Astrid’s life begins with her mother Ingrid, Astrid’s greatest “fear” (pg. 11) is her mom leaving her and never coming back. As we know more about Astrid’s mother we learn that Astrid does not have a husband and her father is “irrelevant” (pg. 26) Ingrid has all this rules about not letting men stay over at night but once Ingrid meets this man named Barry all her rules go down the thrash and Astrid begins to notice every single little thing about her mother. Ingrid keeps on having dates with Barry until Barry starts putting Ingrid into this oblivious road and soon Barry is nowhere to be found.
Maria’s mother acts fast and hides Maria and Alberto in the hole her father made for their safety. Maria’s mother scarifies herself for the safety of her children. If Maria’s mother went into the hole with them the Contras would of notice the untouched breakfast on the table and would search for them and kill them all. By Maria’s mother staying behind the Contras thought they got everyone in the house and would not search for Maria and Alberto. Trauma begins when Maria hears everything from the hole and the torturing and screaming of her mother.
Analysis of “The Century Quilt” Written by Marilyn Waniek, “The Century Quilt” describes the importance of heritage in the narrator’s life. Using imagery, tone, and structure, Waniek effectively illustrates the importance of her quilt. The quilt represents not only her family’s heritage but also her future heritage. Waniek’s diction creates a nostalgic tone: “I remembered how I’d planned to inherit that blanket” (Lines 9-10) and “my sister and I were in love with Meema’s Indian blanket” (lines 1-2). Her word choices “remembered” and “were in love,” Waniek emphasizes a sentimental memory.
Mama describes Maggie as unattractive, having been disfigured by a fire ten or twelve years prior. Mama lives in her ramshackle house with her youngest daughter, Maggie, who has been scarred and disfigured by the fire that burned their last house to the ground. In the beginning of the story, Maggie and Mama have made preparations for Dee’s visit, turning the yard into an “extended living room” (Walker 757). Maggie is nervous about Dee’s visit, concerned with her appearance. She seeks her mother’s approval when she asks, “How do I look, Mama?”, (Walker 758) while hiding partially behind a door.
On the surface the extract “The Loom” by R L Sasaki is a narrative about a mother who spent her time weaving, but it is also a narrative that creates a nostalgic tone and uses an extended metaphor of a loom to explore a mother’s depression and expresses the importance of family. As her children grow up and leave home, she becomes lost for a purpose in life. As a result she starts weaving a “fortress” in which she “seemed to have taken refuge” in order to cope with her emotions. The extended metaphor of the loom is used again to symbolize the mother’s emotions. The mother starts weaving with gray, brown and neutral shades, “all the shades of her life”, to express her depression.
Mama thought of Dee as a star. She dreams that her daughters return would be something special. Mama thought that this reunion would be similar as a Johnny Carson show where Dee would come from behind a curtain crying tears of joy to see her mother. However, that is not how Dee embraces her mother and sister Maggie. She returns to show then her new found style and heritage and to take family heirlooms from the home.
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.
Title: My Daughter The Racist Writer: Helen Oyeyemi Publisher: BBC Year: 2010 Number of pages: 19 1. Main character(s) and characterization • The main character in this short story is the women. She is the narrator of the story, but her name is not mention in this story. What I found by reading this story is, this women is really love her daughter also her mother-in-law. She is afraid if the soldier harmed her daughter.
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.
The Crucible is set in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692 where God and hard work consumes the people. At the beginning of the play, Reverend Parris is lying next to the bed of his ten year old daughter Betty who is unmoving and unresponsive. Hysteria is running through Salem because of the rumor that Betty is bewitched and she and several other girls where dancing in the forest with Parris’s slave Tituba. Solely afraid of losing his job, Parris questions Abigail. Even though Abigail denies that she and the girls participate in witchcraft, Parris does not believe her because Abigail has been out of work since Elizabeth Proctor abruptly fired her.