"My Mother's Blue Bowl" is a biographical essay by Alice Walker that parallels Walker's strong relationship with her mother. The essay follows the lives of Alice Walker and her mother, in the American South, in the 20th century, as they embark on the projects. In doing so, the family abandons the mother's dream of a "decent house" for Alice and her siblings to attend college. The underlying theme of this essay is to renounce materialism, be happy with what you have, and rely on your abilities. abandon one's possessions without regret. This theme is illustrated by the poverty that Walker and his family live in, as well as Walker's mother's content regarding where she lives and how little she has. In reality, people are judged and identities are judged. tied to the possessions one owns, as Walker's mother was. However, in the end, the possessions are not what we remember, it is the acts of the heart and the impact we have on others that endure. This societal need for opulence is. brought to the reader's attention by the juxtaposition of the mother's selfless actions and her few possessions. Examined from a Marxist perspective, the struggle between classes, based on wealth, authority, and race, prevails throughout the essay. Society in the American South in the 20th century was full of racism and poverty. Walker remembers the cold, harsh, wintry days when my brothers and sister and I trudged home from school, overwhelmed by the silence and frigidity of our long walk from the main road, down the hill to our house in poor condition. More dilapidated than any of our classmates' houses. In winter, my mother's tumultuous flowers were absent and the cabin was revealed as it was. A gray, decaying... middle of paper... the real value of a property. Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, a Swiss-American psychiatrist, once said: "The most beautiful people we have ever known are those who have experienced defeat, pain, struggle, loss and found the way out." depths. These people have an appreciation, sensitivity and understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness and deep loving concern. Beautiful people don't just happen. This quote encompasses both the loving side of Alice's mother, as well as her refusal to define her life by the possessions she owns. In death, you cannot take your material goods with you. Kubler-Ross explains that only by experiencing total poverty and adversity, like Walker's mother, can one achieve a complete understanding of what is most important in life. Money and possessions are temporary, but family is forever.