Alice Walker Am I Blue

“Am I Blue?” Critique
“Am I Blue?” by Alice Walker leaves the reader with an unanswered question: Why is the author blue? Is Alice Walker blue because people fail to recognize the relationship between humans and animals? Maybe, she is blue because of slavery or animal cruelty. Granted, Alice Walker is passionate about all these topics; however, she fails to organize her ideas into a clear and compelling argument that can be easily identified by the reader.
Alice Walker begins her essay with a personal anecdote about her neighbor’s horse, Blue. She recalls memories of feeding Blue apples. Eventually, Walker comes to develop an emotional attachment to Blue and humanizes the horse’s emotions. When Walker discovers that Blue was introduced

She says, “There are those who never once have even considered animals’ rights: those who have been taught that animals actually want to be used and abused by us…” She provides no evidence that animals are abused by humans which weakens her argument. Walker goes further to suggest that Blue is a slave in his five-acre pasture. She says, “I do not know how long Blue had inhabited his five beautiful, boring acres before we moved into our house; a year after we had arrived—and had also traveled to other valleys, other cities, other worlds—he was still there.” She suggests the injustice that Blue does not have the privilege of leaving his pasture. One might argue that having a five-acre pasture to roam around in is far from being in bondage. Walker does not provide proof that Blue is actually enslaved in his pasture. She gives animals human emotions without any concrete support.
Ultimately, “Am I Blue?” leaves the reader feeling confused and unable to identify the author’s thesis. Alice Walker’s disorganization makes it difficult for the reader to understand the purpose of her essay. Overall, she has disconnected ideas and instead of providing evidence, relies on emotional appeal to convince her audience that animals experience human