Do Animals Have Emotions?
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Do animals have emotions?
“Am I blue” by Alice Walker expresses her belief that animals have emotions. Some may disagree with the idea that animals have emotions, but indeed animals do have emotions, and walker gives elaborate details to support her opinion. She describes what she sees in blue’s eyes to indicate his emotions, she gives real life examples to show the similarities between human emotion and animals emotions. Just like people when our moods change (emotions) so does our behavior, this is also true for animals. For example if you are napping and someone wakes you up you become agitated and cranky and your behavior will therefore show that you are cranky it is the same with any animal. Cats are infamous for displaying this very type of behavior.
In the passage “Am I Blue” Walker displays Blues emotions by matching his behavior to human behavior and displays of emotion such as fear. Walker said, “I saw another horse…blue appeared to be afraid of it” (101); this is a great example because everyone can relate to that awkward feeling when meeting someone for the first time. Each semester many students feel that same awkward feeling in each class with a new professor and new classmates. Some students may even be afraid to speak in class or make new friends and this quote shows a reflection of the same emotion many people face at some point in their life. Pain is another emotion, one of the strongest emotions we feel as human beings. Pain is another emotion that walker has seen in Blue after his companion Brown is taken away.
Walker explains the pain she sees in Blues eyes, “If I had been born into slavery, and my partner had been sold or killed, my eyes would have looked like that.”(102) she used this example to describe the deep emotion she was channeling from this animal. The same way a person may feel another’s pain is exactly the connection Walker felt with Blue. Everyone has lost someone and can relate to the emotions that Blue felt. Walker also mentioned in slavery times white children were cared for by black enslaved women. After receiving nurture the white children were forced to abandon their relationship with their enslaved caretakers and forget the bond they had formed, which is very similar to Blue’s situation. In which he was given a companion and once they reproduced his companion was taken away and he was expected to just forget his special bond. As a result, Blue now has a complete new outlook on life just as any human being would. Blue acts out and shows resentment towards humans because he now understands, and feels that he cannot trust human beings.
Another issue that Walker points out is the pattern of American men marrying women who do not understand the English language and the marriages ending after the women learn the English language. In this scenario the women did not understand what was going on and once they became enlightened the happy ever after life was over. Blue’s case was similar in the sense that he was content with the life his owners provided for him, until he understood what was happening to him. Once he became enlightened he did not accept the old way of life anymore ,Walker