Epilogue

Abstract

The womanist mother-daughter conversation above refers to the process of becoming whole. Often referring to a unity between the body, mind, and spirit, wholeness also connotes a deep sense of knowing and being centered in oneself enough to bring wholeness and centeredness to another. In essence, being whole is knowing one’s self so well, and accepting oneself so honesty that one reaches a sense of salvation—salvation in the sense spoken about in the Gospel of Mary wherein salvation is understood as a process or journey of knowing the true self and thus, knowing the divine.¹ In relation to the self, wholeness can refer to the full respect, love, and acceptance one has for her/his full humanity and, thus, their divinity.² Wholeness in community often refers to a celebrated communal knowledge and wisdom and a sense of togetherness in which all are provided for and no one is hungry, without shelter of adequate resources for their well-being. In Walker’s work, this sense of wholeness in community greatly informs her sense of activism. In a way that pushes readers to become activists themselves, Walker writes to encourage others to ask the question, along with her, “How do we as human beings make ourselves whole enough to deserve the respect and love of each other, especially when there is so much bad history, so much fear?”³

Question: “Mama, why are people so mean?”

Reply: “People are broken, babe. Sometimes they don’t want to be whole.”

Question: “Why don’t people want to be whole?” Reply: “It takes work.”