Nineteen Fifty-Five

Nineteen Fifty-Five

            The short story “Nineteen Fifty-Five” written by Alice Walker, included in You Can’t Keep a Good Woman Down, is an excellent representation of Alice Walker in all her genius. Expressing the point of views of two very different main characters and bringing her insight into the relationships between people, Walker tells the story of Elvis Presley and Big Mama Thornton in her own words and views. I do want to preface what you are about to read: this may be a small spoiler alert to what happens in the story, so if you do not want to know what happens, do not read on, but know that I strongly recommend you read the story.

             This compelling tale’s plot is not the only thing readers should take away from the story. Walker explains many themes that should be looked at and studied. One of these themes is the complexity of men and women interacting. Traynor and Gracie Mae may be the same in sharing musical ability, but being male and female puts up many walls that are hard to break down. The female world of being passive and doing whatever a man tells you to do, completely contradicts with the male role of always being right in what you want to do in life. Walker does a magnificent job of breaking those walls through a shared understanding both characters have for each other. Another barrier broken down through this story, is the relationship based upon an African-American woman versus a white man. Of course, during nineteen fifty-five racism was a big part of the culture, blacks and whites were not the same and most felt that way. At the beginning of the story, the deacon tells Gracie, “And you no doubt will become one of the big name colored recording artists. And then we can offer you another five hundred dollars for letting us do all this for you. And by God you'll be sittin' pretty!” The deacon knew for a fact that buying Gracie’s song would only help Traynor and not Gracie at all. Gracie, being black, would not receive any fame and she would not be recognized at all except for her name in small print on the record. Traynor and Gracie form a strong friendship that breaks the social norms of differences in skin color to see the true meaning to their meeting: music. Traynor works especially hard to achieve this relationship and it shows throughout the story. One last very big part of the story is the mind points of the rich and the poor. “I already got a house. Horace is right this minute painting the kitchen. I bought that house. My kids feel comfortable in that house. But this one I bought you is just like mine. Only a little smaller. I still don't need no house. And anyway who would clean it? He looks surprised.” Since Gracie sold Traynor her song, Traynor has always lived a fully rich life. He has been able to buy whatever he wants and has tried to find superficial happiness to cover the unhappiness he feels. Gracie has never had much money and has always been perfectly content in her life just as it is, and when Traynor tries to give her gifts to make up for his guilt, she does not want to accept them because she is already happy without all the treasures he gives her. Her understanding of happiness being something you create for yourself to enjoy is foreign to Traynor and is repeated multiple times in the story. This view of the rich being unable to understand true happiness as the poor does is emphasized throughout this anecdote and sheds light upon the differences between Gracie and Traynor.

            These themes of the differences between men and women, African-Americans and whites, and the rich and poor, help us understand today that even with differences in personalities/minds, we can still find life long friends, that we are able to look past what society tells us and show compassion for one another, and that though happiness may be hard to understand, it can be found in the strangest of places. All in all, Alice Walker is a wonderful writer and I recommend anyone to read her story “Nineteen Fifty-Five.”