LEH353 Literary Analysis of Alice Walker’s short story “Abortion”

Choose one of the questions below to answer in a typed MLA-formatted paper (between 2 to three pages). It helps to think of a theme in answering… Be sure to cite your sources. You must utilize/quote from a critical essay to show some kind of engagement: Cordell, Benjamin, or Washington. Note: you can’t use Cordell with Hopkins or Benjamin with Morrison. Apply something from the essay to another short story.

Question to be answered:

There is the literal abortion in Alice Walker’s short story. What else is in jeopardy of being aborted?

Think about themes: home (literal and metaphorical); family (mothers/daughters; sisters); sexual politics (e.g., relationships); sisterhood/friendship; domestic violence/abuse; body politics (e.g., sex, healthcare); children; class; trauma bonding/ptsd (post traumatic stress disorder); disability studies.

notes-

1. Abort/Terminate 

-Imani terminates her feelings of neglect in her relationship and goes to NEW YORK independently to get her abortion without her husband… when she returns she is not met with compassion and endured physical pain without any comfort or empathy from her husband

She feels lonely and I abandoned in making aborting certain 

-Imani terminates her role in politics and as a result her environment reduces herself to gender role ( wants to be more than mother and wife)

What else is in jeopardy of being aborted? 

Imani’s:

-relationship with her husband as result of him not meeting her emotional needs 

-her active role and passion in politics within her community 

-her ability to set goals for herself independently of her role as mother and wife; free will