I got my scuba gear! Do you?

As we get older more and more we are asked to think deeper and dream bigger. I am all for the dreaming bigger, but this week the thinking deeper has got me stumped. Its not because the questions are too hard or the words are too large, its because I, Katie Brown, have found myself with a sinus infection the second week of school! (I have a talent for acquiring bad luck, truly.) So when posed with questions regarding the deeper meaning of a story (and over life in general) instead of being able to use a surging supply of brain power like usual, I am left with a sputtering stream of "Sayyy whattt?". Whats a girl to do?!

First I think its necessary to determine what thinking deeper really is and what it involves. By definition critical thinking is: "An essential tool of inquiry; purposeful, self-regulatory judgment that results in interpretation, analysis, evaluation, and inference, as well as explanation of the evidential, conceptual, methodological, criteriological, or contextual considerations upon which that judgment is based." (www.netnet.org/students/student%20glossary.htm) In simpler terms, I think to critical think is to look beyond the facts and given information to delve deeper into the essay or topic at hand. Like a scuba diver in the coral reef searching for a new coral species, critical thinkers are diving deeper to gain something from the story that others may not. As a "story scuba diver" its my job to find the less obvious meaning of the story. And if I am able to build a connection, even better!


Scuba gear on and oxygen pumping, I dive into this week's essay. Titled Beauty When the other Dancer is the Self, by Alice Walker, this narrative essay is based on Walker's life. Specifically, how her life changed after "the accident". While the bulk of the story revolves around Walker coming to term with the loss of sight and visible scaring in one of her eyes, there is so much more that she hints at but doesn't necessarily tell us readers. Through out her essay she hints at the racism she faced growing up and at the bond she had with her mother, but I believe that the main underlying theme of this essay is anger. Not fury, just anger. The type of anger you feel when someone steals your favorite bicycle or beloved dog. And despite her never saying so, Alice was angry.

Calling the day of her injury "the accident" is hint number one. By putting "the accident" into quote marks she is implying that it wasn't really an accident to begin with. Her brothers probably weren't aiming specifically for her eye, but more then likely they were aiming for her. I also get a sense that Alice's brothers never really apologized to her for all the harm they caused. In her essay she says, "So what, if my brothers grew up to buy even more powerful pellet guns for their sons and to carry real guns themselves," with a tinge of resentment. Not only did they steal her her ability to see the world out of both eyes, but they also stole the confident way in which she saw herself. Their irresponsible actions changed her life yet they still didn't seem to learn their lesson.

I also think that Alice was upset with her family for not realizing how much anguish "the accident" caused her. She was tormented by both her peers and by herself and not a single person in her family reached out to help her. Instead of showing Alice the beauty of her eye, they swept it under the rug and left her to be tormented by her peers. As if that wasn't enough they sent her away to live with her grandmother in her old town. Can you doubt her for feeling the way she did? If only they knew the extent of her pain... "That night, as I do almost every night, I abuse my eye. I rant and rave at it, in front of the mirror. I plead with it to clear up before morning. I tell it I hate and despise it. I do not pray for sight. I pray for beauty," If or when her family members read this, I wonder if they felt any guilt or remorse? I would have. I do now even.