Analysis Of The Century Quilt By Marilyn Nelson Waniek

The children are unnoticed by others and the mother is the only one that is protecting them. This poem shows the hard times that the mother must face because her children have died. However the mother is coping with them while still protecting her children after they have died, This is the mother's way of coping because she is not yet ready to let go of her children and still wants to care for them. This poem shows this through nature by portraying the mother as a bird who is protecting her nest. Also the poem uses nature by describing the harsh times as a winter wind that has caused harm to the mother and her children.

In “The Century Quilt,” Marilyn Nelson Waniek utilizes several literary techniques to represent the speaker’s undying heritage through her family heirloom that binds generations with one another. As an indication of the diversity and complexity within her family, the speaker goes into depth about the immense effect her Meema’s blanket had on her growth into a woman and the etching along her own quilt that represents her Native American pride. With the use of evocative imagery and symbolism of her culture’s oppression, Waniek depicts the speaker’s remorseful tone towards the recurring theme of absence within her family, that forces her to rely on the quilt for a sense of comfort and guidance.

The poem “The White Porch” by Cathy Song is an illustration of maturity and coming of age. There is an innocent tone to the beginning of the poem with sensual undertones as the writing progress’s. In the poem, a woman is reminiscing about her young womanhood as she sits on her porch awaiting her presumed lover. Song creates the character of the woman to be of a homemaker, describing her duties taking care of laundry, having a cake in the oven and snapping beans in her lap. Through the visualization that Song creates it is assumed that the woman is pregnant, and as she is waiting for her husband she thinks back to the things she herself used to do when she was younger with her own mother. She is reflecting on the way her mother raised her thinking about how she wants to raise her own child. The speaker admits to sneaking in her lover late at night behind her mother’s back, but does not seem to feel remorseful because all her decisions led to where she is in her life now. Cathy Songs poem “The White Porch” portrays the transition of a girl into a woman using symbolism, imagery and simile.

In addition to this, belonging to a family is a key concept in this novel. The novel opens with an alluring introduction to the family; a blissful atmosphere is created through the picturesque icons of their family life. The composer uses small photograph like icons to allude towards the widely acknowledged contentment that is readily associated with the memories in a picture album. Tan introduces the motif of the paper crane which he carries through the length of his novel as a symbol of affection and belonging between the family members. The next pages signify the break in contentment as the man begins his journey and a salient image of the couple with their hands grasping the other’s parallels the anxiety and despair in their downcast facial expressions. Although the gloomy atmosphere, the light sepia tones in the picture allow an insight into the tender and loving relationship that the family members share. Upon the man’s departure the paper crane motif returns and he hands it to his daughter as a token of his undying love for her. His migratory experience is studded by the comfort and ease that he obtains from a picture of his family. In paralleled scenes on the boat and the new apartment, the

I will start with the world, “heartsick” because this word relates to the feelings that the granddaughter felt for the yarning of the comforts of her home. The sorrows drowned out by the panels of the quilt her grandmother made her. The comfort of her home away form home for those nights she felt sad and wanted to be home. The granddaughter could easily drown her fears and tears into this quilt and be reminded of the strength and the bond she has with her Grandmother. “Heartsick” was an powerful word to use to understand how the granddaughter must have felt on those miserable days. But, to tie it in to the quilt like she did was like she quilted the words together to show how and what it meant to be alone and struggled and how the granddaughter coped with her emotions. I believe that the word loose, this word was placed all the way at the end of the poem. I feel like this word speaks loudly throughout this poem significance. This poem is about the granddaughter being blown “loose” by the natural forces that cary us. In this case she is blowing “loose” of her home and her centric ideas. To explore and be “loose” in the world to experience it through her eyes to develop her own point of view by simply enacting her own beliefs and adopting others. I felt compelled to react to the word, “slant”. “Slant”, has a great meaning in this poem for it is used in the beginning of the poem. Slant can mean a

Waniek’s unique form style splits the poem into three stanzas which represent the past the present and the future. The first stanza which embodies the past is written in past tense. Words like “remembered”, “planned”, and “were” allude to the past and tell how the narrator is thinking of the joy that the quilt brought her. The second stanza is

In regards to Kofi Annan, it is believed that we all need to join together in order to live in a strong environment and we need one another in order to grow stronger as a nation. Kofi Annan once said,” We may have different religions, different languages, different colored skin, but we all belong to one human race.” This statement emphasizes the significance of finding common ground due to the fact that it explains that everyone needs to get past their differences in order to come together and grow to make the environment and nation they live in superior. Two authors in this unit also argue that individuals need to find common ground. In “A Quilt of a Country”, Anna Quindlen claims that conflict unites all people. Likewise, Eboo Patel claims that all people work together to overcome

culture. Starting at the time of slavery to relay information about safe routes in the Underground

The poem describes the weather and its effect on cotton flower by pointing out the dying branches and vanishing cotton. The image of insufficiency, struggle and death parallel the oppression of African American race. The beginning of the poem illustrates the struggle and suffering of the cotton flower; which represent the misery of African Americans and also gives an idea that there is no hope for them. But at the end the speaker says “brown eyes that loves without a trace of fear/ Beauty so sudden for that time of year” (lines 13-14). This shows the rise of the African American race, and their fight against racism. The author used mood, tone and

This poem by Charlotte Mew tells a story in which a farmer marries a very young girl who could not be less ready to marry. The maid in this poem is abused throughout the poem by her so called husband who does not treat her even as a human. Her marriage arranged at a young age the girl is forced into adult duties and actions much too early. This cause many issues to her mental health and her trust towards other humans. The farmer, as the narrator, uses several similes throughout the poem comparing the maid to a rabbit. This shows how he views her and why he treats her like he does in the poem. The six uneven stanzas allows Mew to express her intentions not limited to another's style. This allows for amazing line placement throughout the poem, and the only form she follows throughout the poem is iambic tetrameter. There is no rhyme scheme allowing Mew to have freedom like the girl so much desires. In “The Farmer’s Bride”, Charlotte Mew uses irregular rhyme and form with iambic tetrameter, as well as thorough imagery and comparison to show the broken marriage in this poem.

Your Happiness Affects Everyone Theodore Roosevelt said, “The welfare of each of us is dependent fundamentally on the welfare of all of us.” All of the stories help me form evidence for my claim. My evidence for my claim is in 9/11 when the family members died there family was sad as well, but when the family was sad they made the rest of the united states sad as well. When something bad happens to the world the family gets sad first then the world does because the welfare of all of us is dependent on the welfare of one of us. So try to be in a good mood every day because when you aren't you affect everyone.

Significance: The bedspread, from the beginning of the novel, has grown so enmouous that it had to be drag outside of the carriage. The bedspread symbolizes Tita’s growing loneliness and pain throughout the years. The bedspread is magical itself because it holds all the painful memories that Tita had held inside of her.

The theme of themes of inheriting possessions and traditions from grandparents can be seen throughout life. Both the poem, Keepsakes, and the passage, Grandma’s Collection, feature this theme and it can be seen through different elements and literary devices that are shown in both readings. The poem, Keepsakes, develops theme very early in the reading. The reader is immediately introduced to a brief dialogue of the grandmother speaking to the narrator about possessions and what they could inherit from her. The line, “I want to remember her” is repeated at the end of every stanza to accentuate the theme of inheriting possessions from the grandmother as a way of remembering her when she is gone.

“Knitting” by Amy Olson-Binder deals with the grief of miscarriage. The narrator state the mother has lost the infant after three months. The title forces us to confront the symbol of the text, which I believe that Olson-Binder uses the issue of the miscarriage to narrate the poem through the knitting idea. It is effective because a baby begins with cells joining and gradually forms human features as the shape of its forming as a piece of knitting and become into the final garment. The idea of the knitting helps the readers easily understand and relate to the significant theme of the poem. As the mother knits garments to prepare for the birth the baby is growing inside. However, the narrator shows that the woman lost her child through a text “ Of silent stitching” It challenged me to think about the idea of quite a growth inside the uterus. The silence uterus confronts the issue of miscarriage, which the mother has no longer to be pregnant and the cell of the baby has no longer to join together. Also, Olson-Binder expressed the depressed tone through “private rocking place”. It provides the sad, hopeless, and gloomy

Floyd Dell’s “The Blanket” is a story about family and relationships; it is about Petey’s family. Petey is a grandson who loves his grandfather dearly. He tries to behave like an adult and saves his grandfather from a lonely life in an old folk’s home. The relationship between Petey and his dad got strained because his dad was sending his grandfather away in order to marry a women that Petey did not like.