amy tan and alice walker

Alice Walker and Amy Tan are authors who base much of their writings on their cultural heritage. Their stories are different because Walker’s characters struggle due to their heritage while Tan’scharacter benefits from it. Alice Walker was born in 1944 in Eatonton, GA. The youngest of eight children, her parents were sharecroppers and dairy farmers. Because of an accident that left her disfigured and blind, she felt that she was ugly and scary to …

…follow in her footsteps. Dee does not respect her mother and wants to lead a different life but still wants ties to the past by collecting material belongings. When one reads Walker’s story, one might be tempted to decide who is right, Dee or Maggie. There are no decisions to be made when you read Tan’s story. Tan clearly has benefited from her cultural inheritance while Walker’s characters struggle because of theirs.