Riley Walters October 26, 2014 “Everyday Use” Character Analysis The Character of Mama in “Everyday Use” Mama, the narrator of Alice Walker’s story, “Everyday Use,” is a strong, loving mother who is sometimes threatened and burdened by her daughters, Dee and Maggie. Gentle and stern, her inner monologue offers us a glimpse of the limits of a mother’s unconditional love. Mama is brutally honest and often critical in her assessment of both Dee and Maggie. She harshly describes shy, withering Maggie’s limitations, and Dee provokes an even more pointed evaluation. Mama resents the education, sophistication, and air of superiority that Dee has acquired over the years.
White Oleander by Janet Fitch demonstrates how the protagonist, Astrid Magnussen, encounters herself with many struggles and obstacles that she must overcome. The only source of family that Astrid has is her beloved mother Ingrid Magnussen, which shows her charisma in her own egotistic way. The type of affection expressed from mother to daughter causes Astrid to feel suffocated due to the fact that her mother sees her as an extension of herself rather than a particular individual. This provokes Astrid to experience a difficult time setting aside from her mother’s suffocation and outgrowing to become the individual she wants to be. Ingrid’s imprisonment causes Astrid to experience solitude when she is transferred to a foster home.
“We all go through the same things-it’s all just a different kind of the same thing!” (194). Mrs. Hale feels connected to Minnie as an oppressed woman and believes that by helping her, she is helping all women. Mrs. Hale has a lot of guilt for not having been a better friend to Minnie and for not seeing her more often. She continually voices her deep regret for refusing to visit Minnie. “The picture of that girl, the fact that she had lived neighbor to that girl for twenty years, and had let her die for lack of life, was suddenly more than [Mrs. Hale] could bear” (194).
* I am going to compare the themes of two short stories, “I Stand Here Ironing” and “Everyday Use”. “I Stand Here Ironing” is written in a participating narrator point of view. Her theme is a basis of motherhood. She claims as though the position of a mother and how society expects to be is truly just a discovery of how to overcome obstacles. It also focuses on the points of guilt and regret in her life as a mother and how she feels that there is guiltiness within her because of the absence she has made within her daughters’ life.
The manner in which the nun said that made Esperanza feel like “nothing” (5). Esperanza realizes how poverty affects her and lessens her and her families options. A main object that represents her poverty would be her house and she knows this and understands that she wants a real house and a better life to be happier. Esperanza hates being poor and also hates her house for representing her poverty. The readers can tell she hates her house and poverty when she points out her house to Sister Superior and she “started to cry” (45).
She is desperate to feel noticed and special and this shows how lonely she is and isolated. Steinbeck presented Curley's Wife in different ways. First she is seen as 'a tart', a threat, using her power, being racist but then she is presented as also lonely and compassionate to Lennie. In Steinbeck's letter to the actress playing her in the play version, he says 'if you could break down her thousand defences she has built up, you would find a nice person, an honest person, and you would end up loving her.' We see in the end what a nice person she can be and that she wants to be loved like anyone else.’ |
While she is there, she meets two old women, one who chatters in a submissive way and another who is confined to bed. The old ladies expect someone to visit them. In Brown’s short story “The Gift of Sweat,” she introduces the reader to a compassionate character who is taking care of a housebound friend named Rick. Another similarity is both receive some kind of benefit from their actions. As Welty states in "A Visit of Charity,” Mariana is a campfire girl involved in a charity organization.
Ross still exhibits loneliness and depression. She is battling her own demons that she is succumbing to. “Mister and Mrs. Ross fell silent. They loved their children-all of them,” (15). A mother’s role is “sacred”.
Scared Silent Valerie Martin’s Mary Reilly presents us with Mary Reilly, a twenty-two year old housemaid working in prestigious Henry Jekyll’s home. She values her job dearly as she feels safe for once after enduring her abusive alcoholic dad as a child. Mary Reilly is quiet, yet when her Master, Jekyll, takes an interest in her past, she finds herself guiding him and giving him advice. Mary Reilly becomes Master’s sense of direction as he often comes to her with questions and thoughts; how ever once faced with something violent or angry, the logical and well-spoken Mary finds herself lost and in a haze. Violence and anger confuse and silence the otherwise clear and level headed Mary Reilly.
Sommers is a static character. In the beginning, she is a caring and loving mother. During the climax, her id conquers her superego and she becomes self-centered, but at the end of the story, she is back to where she was, being a devoted mother and wife to her family. Mrs. Sommers represents a woman who has been oppressed by the world of marriage. She is forced to fit in the social norm of being a proper mother and ‘woman’ that she has no time to explore her individuality because she lives in a patriarchal society.