Reading Reflection

Reading Reflection Week One

Denise Thulen

ENG 125

Renee Martin-Kratzer

April 2, 2012

Imagine what it would feel like to be judged simply because your skin is a different color or because you are less fortunate than those around you. Imagine being a victim in a society that breeds hatred. 'The Welcome Table' by Alice Walker illustrates just this as an older, less fortunate black woman walks into a church and is instantly judged because of her color and her appearance. I am going to analyze this story using the reader-response approach (Clugston, 2010) because it has helped me try to expand my horizons and identify with every human being, not just the ones that look or act like me.

Before the author even started into the story, she started out with a piece dedicated to her sister. She was going to sit at the Welcome table, walk and talk with Jesus and tell God how she's treated. Eventually, she is going to be with God. With that said, I am a person of great faith and family and was instantly able to relate to the author as the statement she made was one of spiritual decent.

The story starts out with the authors use of guided imagery (Clugston, 2010) in representing the old woman. For example, when the author described her dress as withered and her head rag stained with grease from her many oily pigtails, I could imagine the indigenous state of the woman. Furthermore, the woman seemed aged or worn as the author metaphorically (Clugston, 2010) compared the wrinkles on the woman's face as etched and mapped for print.

The author tells the story from an omniscient (Clugston, 2010) point of view meaning that the author gives us the ability to know what everyone is thinking. For example, she walks into the church and instantly people assumed that she was a maid, mistress, cook, etc. and saw jungle orgies from an evil place.

The usher felt as if she had no right to be there and in fact told her to go away. Since the ladies of the church referred to the stranger as the old colored woman, I assume this is a church of strictly white people. As Walker provides the omniscient point of view, she also used guided imagery as a tool to evoke emotion and offer empathy into the old woman's experience.

The theme or idea behind this story (Clugston, 2010) talks about an old black woman's struggle for equality. With that said, I question what exactly her intentions were to walk a half mile in the freezing cold to a church where she would be the only black person there.

Did she know she was going to be the only black person there?