for a surgery to remove the scar tissue, and she once again engages in society and even becomes the valedictorian of her class. But years later, she tries to avoid being on the cover of a magazine, and her lover asks her to be honest about her reasoning. She confides, "Because in all probability, my eye won't be straight."

Self-Doubt:

Without her beauty, Walker cannot see her true talents. She even asks her family if she changed after the accident, and they ask her what she means. She recalls how she became a shell of herself and how she could no longer do well in school. She recalls that she was treated so poorly that her parents sent her to live with her grandmother so that she could attend her old school. She wonders if she imagined the anguish of never looking up. And when she is asked to be on the cover of the magazine, her eye becomes a symbol of how people may not accept her or her writing. It is only through her daughter's eyes that she sees with clarity her true worth and dances in her beauty.

Self-Acceptance:

Walker's young daughter teaches her to really accept herself as she is. Her daughter is fascinated with her eye because she has a "world" in it, just like her favorite show on television. Walker finally sees that through her eye and even the fear of going completely blind, she has soaked up her life visually. She composes poetry about things she could never have appreciated without this life experience. And finally, she sees herself as "beautiful, whole and free."

I think that the themes mentioned play a prominent role throughout the short story.  The notion of beauty is one that drives the entire narrative.  Walker goes through three distinct periods in the short story . The first is one of socially accepted notions of beauty.  This is the period of her life where she is deemed as "the prettiest" or the one with the most beauty.  The second phase is one where she is disfigured and the social experience of what it is like to be unwanted or ugly.  The last phase is one where she strives to make peace with both of these experiences.  It is here where we see the elements of self doubt enter the narrative (The magazine cover discussion as well as the fears of her child examining Walker's eye would be points of reference here.)  At the same time, the ending where Walker dreams, listening to the Stevie Wonder song, of the dance with "the other," and where the collision between both experiences finally ceases would be an instance where one can see self acceptance present.

Alice Walker reminisces about a critical event, an “accident,” in her life that left her blind in one eye. The essay is broken into episodes before and after the accident.

Years before the accident, the narrator, a small child, is dressed up and excited about the prospect of accompanying her father to the county fair. She dances in front of him to show off her “starchy frock” and “biscuit-polished patent leather shoes and lavender socks” and implores him to choose her as one of the lucky siblings who will get to go on the adventure.

“Take me Daddy; I say with assurance; “I’m the prettiest.”

Three years later, she makes a speech at the family’s church on Easter Sunday. She is wearing a “green, flocked, scalloped-hem dress (handmade by my adoring sister, Ruth).” Her shoes are polished, and everything looks perfect. The people are enraptured when she gives her speech and say, “Oh, isn’t she the cutest thing!” They admire her outfit and her general appearance, but most of all; they admire her “sassiness.”

Nearly three years later, she is a tomboy playing with her brothers when one of them shoots her in the eye with a BB gun. By the time she is taken to the doctor, it is too late to save the eye, and she spends her youth and early teens fiercely embarrassed by the very visible scar in the damaged eye. This causes her to turn away from people, lest they see her scar and stare. The narrator says,

Now when I stare at people—a favorite pastime, up to now—they will stare back. Not at the “cute” little girl, but at her scar. For six years I do not stare at anyone because I do not raise my head.

She does poorly in school. Prior to the accident, she had been “something of a whiz”; now, classmates tease her mercilessly. She feels alone and alienated. She has a mentor who “makes life bearable,” but the kids torment her until she beats one up one day and puts an end to the bullying.

Years later, her brother takes her to a plastic surgeon to minimize the scar. She begins to raise her head again, has friends, has a boyfriend, excels in school again, and is well on the path to personal and professional success.

Almost immediately I become a different person from the girl who does not raise her head. Or so I think.

The episodes show that her beauty is a reflection of her confidence. Initially, it stems from her self-confidence and “sassiness.” After the accident, her loss of confidence causes her to fail socially and in school, but after the plastic surgery, she regains her self-esteem.

When the author notes, “Almost immediately I become a different person. ... Or so I think,” she emphasizes that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. In this case, the beholder is the author herself (as indicated in the title). When she loses her self-confidence, she feels that she is no longer beautiful. When she thinks that she becomes a different person after surgery, she regains her self-esteem again, and everything around her changes.