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Analysis of Alice Walker's nineteen fifty five
Everyday use analysis setting
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Two Sisters in Everyday Use Often two children are brought up in the same environment and turn out completely different. This is the case of Maggie and Dee, the two sisters in Alice Walker's "Everyday Use." Although the girls were raised by the same woman, in the same home, their similarities end here. Maggie and Dee are different in their appearances, their personalities, and their ideas about the family artifacts. Maggie is not as attractive as Dee. She is a thin and awkward girl. Her mother notes "good looks passed her by" (88). Furthermore, she carries herself like someone with low self-esteem, "chin on chest, eyes on ground" (87). On the other hand, Dee is an attractive woman. Her mother describes Dee as having, "nice hair and a full figure" (87). Dee takes pride in the her appearance. She dresses in fashionable clothes. When Dee arrives for her visit, her mother says, "Even her feet were always neat-looking" (88). Besides their appearances, Maggie and Dee have unique personalities. When Maggie is first introduced in the story, she is nervous about her sisters visit. In fact, Dee's arrival makes Maggie so uncomfortable that she tries to flee to the safety of the house (88). Maggie is also intimidated by Dee, as shown when Maggie is unable to confront Dee about the quilts. Maggie gives in and says that Dee may have the quilts because she is not used to "winning" (91). Unlike Maggie, Dee is a bold young woman (88). As a young girl, Dee has never been afraid to express herself. Her mother remembers that "she would always look anyone in the eye. Hesitation was no part of her nature" (87). Dee also shows herself to be selfish when she sets her sights on the butter churn. Dee does not seem to care that her family is still using the churn. She states that she will "display part of it in her alcove, and do something artistic with the rest of it" (90). The family artifacts are important to both Maggie and Dee, but for different reasons. Maggie values the family quilts for their sentiment and usefulness. She learned how to quilt from her grandmother and aunt who made the quilts. Her mother has been saving the quilts for Maggie to use after she is married. The quilts are meant to be used and appreciated everyday. Maggie hints that she sees the quilts as a reminder of her grandmother and aunt when she says, "I can 'member them without the quilts" (91). Dee also values the family quilts. She sees the quilts as priceless objects to own and display. Going off to college has brought Dee a new awareness of her heritage. She returns wearing ethnic clothing and has changed her name to "Wangero." She explains to her mother and Maggie that changing her name is the way to disassociate herself from "the people who oppress [her]'? (89). Before she went away to college, the quilts were not good enough for her. Her mother had offered her one of the quilts, but she stated, "They were old-fashioned and out of style" (91). Now she is determined to have the quilts to display in her home. Dee believes that she can appreciate the value of the quilts more than Maggie, who will "be backward enough to put them to everyday use" (9l). Dee wants the quilts for more materialistic reasons. She considers the quilts "priceless" (91). Indeed Maggie and Dee are two sisters who have turned out very differently. Maggie is awkward and unattractive, while Dee is confident and attractive. Maggie is content with her simple life, while Dee wants to have fine things. Maggie is nervous and intimidated by Dee, who is bold and selfish. Maggie values the sentiment of the family quilts, while Dee wants to display them as a symbol of her heritage. Walker has shown that children raised in the same environment can and do turn into unique individuals. Work Cited Walker, Alice. "Everyday Use." Literature‑ An Introduction to Reading and Writing 5th ed. Eds. Edgar V. Roberts and Henry E. Jacobs. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 1998. 86‑92.
When two children are brought up by the same parent in the same environment, one might logically conclude that these children will be very similar, or at least have comparable qualities. In Alice Walker's "Everyday Use," however, this is not the case. The only thing Maggie and Dee share in common is the fact that they were both raised by the same woman in the same home. They differ in appearance, personality, and ideas that concern the family artifacts.
William Shakespeare composed the play Hamlet, around 1600-1601. This play, named after his only son, in my opinion is one of Shakespeare’s best works. The play shows the literal as well as the realistic sides of people during this culture as well as those generations to come. During the play, Hamlet’s character went through several different transitions. In the beginning he was shown as a child, by his actions and curiosity, but towards the end of play his manhood begins surface and he begins to be aggressive at getting what he wants.
Each character in Hamlet is presented in a positive light, making it far more difficult for the reader to uncover the buried truth about the motives of each character. The principal characters blur the border between appearance and reality. Polonius, striving to appear the wonderful father while unable to avoid his conniving mentality; Hamlet, appearing insane and selfish when controlled and selfless; and of course King Claudius, smiling and kissing his sister-in-law/wife while wishing away the guilt of the murder of his own brother. These characters are complex and are a window through the appearances in our world to our reality. Shakespeare’s technique perfectly embodies the humanity of each of these characters, and sends this message right at the beginning of the play when all appears to be fine, but in reality, “Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.” (I.iv.99)
Have you ever seen two sisters that are completely different in looks, thought, and what is important to them? This example can be compare to the story of Maggie and Dee in” Everyday Use” by Alice Walker. Although Maggie and Dee are sisters from the same parents and raised by the same mother in the same house who love and cherished them, they have different looks, different attitude towards family, and how they cherished the family heritage.
Quilts symbolize a family’s heritage. Maggie adheres the tradition by learning how to quilt from her grandmother and by sewing her own quilts. Maggie also puts her grandmother’s quilts into everyday use. Therefore, when Dee covets the family’s heirloom, wanting to take her grandmother’s hand-stitched quilts away for decoration, Mama gives the quilts to Maggie. Mama believes that Maggie will continually engage with and build upon the family’s history by using the quilts daily rather than distance herself from
Maggie and Dee come across as blatantly different characters in the story, but they still have a few similarities. They come from the same background, and both girls grow up in a poor family. Maggie and Dee both want the quilts, but for completely different reasons. They...
Maggie and Dee are two sisters that are as different as night and day. When Momma talks of Maggie, it is with a sad and gentle reflection of this daughter's lot in life. "Have you ever seen a lame animal, perhaps a dog run over by some careless person rich enough to be kind to him? That is the way my Maggie walks." Momma tells us, however that Dee, "She would always look anyone in the eye. Hesitation was no part of her nature. " Where Dee is pretty and bright, Maggie is scarred and slow. Momma seems more content being in Maggie's presence, having more in common with her than with her daughter Dee. She and Maggie tend the house together, ...
In her short story Everyday Use, Alice Walker talks about a Mother Mama, and her two daughters Dee and Maggie, their personalities and reactions to preservation of their family heirlooms. She shows that while Dee has been sent to school for further education, Maggie is left at home and brought up in the old ways. Mama often dreams and longs for the day she can be reunited with Dee, like in the TV shows. She knows this may not be possible because Dee would read and shower them with a lot of knowledge that was unnecessary, only to push them away at the right moment, “like dimwits” (313); Mama and Dee have different conceptions of their family heritage. Family heirlooms to Mama means the people created, used
The differences in attitude that Dee and Maggie portray about their heritage are seen early in the story. When the family's house burned down ten or twelve years ago, Maggie was deeply affected by the tragedy of losing her home where she grew up. As her mother describes, "She has been like this, chin on chest, eyes on ground, feet in shuffle, ever since the fire that burned the other house to the ground" (409). Dee, on the other hand, had hated the house. Her mother had wanted to ask her, "Why don't you dance around the ashes?" (409). Dee did not hold any significance in the home where she had grown up. In her confusion about her heritage, it was just a house to her.
Meanwhile, Dee finds this absurd. She thinks they are too valuable and priceless to be used as everyday necessities. Instead she will hang them. These two ideas of how to use the quilts are in complete contrast to one another. Mama finds them practical, Dee finds them fashionable....
Hamlet’s plan of faking insanity to avenge his father’s death eventually backfires and he winds up hurting those closest to him. What began as feigned madness slowly becomes reality. In the beginning of the play, Hamlet could be characterized as a respectful, well-mannered son who is mourning the death of his father and shows signs of depression. In the end of the play, Hamlet turns into an irrational, unforgiving maniac who is unaware of the complete and utter chaos that he inflicts on himself and everyone he loves. Instead of controlling his “antic disposition”, Hamlet's antic disposition controls him, resulting in tragedy and death.
1)Shakespeare’s revenge tragedy, “Hamlet,” critiques the society of Denmark using powerful mononlogues and dramatic action. On the other hand, Wilde’s comic drama pokes fun at the high morality of Victorian Society. One serious theme that I noticed in “The Importance of being Ernest” was the consistent act of deception throughout the entire play. However this lack of honesty was not lonesome for insightful comedy and a visible foreshadowing of upcoming events accompanied it. Meaning that the play was cleverly written with humor and provided us with an obvious chain of facts that would lead up to us unraveling the end of the play. This play critiques the need to lie or exaggerate the truth, in order to “fit in” the norm of English society during the 1890’s. The unique characters in this play portray a nonchalant attitude along with subtle gestures in a tribute to not being (earnest); they were not being honest. Specifically, they all had unique characteristics that made it easier for them to not being honest. Once it starts, it continues and that is evident within the characters of this play. That is why there is always an “Importance of Being Earnest”. One could read Hamlet simply, simplistically even, as a revenge tragedy. Hamlet’s father, the king of Denmark, is killed by his brother, Claudius, who, overriding the rights of succession, appropriates both the crown and the wife of Hamlet’s father. The ghost of the father reveals everything to his s...
In the beginning of scene one, Hamlet is with Horatio at the gravesite of the recently deceased Ophelia. Hamlet questions the gravedigger as to who the grave belongs to, and after tussling verbally with the gravedigger, he admits that it belongs to one that was a woman, but is now dead. Immediately following this, Ophelia’s cortège arrives at the gravesite. After noticing his mother within the procession, Hamlet and Horatio observe the funeral at a distance. Hamlet is grief-stricken when it is revealed that Ophelia is the one being buried. After Laertes leaps into Ophelia’s grave in order to “hold her in his arms once more,” Hamlet is appalled and proceeds to fight with Laertes after leaping into Ophelia’s grave as well.
Hamlet Essay After reading Hamlet, I have realized that some of Shakespeare’s original plays must be abridged for our production. After careful analysis, I have decided that of the four soliloquies in the play, we should only include two of them. I have discovered that two of these soliloquies are not that important in understanding the meaning of the play. In order to see which two we should include or omit, we have to summarize all four soliloquies. The first one, which begins “O that this too, too sullied flesh.”, is an emotionally violent speech.
As stated by Aristotle, the tragic hero is a man of noble stature. He is not an ordinary man, but a man with outstanding quality and greatness about him. His own destruction is for a greater cause or principle. Hamlet begins with the noblest motivations, which is to avenge his father’s death but by the end, his situation is so dire that the only plausible final act should be his death. Like the classical tragic hero, Hamlet does not survive to see the full outcome of his actions and more importantly, this is because he possesses a tragic flaw. Hamlet is the protagonist and the driving force of the tragedy. Hamlet embodies all the characteristics commensurate to those defined by Aristotle, which in turn makes Hamlet the quintessential tragic hero.