... Main of Characters: Maggie Johnson, Dee (Wangero Leewanika Kemango), Asalamalakim, Mama Johnson (Narrator). Hero: Mama. Dynamic character: Mom, Maggie Short briefing how the character changes: At first, the mom is passive, and allowing Dee to take whatever she wants. Then she stands up for Maggie, and refuses to give the quilts to Dee. Maggie changes her view on her sister, in the past she was scared of Dee, but now she is not. Antagonist: Dee Static character: Hakim A Barber, Dee’s boyfriend Briefly explanation of the battle: Dee believes that her family doesn't understand their heritage. And she does well, thus she want to own the quilts for herself....
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...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. One sentence in particular stands out when she is describing herself, “My fat keeps me hot in zero winter” (Walker 553). That line alone gives you no false picture of the voice behind it all. Mama’s character constantly demonstrates the hardness of her personality, she does love her children but she doesn’t give them false praise, especially Maggie, the youngest daughter, whom she...
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...characters, round (Mama) and flat (quilt) and several supporting characters, like Hakim-a-barber. Walkers “Everyday Use” is set somewhere between 1960’s America right around the time the civil rights movement was taking place. The setting takes place at Mama’s house primarily with the exception of a flashback to their old house that burned down. The plot of the story reveals the characters cultural pride and ignorance towards the changing times. The themes in “Everyday Use” are, the meaning of heritage and the power of education. Additionally, the author creates different conflicts that arise throughout the story in which they are: man vs. man, man vs. society, and man vs. himself. Man vs. Man is first seen between Dee and Mama due to the fact that Mama doesn’t meet up to Dee’s standards. This coincides with the theme, power of education. Mama struggled to send Dee to a good school, which could have ended up doing more harm than good in regards to their relationship. Mama herself was denied an education and her youngest daughter Maggie lacks in that department. Therefor, giving Dee the advantage of being the only one educated which makes her arrogant and condescending. The education that Mama generously gave to Dee only created a bigger wedge between them and the family. Dee with her knowledge and way of the world becomes a bit of a threat to the standards of Mama and Maggie. When Dee arrives back home with Hakim-a-barber she engulfs Mama and Maggie with her new found knowledge...
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...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, as Mama has promised the quilts to her sister Maggie. The point of view in Achebe’s story is mostly narrated, making it limited omniscience; however, the story also gives us a look into the head of both Obi’s wife Nancy and the village priest Ani. When Obi is given the task of headmaster the narrator says “Obi accepted this responsibility with enthusiasm. He had many...
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...with Dee, the critics Houston A Baker, Jr. and Charlotte Pierce-Baker consider Maggie to be a guardian of history, or "griot" (164). Dee is a selfish and egotistical character with a superficial understanding of her inheritance. She characterizes the confusion and misguidance of young African Americans in the late 60s and 70s. This is apparent in her interactions with her mother and sister. As Sexton notes, Dee "considers herself as cultured, and beyond the abased quality of the lives lived by her mother and sister" (par. 3). She makes her feelings clear when she attempts to "take" the quilts Mama had promised to Maggie: "Maggie can't appreciate these quilts... she'd probably be backward enough to put them to everyday use" (Walker, 103). By using the quilts for purposes other than their original intent she believes that she is respecting her heritage, but this is not the case: her desire to put them on display is "really not quite so different from the white capitalist cashing in on ethnic artworks" (Sexton, par. 4) Not only is she conforming to the worst of American ideals, but she is rejecting and disrespecting her own cultural heritage-- all under the pretenses of preserving it. It is in this sense that she is the "embodiment of the struggle for a unifying identity," because she has not yet come to understand her place in society as both an African and an American. In great contrast with Dee, Maggie is a simplistic and good-hearted person. These characteristics add dimension...
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...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 of the woes and defects that have...
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...Arletys Cuellar Prof. Woodbury ENC 1102 20 July 2015 Family Values Life experience is a personality possession that one gains over a lifetime. It is a possession that is best owed upon a person, rather than one that the person recognizes on his or her own. Life and people are always changing, but the main values and bases of the concept of the family should always remain present. Family is where we all belong to and from where our identity comes from. A person is valued based on his family and upbringing. We all belong to a family and it is our family that keeps us together through thick and thin. Without having a family, no person is complete and the completeness comes with good family bonding. I consider that family values is a compilation of specific events and qualities that are really important to maintain a family. And this can be seen in “Girl” by Jamaica Kinkaid, “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker, and “The Lesson” by Toni Cade Bambara. The story “Girl”, Jamaica Kincaid shows love and family togetherness by creating microcosmic images of the way mothers raise their children in order to survive. It is a guide on how live the right way. The narrative is presented as a set of life instructions to a girl by her mother to live properly in Antigua in the 1980’s. While the setting of the story is not expressly stated by the author in the narrative, the reader is able to understand the culture for which “Girl” was written. Jamaica Kincaid seems to be the passive narrator...
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...influence our identity and view of the world? There are several opinions whether culture influences us, never, sometimes, or always. Throughout this unit we have read and watched several pieces that can be used to argue each side of the argument. Pieces such as “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker, “An Indian Father’s Plea” by Robert Lake, and “Legal Alien” by Pat Mora, can be used to argue more than one of these views.These pieces show how culture constantly influences one and their view of the world. Some may believe that culture that culture rarely informs how we view the world and others. This can be argued using examples from Alice Walker’s short story “Everyday Use” in which two sisters “Dee” and “Maggie” who once shared a culture now see the world very differently. According to Dee, Maggie is “‘backward enough to put them to...
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...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 Amanda would probably pick Laura over Tom. For example, Mama said to Dee, “Take one or two of the others (talking about the quilts)” (Walker 76). Showing Dee that these quilts seriously were for Maggie. This is like when Tom calls Laura crippled, and Amanda says “Don’t say crippled! You know that I never...
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...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 Amanda would probably pick Laura over Tom. For example, Mama said to Dee, “Take one or two of the others (talking about the quilts)” (Walker 76). Showing Dee that these quilts seriously were for Maggie. This is like when Tom calls Laura crippled, and Amanda says “Don’t say crippled! You know that I never...
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...Family relationships are an important piece in many works of literature. In particular, this plays an important role in the three short stories “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker, “Good Country People” by Flannery O’Connor, and “Rappaccini’s Daughter” by Nathaniel Hawthorne. The varying levels of love and care provided by the parents, and the attitude that is projected back by the child in response is what moves the plot forward and provides details for bigger themes in many literary pieces. In the short story “Everyday Use,” Mama doubles as the narrator and the reader sees things through her point of view. She has two daughters; Dee is the oldest and Maggie is the youngest. Dee has moved out of the house and changed her way of life drastically; she has changed her name to Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo...
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...Michael Humphrey 2/16/16 Essay 1 Evolution of identity Throughout this section we have talked about culture and identity and how it ties into all of the short readings we have been assigned to read. In this paper I will discuss how ethnicity plays a vital role in culture and identity, and how it shapes the characters throughout each story or poem. All three of my examples will be coming from “A Raisin in the Sun”, by Lorraine Hansberry, “Everyday Use”, by Alice Walker, and “Hard Rock Returns to Prison from the Hospital for the Criminal Insane”, by Etheridge Knight. “A Raisin in the Sun” is about an African-American family who lives in poverty on the south side of Chicago, in 1959. Back in the day we know that African Americans didn’t have it easy, but how exactly did the fact of being black shape the way they lived and the way they processed things mentally? Walter worked as a chauffeur most of his life, but had dreams of becoming an entrepreneur. He had a vision of opening up a liquor store since he figured no one would ever stop drinking liquor. The problem he had was that he was a thirty-five year old man that had a son that was sleeping in the living room, and all he had to give him was stories about how rich white people lived. Instantly we see traces of how Walters’ current life situation falter his mindset into thinking he needed to be more successful so that his family could look up to him like a role model. At one point in the play Walter and Benny have...
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...Brown and Company is a division of Hachette Book Group USA,Inc. The Little, Brown name and logo are trademarks of Hachette Book Group USA, Inc. Epigraph for Book Three from Empire by Orson Scott Card. A Tor Book. Published by Tom Doherty Associates,LLC. Copyright© 2006 by Orson Scott Card. Reprinted with permission of the author. The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author. ISBN: 978-0-316-03283-4 Contents BOOK ONE: BELLA Preface 1. Engaged 2. Long Night 3. Big Day 4.Gesture 5. Isle Esme 6. Distractions 7. Unexpected BOOK TWO: JACOB Preface 8. Waiting For The Damn Fight To Start Already 9. Sure As Hell Didn't See That One Coming 10. Why Didn't I Just Walk Away? Oh Right, Because I'm An Idiot. 11. The Two Things At The Very Top Of My Things-I-Never-Want-To-Do List 12. Some People Just Don't Grasp The Concept Of "Unwelcome^" 13. Good Thing I've Got A Strong Stomach 14. You Know Things Are Bad When You Feel Guilty For Being Rude To Vampires 15. Tick Tock Tick Tock Tick Tock 16. Too-Much-Information Alert 17. What Do I Look Like? The Wizard Of Oz? You Need A Brain? You Need A Heart? Go Ahead. Take Mine. Take Everything I Have. 18. There Are No Words For This. BOOK THREE: BELLA Preface 19....
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...GLENCOE LANGUAGE ARTS Grammar and Language Workbook G RADE 9 Glencoe/McGraw-Hill Copyright © by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the United States Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Send all inquiries to: Glencoe/McGraw-Hill 936 Eastwind Drive Westerville, Ohio 43081 ISBN 0-02-818294-4 Printed in the United States of America 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 024 03 02 01 00 99 Contents Handbook of Definitions and Rules .........................1 Troubleshooter ........................................................21 Part 1 Grammar ......................................................45 Unit 1 Parts of Speech 1.1 Nouns: Singular, Plural, and Collective ....47 1.2 Nouns: Proper and Common; Concrete and Abstract.................................49 1.3 Pronouns: Personal and Possessive; Reflexive and Intensive...............................51 1.4 Pronouns: Interrogative and Relative; Demonstrative and Indefinite .....................53 1.5 Verbs: Action (Transitive/Intransitive) ......55 1.6 Verbs: Linking .............................................57 1.7 Verb Phrases ................................................59 1.8 Adjectives ....................................................61 1.9 Adverbs........................................................63 1.10 Prepositions...
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...OUTLINE OF U.S. HISTORY OUTLINE OF OUTLINE OF U.S. HISTORY C O N T E N T S CHAPTER 1 Early America . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 CHAPTER 2 The Colonial Period . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 CHAPTER 3 The Road to Independence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 CHAPTER 4 The Formation of a National Government . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 CHAPTER 5 Westward Expansion and Regional Differences . . . . . . . 110 CHAPTER 6 Sectional Conflict . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128 CHAPTER 7 The Civil War and Reconstruction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140 CHAPTER 8 Growth and Transformation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154 CHAPTER 9 Discontent and Reform . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188 CHAPTER 10 War, Prosperity, and Depression . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202 CHAPTER 11 The New Deal and World War I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212 CHAPTER 12 Postwar America . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256 CHAPTER 13 Decades of Change: 1960-1980 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274 CHAPTER 14 The New Conservatism and a New World Order . . . . . . 304 CHAPTER 15 Bridge to the 21st Century . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320 PICTURE PROFILES Becoming a Nation . . . . . . . . . . . . . ....
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