Alice Walker Comparison

The use of a literary technique such as setting can play a significant role in developing the main conflict within a storyline. Purposefully, writers will incorporate setting in order to establish the main conflict or plot within the text. In addition, the use of setting can further extend the reader’s knowledge and understanding of the message pertaining to the situation that the author is conveying. Consequently, the setting can be a critical element that helps the readers understand the main conflict presented by the author in a story. Further, the setting has a tremendous influence on what happens in the story since it plays a role into the reason as to why the conflict occurs. The African American short story writer Alice Walker depicts

In “Everyday Use”, Alice Walker presents an everyday average family which involves a single mother with two daughters, one who seems to have life handed to her, and the other who is shy and lacks confidence in herself due to a family tragedy. Alice Walker gives some interesting stories behind each of her main characters: Mrs. Johnson, Dee (Wangero), Maggie, and Hakim Akbar (Asalamalakim). Among the characters in the story, Mrs. Johnson stands out because she loves her daughters equally, she accepts them both, and she overcomes her conflict with Dee.

Stories always have a way of placing you inside of the readings. Ralph Ellison, Tillie Olsen, and Alice Walker used first person point of view to place the readers into a different world. The completely different stories take place in a different time zone, but still manages to bring the readers into the writer’s world.

Alice Walker’s short story “Everyday Use” involves the matriarch of an African American family having heritable issues with her daughter on the true essence of their familial history. Mama, Dee (Wangero), and Maggie personalities and characteristics each symbolize different aspects of heritage. Heritage is important to the characters because it gives them a culture, however, an issue arises when Dee has a different view of heritage from Mama and Maggie. Wangero adopts an idealistic heritage and simultaneously rejects her family’s culture. Maggie is a recluse burn victim who envies her older sister and craves for her approval.

Heritage can either be passed on or changed; this is shown in Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use.” Three characters represent the way heritage is handled: Mama, Maggie and Dee (Wangero). The issue of heritage begins with Dee’s departure and then arrival back to her family with a new culture. Walker uses ambiguity in her arrangement and figurative language to display the problems every generation faces. Heritage is altered in the eyes of different people.

Heritage is defined as “property that descends to an heir” by Mirriam-Webster.com. In “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker, the quilts that were made from past family member’s clothing and old fabrics passed down through the family is a representation of their family and ethnic heritage. Mama, Maggie, and Dee (Wangero) all have different views about what their heritage actually is, yet each of them can appreciate the family history behind the quilts and hand-me-downs.

When Rebecca’s parents had first split, she would often visit a friend that was as diverse as her, but her jealousy would get the best of her. Rebecca was jealous, envious, and angry with her friend. How come her friend’s parents were still together, and doing fine but her parents forgot all about her being a “movement child”? She was lost in a world of black and white, where she was the gray that did not fit in. When her father remarried, she then became jealous of his affections toward the stepmother as well. Rebecca's mother, Alice Walker states, "Can people who hunger so desperately for what other people have ever have enough?" This quote was not directed for Rebecca but shows how naive her mother was. Alice's on daughter was hungry and eager for

In Alice Walkers In Search of Our Mothers Gardens and in Everyday Use, the authors different stories of heritage demonstrate the conflicting ideas of how to honor ones heritage, even though there are various ways discussed to honor heritage all are correct. In Everyday Use, the narrator discusses her heritage through quilts made by her mother and grandmother and through how her daughter Dee was given her name. In In Search of Our Mothers Gardens, the author uses the example of art as the means of honoring heritage. Even though these examples are completely different, they still convey the idea of honoring heritage of families.In Everyday Use there are two conflicting ideas about how to honor ones heritage as exemplified by Dee on the one hand

Some people feel ashamed or annoyed with their heritage until such traits become popular in society. Walker calls attention to this issue through her writing. She states, “ She wrote me once that no matter where we ‘choose’ to live, she will manage to come see us. But she will never bring her friends”(Walker, Page 251). Many find it difficult to balance social and family life. For some, making a good impression in society is so important that it completely overshadows everything else. This desire to be successful in the eyes of society can cause some to even discard all connections to their heritage. Especially if they believe that their heritage is not popular to the masses. This is harmful to society in general because acts such as disconnecting

Alice Walker is a story about the bonding of her family. Family bonding is a huge when it comes to family, because that’s what keeps families strong. Walker informs mothers and daughters that bonding between family members is important, by her tone, the symbol of the quilt, and relationship between mothers and daughters. The narrator in the story will show examples of the way family bonding can keep a family strong.

In Alice Walker's "Everyday Use” she creates a conflict between characters. Walker describes a family as they anxiously await the arrival of, Dee, the older sister of the family. When Dee (Wangero) comes home to visit Mrs. Johnson and Maggie, right away the readers see the differences in the family by how they talk, act, and dress. Dee has changed her name to an "African" name and is collecting the objects and materials of her past. Dee thinks that since she is in college she knows mores then the rest of her uneducated family. She is more educated and looks down on the simple life of her mother and sister. When Dee asks for a beautiful family heirloom quilt to hang on her wall, Mrs. Johnson finally denies her of this task. Mrs. Johnson finally sees that Dee does not want the quilt for the same purpose as Maggie does. Instead, Mrs. Johnson will give Maggie the quilt to keep her and her husband warm. The theme of the importance of heritage becomes clear at this point of the story. This theme is shown by Walker's use of conflict, irony, and symbolism. All throughout her short story she incorporates heritage. She describes it as a background feeling between family members, and African heritage to heirlooms that have been in the family line for generations. Dee the older sister takes her heritage for granted by only wanting her heirlooms for her educational purposes.

1. List the characters in the story you’re analyzing. Define each, identifying them as: round/dynamic; flat/static. Discuss what makes each either round/dynamic or flat/static. Use specific examples.

The Contrast of Virginia Woolf and Alice Walker After reading the four essays assigned to this sequence, it becomes interesting to contrast two author's points of view on the same subject. Reading one professional writer's rewriting of a portion of another professional writer's essay brings out many of each of their characteristics and views. Also, the difference in writing styles could be drastic, or slight. Nevertheless, the writers display how versatile the English language can be.

Every author using the setting of their stories the influences their writing making it different from another authors. An author will use religion, living conditions, economic status or other determinants influence how the reader feelings when reading their stories. Alice Walker and Stephen Dixon both use the setting in totally different ways to change their writing. An author will build up their story using the setting molding and shaping it into their own masterpiece. Writing is an art and you can tell a huge difference between Van Gogh’s and Pablo Picasso’s art just as much as you can tell a difference in Stephen Dixon’s and Alice Walker’s writings. I’m going to be comparing these two writers in the ways their use the setting to influence their writing to make themselves the unique author they are through their writing.

The union of an environmentally-conscious upbringing and a sharp public ecological consciousness markedly encourages a tough thematic examination of ecological ideas in Alice Walker’s writing. In other words, the environmental movements and theories in the 1970s and 1980s, including the coming out of eco-feminism, have significantly influenced Walker’s writings. Consequently, her literary patterns begin to shift from racism and sexism to various topics concerning the earth. Walker, while describing her characters validates her development from an artist looking inward to a New Age philosopher acutely concerned with preserving the environment. Clearly we find a marked shift from the pastoral to the environmental in her writings as is illustrated