In Hell with Death as AutobiographyWhen reading fiction, one may begin to wonder what gap there is between the story the narrator tells and the actual events which occurred. prompt the author to decide to write the story. In “To Hell With Dying” by Alice Walker, one could say that this story is fundamentally autobiographical. Although some people may have thought that "To Hell With Dying" was entirely fiction, the evidence from history and other sources suggests otherwise. The love that the narrator feels towards Mr. Sweet parallels the real events that took place in Alice Walker's life. In the foreword to Donna Haisty Winchell's book Alice Walker, it is revealed that Alice Walker was "blinded in one eye at the age of eight by a careless person". shot with a brother's BB gun" (ix). The shot left a scar that bothered Walker greatly. Winchell also writes that because of the BB gunshot wound, Walker "felt ugly and excluded" (ix). This description of Walker's accident creates the image of a young girl who has no self-esteem. In the story, however, Mr. Sweet loves the narrator very much. called him "his princess" and "he made her feel nothing short of outrageously devastating at the flamboyant age of eight and a half" (1144) Perhaps this description of how Mr. Sweet makes him feel pretty. narrator symbolizes how Alice Walker felt about Mr. Sweet in real life Alice Walker was eight years old when she was shot with the BB gun, and the narrator is eight and a half years old when Mr. Sweet. tells her how pretty she is Even though Alice Walker has only vague memories of the real Mr. Sweet, she remembers that he never stopped talking about the things that upset him. Mr. Sweet's words and singing made Walker feel good. In Walker...... middle of paper ......e an artist too. Walker explains in Alice Walker. “Love happened, and that’s the essence of the story” (qtd. in Winchell, 12). Walker wrote "To Hell With Dying" as a way to thank Mr. Sweet for what he contributed to his life. Winchell recognizes that “the story is [Walker’s] wish that she could return the favor” (13). Works Cited Walker, Alice. “In memory of Mr. Sweet.” The Harper Anthology of Fiction. Ed. Sylvain Barnett. New York: HarperCollins, 1991. Walker, Alice. “To hell with death.” The Harper Anthology of Fiction. Ed. Sylvain Barnett. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1991. Winchell, Donna Haisty. Alice Walker. New York: Twayne Publishers, 1992. Works consulted Short story reviews. Flight. 5. Detroit: Gale Publishers, 1990. Contemporary Literary Criticism. Flights. 46, 58. Detroit: Gale Publishers, 1990.