- People can often be highly self-conscious about some aspect of their appearance. Or, Like Zora
Neale Hurston, some “do not mind at all” if something makes them stand out from the majority. Do
you think that attitude is easy for most people? What makes her different? What does Hurston see
as the advantages for her of being “colored”? - Alice Walker’s personal essay about her struggle trying to overcome self-consciousness over an
eye injury she got when she was a girl. She does this by trying to appreciate the strength of
character the injury forced her to build. To you, does Walker ever come to terms with her injury? If
so, when in the essay does that happen? Some readers don’t feel she ever gets over her self consciousness and find Walker to be vain and unsympathetic. What are your thoughts on that? - In various ways throughout this essay, Frederick Douglass makes the point that education and
slavery are “incompatible with each other.” Plato is making this same point in “The Allegory of the
Cave.” Describe how Douglass is a real-life example of the truth of Plato’s allegory
Sample Solution
