Chapter Ⅰ “In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens”: Alice Walker's Activism and Writing

In my development as a human being and as a writer, I have been, it seems to me, extremely blessed, even while complaining. Wherever I have knocked, a door has opened. Wherever I have wondered, a path has appeared. I have been helped, supported, encouraged, and nurtured by people of all races, colors, and dreams; and I have, to the best of my ability, returned help, support, encouragement, and nurture. This receiving, returning, or passing on has been one of the most amazing, joyous, and continuous experiences of my life. (A.Walker, 1983: xviii)

Admittedly, Alice Walker went through quite a few unfortunate experiences like the shooting that blinded her right eye, the pregnancy that almost led to her suicidal, the divorce, her daughter's estrangement, and the like. She managed to walk away each time largely because of those kind-hearted people in her life, to whom her heart has been swelling with gratitude, as is depicted in the emotional statement above. Life has taught Walker that receiving and returning bring light, warmth, and happiness to each individual, male or female, white or colored. Only when people of different colors and races care for each other and help each other can the world develop equal and harmonious relationships between individuals, communities, or ethnic groups. Hence, as a writer and activist, Walker not simply shows great concern for the sexual and racial issues in her literary writing and social activism but also has put forward and elaborated her womanist philosophy, which stresses the commitment to “survival and wholeness of entire people, male and female.” (A. Walker, 1983: xi, italics original) Meanwhile she ceaselessly extends her womanist scope to such global issues as animal rights, homosexuality, and environmental destruction, and has been persistently striving for her womanist utopia, where not only people of all races and colors live harmoniously just like flowers of different kinds growing and blooming in “our mothers’ gardens” but also humankind and nature coexist in a peaceful and mutually beneficial way. What Walker has done and is doing is attributed to the grateful heart and her belief in a bright future. In other words, out of gratitude Walker is “in search of our mothers’ gardens” in her life through literary writing and social activism.