Beauty CAN be Important!

A wise woman by the name of Marilyn Monroe once said that "it is important that all little girls be told they are pretty, even if they are not." I do agree with this statement. After all, how else is a girl supposed to build self-esteem into her adulthood? Dorothy Allison growing up never heard this statement. In her "neck of the woods," it was unlikely any young girl, particularly in the Allison clan, was seen as beautiful. I do think that beauty can be something important; it helps to build confidence in one self as well as to establish a sense of self-worth! But how can one do so when they are taught to be worth nothing?
Dorothy Allison explains on page 32 that "I have never allowed to be beautiful and female. I was born trash in a land where all the people all believe themselves natural aristocrats." While they may not be aristocrats, I do feel it's important to be told when is beautiful and worth something. In class, we questioned as to why Allison refers to herself as "trash" so openly. I think she does this because she is raised to belief based on her background and how the men in her family treated the women, that she, naturally is no different and is also inbred of trash. I feel that Allison might not be allowed to be beautiful because the males do not allow her to be. She shows examples of this, such as when her grandfather calls her grandmother an "ugly old woman," or when her uncles say it to her aunts. Other examples on page 36 are when her cousins say it to their sisters, and Allison's sisters said to her.
It is a whole addicting line of hurtful words and wounds being passed on through generation through generation, starting with the men, who perhaps feel differently of women in the country. Because Allison grows up hearing these statements, she feels that she could never be beautiful, which is why her aunt says to her on page 34, "Thank God your're smart." Her aunt also grew up to believe she was worthless and not beautiful, which essentially made Allison think she needed to search for other means of life.
It is important to feel beautiful, or even to find a sense of self-worth. I feel that if Allison was not raised this way, she would have had a better sense of self-esteem for this.