In her poem “Expect Nothing”, Alice Walker clearly tells the readers not to expect anything from life or anyone associated with your life. She is not against dreaming but she stresses on the importance of the fact that if you do not expect anything from life, life will appear to be filled with surprises when day after day it unfolds in front of our own eyes. Living life without a definite plan is what is essential because life will be fun when unexpected beautiful events appear in your life.
Alice in “Expect Nothing” also focuses on the fact that we should be thankful and grateful in life and should always be aware of the fact that we have so much as compared to the others. Yes you should dream and work hard to achieve your dreams, but you need to understand the fact that you have to first respect the material thing what you already have. Expecting less from life will result in being free from disappointments because when you expect nothing you get far more than what you deserve.
The poetess Alice uses a simple language so that the readers can clearly understand the fact which she is trying to explain. She is not using any ornamentation in the poem because she wants the readers to understand the simple fact of living happy without any expectations just as the way she is living her life happily
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The day the poetess started living her life free from expectations and desires was the day she conquered the whole world and mastered her feelings. She is now on top of the world and wants her readers to enjoy the same euphoric feeling that she is always surrounded with. The poetess is of the opinion that once you understand this little fact in life, you will gain the feeling of being the happiest person alive on earth. When Alice says, “Tame wild disappointment” she means that one should remain so satisfied in his or her life that when disappointment knocks the door you have no feelings for it. When you are not disappointed with the dissatisfaction, and give no power to these feeling, you surely become the master of your own fate and destiny.
The poetess says “Discover the reason why so tiny human midget exists at all so scared unwise but expect nothing. Live frugally but expect nothing. Live frugally, On surprise” she means that once you start living life, as she says , you will become aware of the fact that why our tiny mind is scared of little things in life and once we eliminate this fear from our life we live the best possible life for which God has sent us on Earth. What is the use of a life which only results in an individual being scared all the time? A free and happy life as said by the poetess Alice is only possible if we get rid of expectations.