Alice Walker- 1955
Alice Walker's- Nineteen fifty-five Nineteen fifty-five is written by a remarkable author- Alice Walker. A blues singer and songwriter, Gracie Mae Still sold her song to a man she called the Deacon. A young man called Traynor sang her song exactly the same way and because everyone (especially the young girls) loved him so much, he soon became very rich and famous. He became the "Emperor of Rock and Roll". Although he seemed to have everything, he was not happy. He died still not knowing what the song meant and why everyone liked it so much. He was disappointed to learn that people only cared about his appearance rather than his talents.
There were many themes explored in the story. Besides exploitation of black songwriters, there is also the idea of people's superficiality, because people were only impressed by Traynor's image rather than authenticity. People only preferred Traynor's direct copy of Gracie Mae's song. In the Johnny Carson Show, first, Gracie Mae Still sang the song and then Traynor sang it exactly the same way: "He had followed every turning of my voice, side streets, avenues, red lights, train crossings and all. It give me a chill." Even before Traynor finished the song -which "he missed a couple of lines"- the "matronly squeals began". "Imagine squealing for twenty years and not knowing why you're squealing?" Although that was a direct copy of what Gracie Mae sang, "the audience claps politely for about two seconds" for her. The audience loved Traynor's appearance, not him.
Personal image and self-esteem are also very important in this short story. Although Gracie Mae was very fat and probably did not look good, she did not care what others thought and just lived her happy life. She said; "You see me coming and know somebody's there" besides, she said that she liked being fat. In the Johnny Carson show, Traynor tried to hug Gracie Mae but he could not because she was too fat and the...
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