I have chosen to use my knowledge of New Criticism to analyze Alice Walker's short story "Roselily". Her short story has many meanings. We will specify on the work itself, as well as how benightedness can affect the outcome of a person's life, and how they perceive life, along with it's consequences.
             "Roselily" is two stories in one. The first story is about an African American woman, Roselily, who stands before the altar just about to marry an African American Muslim man. She thinks about her past, wonders about the future and is asking herself whether she is making the right decision. It describes how she indecisively stands while pondering if she will live the life she has always dreamed of. The ambiguity here is why Roselily still considers these questions at a moment when she should already have the answers to. The other overall message is about African American women in general, their history and their ongoing search for something better, for fulfillment, because at this time, African Americans are free Americans with equal rights as other Americans. Blacks are no longer slaves, however, are paid slaves in the refinement industry.
             "Roselily" is presented to the reader through her thoughts as she lives the middle of her wedding. Roselily is an independent woman, but being a single mother of four children, and working long hours for low wages in a sewing plant is far from being free.
             Roselily is willing to leave her past and start a new life with a new man. She has struggled throughout her life searching for a better one, by being with different men, who all have given her a child. As mentioned in the short story, "All these past men in her life have given her a child and now she has the responsibility of taking care of them." However, none have yet given her a new life. There is an urge in Roselily to move on, which is symbolized by the cars described in the short story. "The cars are constantly moving f...