He writes, “Any exigence is an imperfection marked by urgency; it is a defect, an obstacle, something waiting to be done, a thing which is other than it should be.” By describing exigence this way, he allows the reader to develop the notion that it is a problem in the world that is ultimately waiting to be discussed and changed for the better. The second constituent that Bitzer talks about is the audience in a rhetorical situation. Bitzer refers to the audience as “the mediators of change” because the audience is ultimately the group of people that ignite the change and hold the power to influence decisions around the problem. The last constituent is the set of constraints. Bitzer states, “The set of constraints are made up of persons, events, objects, and relations which are parts of the situation because they have the power to constrain decision and action needed
Also, she criticizes Dee for rejecting her own origins, and resents the sophistication, education and air of superiority that Dee has acquired throughout the years. This shows a sense of intimidation towards her own daughter, leading to her distrust for Dee has rejected her old life, something her mother was clearly proud of and will continue to be proud of for she has accepted her situation by taking a different approach to her role as a mother, having a hardy nature and the ability to butcher hogs and milk cows. And although she’s willing to step out of a conventional setting as a mother, she lacks knowledge of a broader idea of the world, therefore misunderstanding Dee’s reasons for
She gives her instructions on how to speak, act, cook, clean, and how to carry herself as a lady. The way that the daughter is spoken to is not in a gentle manner filled with love. The mother speaks down to her child telling her such things as, “this is how to behave in the presence of men who don’t know you very well, and this way they won’t recognize immediately the slut I have warned you against becoming” (Kincaid 44). This statement can lead to the belief that perhaps the girl within this story had done something that her mother had considered very slutty and she wasn’t going to let her daughter get away with thinking it was acceptable behavior. It can be assumed that this daughter probably just started her monthly period, from the line towards the beginning to “soak her little clothes right after she takes them off” (Kincaid 43).
According to Farrell, the story is being told by her mother and suggests that Dee may not really be the bad person that everyone claims she is (179). Farrell goes on to explain that the perceptions told by Mama are filtered through her mind and Mama’s views of her daughters are not to be accepted uncritically (179). Farrell’s approach to this piece was to try and take the reader to a different level of understanding and offer some other ways to view the heritage of both Mama and Dee. Issue In Susan Farrell’s essay, many questions are brought up about the interpretation of the story “Everyday Use”. One question Farrell brings up during the essay is, what is the true understanding and relationship between Dee and her mother?
See, the two characters have very different personalities, which plays an important role in the story. And the title, “Everyday Use” is not only used as a metaphor in this story, but is very symbolic, and important in sending a specific message. Let’s begin by analyzing the first daughter Dee. Dee is the oldest daughter of Mrs. Johnson, the older sister to Maggie, and the protagonist character in the story, “Everyday Use.” The story is told by the mother, Mrs. Johnson as a first person narrative. And the story begins as follows, “I will wait for her in the yard that Maggie and I made so clean and wavy yesterday afternoon.
In Search Of Heritage In the story “Everyday Use” Alice Walker told the story from Mama’s point of view. The theme of this story is of a mother who is trying to cope with changing times and two daughters who are completely different. Having the story told from momma's point of view helps to reveal how momma feels about herself and how she defines her daughters Dee and Maggie. "Everyday Use" is told from momma's point of view which helps to reveal how she feels about herself. Momma feels that she is an uneducated person, she says "I never had an education myself," (157) this creates barriers between her and her daughter Dee who has a college education.
The women of the time made quilts that were put to "everyday use" that were then passed down from generation to generation. The quilts during this time were used to symbolize the love of the slave’s mothers and the things they had to go through just to make the quilts. A lot of times every square in a quilt symbolizes something of its own. One square may symbolize the love of a person and the other may symbolize the death of another. Each quilt is prepared differently which gives it a since of purpose.
Her intentions may be pure as she wants the best for Phoebe, but it doesn’t deny the fact that she’s also doing that for her own self preservation. Secrets that are kept for one’s own, selfish intention cause pain to other, no matter who they are. A different time secrets caused pain to others was when David comes back after days of being away with a pregnant girl named Rosemary. When Paul’s trying to convince his mother to let him stay home from school he describes her as talking calmly and with red eyes from crying (276). Norah is obviously hurt that David has come back with a pregnant girl as she assumes that Rosemary’s pregnant with David’s child.
Ismene wants to keep this between her and Antigone only as to not risk Antigone’s life. Ismene is tied between family and state, whereas Antigone is completely for family before state. Antigone becomes furious when Ismene thinks that they should keep it between themselves, Antigone wants her to scream it from the rooftops who had buried Polynices. This shows that Antigone is more confident with her decision and is clearly the braver one of the two sisters. While playing Antigone I tried to give her a little more attitude than Ismene.
In “Everything That Rises Must Converge,” Julian’s mother is a bigot. She prefers to live in the past, just like Mrs. Turpin in “Revelation.” Each lady thinks that times were better before desegregation. The reason that Mrs. Turpin thought this way was because now she has to be nice to the black people; all she had to do before was give them an order and her orders would be followed exactly. In “Everything That Rises Must Converge,” Julian’s mother was scared to ride the bus alone because she thought that a black person might harass her in some way. In each of these stories, the leading ladies— Mrs. Turpin and Julian’s mother— were prejudice in some way towards anyone they thought should be in a lower class.