents didn't take her to the doctor until a week later and her doctor told her, "The eyes are nice," he says. “If one is blind, the other will probably become blind too.” This quote displays logos because the doctor was referring to medical evidence interpreting what could have happened if it wasn't for his luck. After the incident, she was hit with a lot of bullying and questions about her eye, which made her lose confidence and even led her to change schools several times. When Alice was 12, she said she abused herself, saying, "I rant and rave in front of the mirror." I beg him to clarify before morning. I tell him I hate him and despise him. (Walker). This quote is pathetic because it shows how unhappy she was with herself and her appearance, which causes the audience to sympathize with her. When she indirectly calls herself ugly by saying, “I don’t pray for sight. I pray for beauty. (Walker) This is another use of pathos and it causes the audience to sympathize with her. When she was 14, she went to the hospital because they had a "ball" removed from her injured eye and removed all the nasty white stuff. After that, she thought she had become a whole new person and now raises her head and says: "I raised my head, the class work comes from my lips as perfectly as the Easter speeches, and I leave high school as valedictorian, most popular student. and queen, hardly believing in my luck” (Walker). This quote shows ethos by discussing the genius and validity of the author as well as the qualities of the author throughout the story. Towards the end of the story, she's a little older and she's having an interview with a reporter, and she's still very embarrassed by her. her eyes and she worries that she won't get enough sleep and her eyes will look tired. This shows that she is still very self-conscious about her appearance, even years after the incident. When Alice is 27, she worries whether her daughter will be embarrassed because her mother's eyes are different from everyone else's. Alice says that "since birth, I have worried about her..