Margaret Walker: A Creative Survivor Analytical Essay by Calwriter

This paper examines how "Jubilee" was the crowning achievement of Margaret Walker's career. A sprawling novel about Civil War-era blacks, the novel is simultaneously a preservation of Walker's family history and an historically accurate portrayal of slavery life for many blacks of the times. In particular, the novel is a testament to Walker as a creative survivor, which she discusses in her essay, "How I Wrote 'Jubilee." It explores how Margaret Walker can be considered a creative survivor in three ways. First, through her dedication and diligence, she kept the "Jubilee" project alive over a span of many years. Secondly, "Jubilee" is the representation of the survival of Walker's heritage; the novel is her creative way of preserving, not only the history of her family, but also the history of black Americans in the face of historical whitewashing. Finally, in "How I Wrote Jubilee," Walker shows how important the creative process is to her own personal survival; it is the lens through which she sees the world and without her creative outlets, she herself could not survive.