...“Everyday Use” by Alice Walker tells the story of a reunion between a mother and her somewhat rebellious daughter. Mama is a hard working woman with little money. With the help of her daughter Maggie the two run a small farm to get by. Maggie is a very obedient daughter and is the polar opposite of her sister Dee. Everything from their physical and mental nature to their spouses are different. Through Maggie, Alice Walker presents the audience with a clearer description of Dee. It can be seen that Dee is distant, and pretentious. The family has seemed to have gone through a lot. Mama indicated this when talking about the time their old house burned down. The house fire left Maggie with scars on her arms and legs as a result of her probably...
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...In her short story “Everyday Use,” Alice Walker depicts opposing ideas about one's heritage. Through the eyes of two daughters, Dee and Maggie, who have chosen to live their lives in a very contrasting manner. Walker utilizes symbolism to highlight the dispute between two different points of view of, or approaches to, the African-American culture, showing that culture and heritage are parts of daily life. Through the use of symbolism, there are three of which I will refer to, one being the quilts, the tangible objects of the family heirloom, the yard, which she emphasis on and its physical characteristics, and then there’s the name changing, when Dee changed her name to a traditional African name, Wangero. The quilts were the most compelling symbol in the story. They signified pieces of living history, documents in fabric that chronicle the lives of the many generations and the struggles, such as war and poverty, which they faced. The quilts served as a testament to the family’s history of pride and trials. With the drawbacks that poverty and lack of education placed on her life, Mama sees her personal history as one of her few treasures. Her house embraces the handicrafts of her extended family. Instead of acquiring a financial inheritance from her ancestors, Mama has been given the quilts. For her, these objects have a sentimental value that Dee, despite claiming her desire to care for and preserve the quilts, is unable to fathom. Mama’s yard represents a private space free...
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...Hannah Huie Kate Evans Composition II 05 February 2015 Analysis of Characters in “Everyday Use” Alice Walker’s short story, “Everyday Use,” illustrates the importance of family and heritage. Many times in the story, Ms. Walker brings up heritage and the importance of recognizing of what it means to belong to something or someone. Her characters each go through change. Mama seems to switch her favoritism from Dee to Maggie and realizes that Dee is not the perfect child she had come to idolize her as being. Dee comes back home to realize that she no longer able to get her way as she used too and that her place in the household has changed. Lastly, Maggie is recognized as having the gift of knowing her heritage and having the ability to add to it by being able to quilt. As we read through the story we see that Ms. Walker paints a wonderful picture of difference between Dee and the family she left behind. Mama is the voice behind this short story. She narrates and you only see the story through her point of view. As she waits for her daughter Dee to arrive she has a fantasy about her life being on a TV show. She dreams of being a beautiful women, whose hair glistens in the spotlight of the stage, whose witty tongue has the famous TV personality Johnny Carson trying to keep up. As the reader continues they would be able to see that Mama’s true view of herself is not as flattering, she doesn’t mince the truth, and doesn’t have any false illusions about her looks...
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...Symbolism of Quilts Designs used in quilts are not necessarily symmetrically organized; rather the art of quilting reflects an aesthetic understanding by the makers of what the quilt represents for them in their everyday experience. (Barkley-Brown, 1990). The shape of a quilt results from the meaning that the individual quilters give to the pieces that compose it. This art form is known as gumbo ya ya in Creole which means everybody talking at once. (Barkley-Brown, 1990). Alice Walker’s usage of quilts in her short story Everyday Use reflects the importance and significance of a quilt in African-American history. A quilt embodies heritage and personal stories and events; a quilt is similar to a person’s own journey in that each scrap stitched into a quilt represents “a person’s world view [which] is made up of events, circumstances and influences that shape how [she] see[s] and respond[s] to the world.” (Eshbaugh, 2008, August 21). Narrated by the mother of the two main characters, the symbolism of the hand-stitched quilts in Everyday Use represents the conflicts between two sisters who each experience the world and their heritage differently. The story begins with Dee, the eldest daughter, first homecoming since leaving for college. Walker describes Dee as a woman who no one ever told “no.” Dee is well-educated, wears bright colors that accentuates her full-figured body and exudes confidence. However, Dee will never be satisfied in life, and she is ashamed...
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...Literature In Chinua Achebe’s short story “Dead Men’s Path” and Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use,” the reader explores the lives of two individuals whose misguided actions and noble intentions cause grief amongst those around them. While Achebe’s story focuses on modernization and moving forward, Walker’s story is about holding on to the past. Through the authors’ use of conflict, character analysis, and point of view, I was able to recognize the deeper meanings in both stories. The stories do more than just entertain; they reminded us that our heritage is with us everyday and that we shouldn’t change who we are in order to impress others. Achebe’s story is about Michael Obi, a “young and energetic man” who is appointed the headmaster of a village school. He hopes that his ideas and “passion for modern methods” will help turn the school into a place of beauty. After Obi finds a path running across the school compound he quickly works to block it, hoping to impress the inspector. Although Obi’s intentions appear good he ends up making matters worse as conflict arises between the school and the outside village. Another story dealing with noble intentions is Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use”. When Mama’s oldest daughter Dee returns home for a visit, Mama is somewhat disheartened after finding out that Dee has changed her name. After the family eats dinner together the author’s use of conflict starts to emerge. As Dee comes across some old quilts she becomes frustrated...
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...Matt Lauber B. Sumey, Instructor Comp. II, MW, 1:30-2:45 p.m. 20 October 2014 Compare and Contrast Analysis While reading two good stories, you can find many comparisons and difference between the two. Mama in Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use” and Amanda in Tennessee Williams “The Glass Menagerie” have some comparisons and difference. Mama and Amanda both live in modest homes. Mama’s house, “It is three rooms, just like the one that burned, except the rood is tin; they don’t make shingle roofs any more. There are no real windows, just some holes cut in the sides, like the portholes in a ship, but not round and not square, with rawhide holding the shutters up on the outside” (Walker 71). Amanda’s house, her front porch is a fire escape, so her house isn’t really that nice either (Williams 991). Also both Mama and Amanda are single mothers with two children. Both of their husbands left them with no say. Mama’s husband really doesn’t say why he left. But Amanda’s husband left with a phone call: TOM. This is our father who left us a long time ago. He was a telephone man who fell in love with a long distances; he gave up his job with the telephone company and skipped the light fantastic out of town… The last we heard of him containing a message of two words-“Hello-Good-bye!” and an address. (Williams 972) Another thing that Mama and Amanda have in common is that they have a different relationship with one of their children. Mama will probably pick Maggie over Dee, just like...
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...Matt Lauber B. Sumey, Instructor Comp. II, MW, 1:30-2:45 p.m. 20 October 2014 Compare and Contrast Analysis While reading two good stories, you can find many comparisons and difference between the two. Mama in Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use” and Amanda in Tennessee Williams “The Glass Menagerie” have some comparisons and difference. Mama and Amanda both live in modest homes. Mama’s house, “It is three rooms, just like the one that burned, except the rood is tin; they don’t make shingle roofs any more. There are no real windows, just some holes cut in the sides, like the portholes in a ship, but not round and not square, with rawhide holding the shutters up on the outside” (Walker 71). Amanda’s house, her front porch is a fire escape, so her house isn’t really that nice either (Williams 991). Also both Mama and Amanda are single mothers with two children. Both of their husbands left them with no say. Mama’s husband really doesn’t say why he left. But Amanda’s husband left with a phone call: TOM. This is our father who left us a long time ago. He was a telephone man who fell in love with a long distances; he gave up his job with the telephone company and skipped the light fantastic out of town… The last we heard of him containing a message of two words-“Hello-Good-bye!” and an address. (Williams 972) Another thing that Mama and Amanda have in common is that they have a different relationship with one of their children. Mama will probably pick Maggie over Dee, just like...
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..."Everyday Use” - Literary Analysis Alice walker writes about the importance of inheriting family heritage and how it passes on to generations. This story is based on conflicts of two generations; on the bonds of a mother and daughter and their legacy which is symbolized as two hand stitched quilts. The narrator, Mama introduces us to her two daughters who have conflicting minds. Mama is disappointed on the behavior and the tension that takes place when Dee forces her to make a difficult decision about who gets the quilts. The story unfolds when Mama’s eldest daughter Dee, returns home for the first time after finishing college and starts claiming for possessions. The younger Maggie has never left home and is shown to be of quiet character, who was severely burned in a house fire when she was a child due to which her sympathetic and generous nature is over shadowed by her ugly scarred face. Dee, being stylish and blessed with good looks is the centre of agitation between the family and invokes jealously. Her feet appear "as if God himself had shaped them with a certain style." (385). Around Dee, the younger sister is a coward and since the fire she walks with "chin on her chest, eyes on the ground." (384) . The narrator is protective around her daughters hoping that Maggie becomes self confident and stands up for her right. The narrator fantasizes about reuniting with Dee on a television talk show and day dreams about Dee expressing gratitude to Mama acknowledging what all...
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...journals. This week, you continue writing your journal entries. This journal entry is designed to help you document ideas about conflicts in literature, which will contribute to the information required for the Week Three Draft and the Week Five Literary Analysis. Recognizing conflict is essential to understanding the various commentaries literature can provide. In Journal One, you identified conflict as it might appear in our everyday world and from other sources. Now, consider the following definition of conflict and how it relates to literature from the textbook or the story/poetry links provided under the requirements for the Literary Analysis: Conflict is opposing actions, ideas, and decisions that hold a plot together...the struggle that shapes the plot in a story. Chapters 1-7 of our text contain a number of stories and poems, each of which rely on at least one conflict. Choose two of this week’s assigned literary works and write about the conflicts presented in each of them. In 250 to 500 words Individual versus Society --- “Still she had come down the road toward the big white church alone. Just herself, an old forgetful woman, nearly blind with age” (para 3.1,2) --- appears to be the main conflict in Alice Walker’s narrative ironically, yet metaphorically named "The Welcome Table”. The theme coming across is that of racism, correct me if I am wrong, with the imagery/ symbolism of “the big white church” versus the lone black Elder. This is the story of an...
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...a blurring of the once distinct boundaries between the male and female worlds. This intersection of the sexes had two effects: first, because women were no longer confined to domestic work, they had less incentives to remain in dominantly female circles; second, because women could operate in the male world as individuals, they had to learn to mirror male patterns of dominance or portray the traditional role of women. These combined effects resulted in the breakdown of sisterhood as women distanced themselves from female bonds in order to gain power in the male world. This fall of sisterhood is evident in literature, which I will convey through an analysis of three selections: A Streetcar Named Desire, a play by Tennessee Williams; “Recitatif,” a short story by Toni Morrison; and “Everyday Use,” a short story by Alice Walker. First, I will...
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...|[pic] |Syllabus | | |College of Humanities | | |ENG/125 Version 3 | | |Literature in Society | Copyright © 2010, 2008, 2006 by University of Phoenix. All rights reserved. Course Description This course introduces themes in literature and provides guided study and practice in reflecting on themes which describe the human experience across cultural and societal boundaries. The course includes readings from literature in different genres and cultures. Students study the literature in thematic units and are asked to make connections to their own lives and cultures. Policies Faculty and students/learners will be held responsible for understanding and adhering to all policies contained within the following two documents: • University policies: You must be logged into the student website to view this document. • Instructor policies: This document is posted in the Course Materials forum. University policies are subject to change. Be sure to read the policies...
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...exploring within the bounds of class-time, so you will be required to spend time reading and writing on your own; this is a practice that will enable you to bring your personal experiences with these works to our discussions in class and participate in an engaged way as part of our community of learning. But our community of learning is broader than the classroom—it also includes the community organizations you will be partnering with for your service-learning. We will be investigating and interrogating a versatile metaphor—cultivation—and how it impacts the cultures and communities in which we live. “Cultivation” leaves its trace on culture both linguistically in the morphology of the word and symbolically by informing the figures we use to talk about the establishment, maintenance and the dissolution of a culture -- as when a character in Shakespeare’s play Richard II refers to England as a “sea-walled garden” that is corrupt and “full of weeds, her fairest flowers choked up,...
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...Research Method (Sarah) Introduction The research method is outlined by an alternative study of the plan. This study will look at three main aspects: the technical specifications of the subject matter, the personal account, and the literary interpretation. The architectural plan is traditionally represented without the human figure, or as Robin Evans has pointed out, drawn as “amoebic” figures. Architectural drawings are often studied with a technical slant, although architecture has long been considered as “social artifact”1 . Thus literature, accompanied by photographic illustrations, is emergent as a device to test architectural apparatus, particularly in the domestic realm where aspects of dwelling and occupancy are not as closely recorded in formal documents as its physical history (e.g. building completion, demolition). This enables us to investigate the relationship between the building plan and its occupants, to understand the architecture as a dwelling. Technical specifications The Pearl Bank Apartments, built in 1972, was built to offer a transcendent mode of living that differentiated the uppermiddle class. More than its unprecedented stature that boasted an elite model of highdensity living, an interior component was specifically marketed as a key selling point — the living room. In the original Pearl Bank Apartments sales brochure, the text and images boast a large and brightlylit living room attached to a doublevolume ...
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...A very basic way of thinking about literary theory is that these ideas act as different lenses critics use to view and talk about art, literature, and even culture. These different lenses allow critics to consider works of art based on certain assumptions within that school of theory. The different lenses also allow critics to focus on particular aspects of a work they consider important. For example, if a critic is working with certain Marxist theories, s/he might focus on how the characters in a story interact based on their economic situation. If a critic is working with post-colonial theories, s/he might consider the same story but look at how characters from colonial powers (Britain, France, and even America) treat characters from, say, Africa or the Caribbean. Hopefully, after reading through and working with the resources in this area of the OWL, literary theory will become a little easier to understand and use. Disclaimer Please note that the schools of literary criticism and their explanations included here are by no means the only ways of distinguishing these separate areas of theory. Indeed, many critics use tools from two or more schools in their work. Some would define differently or greatly expand the (very) general statements given here. Our explanations are meant only as starting places for your own investigation into literary theory. We encourage you to use the list of scholars and works provided for each school to further your understanding of these theories...
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...American Literature Journal Writing Tabish Jaleel Shaikh March 10(Saul Bellow- Seize the Day) Seize the Day was a comparatively easy read, and seemed like a very real life depiction of American life, from the eyes of the two generations, Tommy Wilhelm and his father, Dr. Adler. Comparing it to one of the first novels I read in this course, Death of a Salesman, I realize that Seize the Day also has the theme of the broken myth of the American dream embedded in the story. Also the title of the novel struck me at first, but I could not remember where I had read or come across this phrase before. Upon searching online, I remembered that it has its origin in one of the poems of a Latin Poet Horace, the word being “Carpe diem” in Latin. I remembered that I had read this back in high school, the stanza of the poem was: While we speak, envious time will have {already} fled Seize the day, trusting as little as possible in the future. It’s interesting how just a small phrase can carry so much meaning. Saul Bellow has very effectively depicted the philosophy of carpe diem by narrating a real life scenario of war stricken America where maximizing the utility of time is the very important. Although the theme of alienation and isolation is prevalent throughout the book through Tommy’s life events, Saul could not make me feel sympathetic towards Tommy. Tommy’s inability to judge himself, and be self-aware of his strengths and weaknesses causes his downfall. He is always...
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