The speaker’s heritage is supported by her visions of her grandmother’s childhood back in Kentucky “among her yellow sisters; their grandfather’s white family” (Lines 25-26). While one could argue that the speaker is simply reciting the life of her grandmother, it can also be said that the speaker is optimistic about her own future, and that she herself would relive her memories whilst under the quilt, such as meeting her unconceived son.
Growing up in the same environment does not always mean that siblings will grow to be the same person with the same values and beliefs. Alice Walker's short story "Everyday Use" is about the conflict that multi-generational families have with understanding the importance of identity and ancestry. The story focuses on the relationship between a mother and her two daughters, Dee and Maggie, over their grandmothers quilts. Unlike Mama, Dee is educated and is envied, Maggie, who was scarred in a house fire when she was little. Dee has returned from a long trip away from home and now determines her culture by the things she gathers from the house like the quilts and butter churn but in the end Maggie is the one with the right idea about her heritage.
The most significant objects in the story, which Dee wanted to have, are the two hand sewn quilts that were created by Grandma and Aunt Dee. These quilts are full of history; contain pieces of dresses worn by Grandma Dee and a piece of Dee’s Great Grandfather’s Civil War uniform. The quilts had already been promised to Maggie for when she married John Thomas, but Dee feels the quilts should be hers. Dee saw the quilts as objects to be shown off and kept in perfect condition, while Maggie had an emotional connection to the quilts that would last even without them. “‘She can have them, Mama,’ she said, like somebody used to never winning anything, or having anything reserved for her.
In the poem, The Century Quilt, by Marilyn Nelson Waniek, includes a few literary techniques to develop a complex and deep meaning that the speaker attributes to the quilt. The Century Quilt that speaker refers to is a representation of her heritage. She uses vivid imagery such as the “yellow brown of Mama's cheeks” and her “yellow sisters” to refer to the past and present. This is an indication that the poem is contemporary. She uses flashbacks and memories to describe her memories in a peaceful way.
This narrative is full of symbolism. The quilts in everyday day use are the main symbols, and they represent the connection of heritage and the family. Dee just wants the quilts to hang them; she says that Maggie, her sister cannot comprehend her heritage and she is not capable of appreciating these quilts, although she does that when she memorizes her Grandma Dee having the quilts. Thoughtfully, Maggie decides to give Dee the quilts so as not to initiate a conflict. Maggie is appreciates her heritage whenever she uses the quilts, with heritage she means the natives she came from.
These quilts consisted of her family’s heritage through pieces of civil war uniform and some her grandmothers dresses. Little did Dee know that these quilts were promised to her little sister Maggie after she got married. Dee is appalled that her mother would allow such a thing! “Maggie can’t appreciate these quilts… She’d probably be backward enough to put them to everyday use” (Walker
In the text Dee, Maggi’s sister comes back to the house and wants Maggie’s two quilts. Maggie didn’t want Dee to have them because that was a part of Maggie’s heritage. Maggie needed the quilts because it was a part
After a Death by Roo Borson 410182017 王彥翔 I think this poem is absolutely stunning because of the vivid imagery that is set up in such a simple short poem. I like this poem because it sets up such a strong feeling of sadness and comfort in only eight lines. Although she doesn’t directly tell us she has truly lost someone, we can obviously observe that the speaker uses a chair for a metaphor of the girl’s love toward the lost lover. However, the speaker doesn’t exactly explain her love. In the poem, "her love" may be talking about her father or a lover because the poem is unclear.
Set in rural Georgia during the age of the Jim Crow south, Alice Walker used a time where African American people were searching for their African roots while seemingly neglecting those closer to home. When Dee came home from the city to visit her mother and sister, she appears to have a brand new love of her culture and heritage but in reality, she rejects the very root of her own family tree, while Mama is still content with her life as is, and a spark was finally lit in Maggie making her smile at
It depends on how you take in the story. For example, a quote in the story that our group thought was significant was when the narrator said " the scars on her back were as thin as the life lines on the palms of her hands made me realize how I really knew about Abuelita"(Viramontes 1179). At the end she realizes how much her grandmother meant to her, and she never realized how little she knew about her. Everyone in our group thought that this quote goes to show that no matter how close you might seem to be to someone, you may never know everything about them. You never know when someone is going to leave so don't take them for granted cherish every moment you have with them.