The literary work that captured my interest was “The Welcome Place” by Alice Walker. This fictitious work captured my interest with the lyrical musical expression and tone in the beginning of the short story. This writing also has a symbolic meaning for the African American culture. It describes the fight for freedom and cultural equality. “The Welcome Place” is written about the slavery time period and how African Americans were treated. According to Clugston, 2010, “The point of view is called "omniscient" when the story is being told by someone who is not a character but knows the thoughts and feelings of the characters in the story. The omniscient technique is used in this story and is particularly effective in allowing the reader to understand the old woman's predicament and how she, and the others, dealt with it.” (sec.3.1)
This short story pulls the reader in, engages them and allows them to imagine themselves at the church. The story captured my imagination, drawing me into the slavery time period. It was curiosity and emotion that drew me into the character. It provided me with a desire to escape a present association. This literary piece motivated me to continue to understand the heartache, pain and torment African American slaves endured. The connections I make to the characters are to change how the elderly and seniors are cared for, thought of and treated by society in general. Additional comparisons are made to current ambiguous societal racial tendencies.
The analytical approach used to analyze this short story will be the reader-response methodology. There are two analytical theories that can be applied to “The Welcome Place”. One is the reader-response and the other is the formalist approach. In the reader-response approach the reader is drawn into a different time period through their imagination. The reader has to transmit themselves into the characters home, as she is dressing and into the church. “The old woman stood with eyes uplifted in her Sunday–go–to–meeting clothes: high shoes polished about the tops and toes, a long rusty dress adorned with an old corsage, long pigtails underneath.” (sec. 3.1) Readers also visualize the woman at the church and how she was received. “Some of those who saw her there on the church steps spoke words about her that were hardly fit to be heard, others held their pious peace; and some felt vague stirrings of pity, small and persistent and hazy, as if she were an old collie turned out to die.” (sec. 3.1) The white parishioners were upset the black woman entered what they considered a refuge - their church. This was one place white people considered safe from people they considered beneath them. Coloreds were only viewed as cooks, maids and as mistresses. The woman’s entrance into the church represents the introduction of a new era; in which all people will be considered equal. In the eyes of the congregation this woman epitomizes disgust, lack of knowledge and future anxiety. She also represents old age; which is an unspoken commonality with the white women. This creates tension with feelings of vulnerability and disrespect. “Under the old woman's arms they raised their fists, flexed their muscular shoulders, and out she flew through the door, back under the cold blue sky. This done, the wives folded their healthy arms across their trim middles and felt at once justified and scornful. But none of them said so, for none of them ever spoke of the incident again. Inside the church it was warmer. They sang, they prayed. The protection and promise of God's impartial love grew more not less desirable as the sermon gathered fury and lashed itself out above their penitent heads.” (sec. 3.1)
The reader experiences pain, bewilderment and frustration at the people’s actions. After the woman is removed from the church, she becomes elated to see the focus of her pursuit – Jesus. “She started to grin, toothlessly, with short giggles of joy, jumping about and slapping her hands on her knees. And soon it became apparent why she was so happy. For coming down the highway at a firm though leisurely pace was Jesus.” (sec. 3.1) This allows the reader to obtain a feeling of happiness, hope and peace.
According to Clugston, 2010, the reader-response approach the meaning of “The Welcome Place” is one of serenity and harmony. It provides the reader with a feeling of hope. This feeling is for people who have lived a life dealing with harsh treatment and enslavement. Although, the woman dies at the end, she is happy to be with Jesus and free. The literature gives hope to people who live and work as servants that; eventually they will have approval, happiness and compassion. Pursuant to Donald and Hansen-Krening, 2000, The reader-response theory has “three domains”; which are “affect, behavior and cognition.” (p. 73) This concept is based upon the principles used by psychologists to study human behavior. (p.72) In this short story the principle is achieved by implementing the third person concept, which appeals to readers likes and dislikes. It also sparks the readers’ imagination as to the behavior of the characters and the desire to see the outcome. Cognitive thinking is ignited in relationship to the resolution of the conflicting situation. Pursuant to May, 1984, “The short story form manifests this impulse toward compression and demands this intense focusing for the totality of the narrative experience primarily because it takes for its essential subject the mysterious and dreamlike manifestation of what Cassirer calls the momentary deity.” (p.335) Author Alice Walker uses this approach in many of her short stories and novels.
The aspect of the formalist approach takes to this story entices readers with the setting, allowing them to revert from present day to the beginning of a turbulent era in history. It developed into an intriguing plot, inviting the reader’s curiosity of the characters actions. The concepts of both theories were addressed as to character formation, development and descriptive traits. Creative dialogue was used to draw attention to characters moods, behaviors, and expectations. According to Donald and Hansen-Krening, 2000, “Literary theorists (Eagleton, 1983; Moore, 1997; Tompkins, 1980) might not agree on whether this distinction focuses on text or on reader; however, they would agree that literacy involves more than the decoding of phonemes.
Current emphasis on reader response literary theory attempts to balance both stances. While reader may transform text, text may also transform reader.” (p. 72)
As literature evolves, so do the applications, theories and methodologies used to evaluating it. According to McLaughlin & DeVoogd, 2004, “Critical literacy helps teacher and students expand their reasoning, seek out multiple perspectives, and become active thinkers.” This is the conceptual application of Alice Walker’s “The Welcome Table”; which allows the reader to critically observe and evaluate the characters actions, emotions and the consequences of fear, hatred, and the ultimate achievement of happiness.
Literature is one of the many faucets by which people can escape into another world, place or time frame for the moment. Transcending gender and race lines to objectively visualize and empathize with a characters situation and perspective.

References
Clugston, R.W. 2010. Journey into literature. San Diego, CA; Bridgepoint Education, Inc.; Retrieved from http://www.content.ashford.edu
Donald, T. M., & Nancy Hansen-Krening. (2000). The ABCs of attitudes toward reading: Inquiring about the reader's response. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 44(1), 72-79. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/216908799?accountid=32521
May, C. E. (1984). The nature of knowledge in short fiction. Studies In Short Fiction, 21(4), 327.
McLaughlin, M., & DeVoogd, G. (2004). Critical literacy as comprehension: Expanding reader response. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 48(1), 52-62. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/216914263?accountid=32521