Clean Sweep Analysis

“How I Learned to Sweep” explains a story of when a little girl first starts to sweep. The girl had often seen her mother sweep, yet she never taught her daughter. Once the girl is finished sweeping the floor of the house, the television catches her attention. She now begins to see images of the current war, The Vietnam War, and this is intriguing to her. After gazing away from the television, she realizes that the floor, she had been sweeping does not seem to be clean for her anymore. She begins to sweep again, but in her mind, the images she saw on television were too overwhelming. Her mother enters the room and turns off the television and the floor appears to be clean again. The idea of the dust that was scattered throughout the floor represented the narrator’s mental state. She had been watching soldiers die on her television that was flooding her mind and causing her trouble.

This speaks on a very deep level, in regards to the genuine warmth the author implied toward the mother in his piece. There is a subliminal truth of sentimental “value”, because the reality of this world is that all material wealth can be lost in a moment, but real wealth is not some slice of pie one luckily stumbles upon in the world, real wealth is first found in the human being, and the human becomes the reflective producer of these

Other traditions in the family of Macarena she did not like was that for the Christmas dinner all had to be elegant because it was an important date. Macarena’s style was wearing jeans. Macarena’s mom had already bought a dress for the dinner event, but she did not know about it. Christmas day arrived and it was a labyrinth in the house of Macarena. Few hours left for the whole family coming. Macarena mom’s was stressed out, so they could not speak to her. The Christmas dinner started, the uncles, cousins and grandparents came. The house was full people, had laughter and happiness was throughout the house.

To show that she is a higher class than the women in her class, she purchases an expensive hat which Julian describes as “jaunty and pathetic.” Julian’s mother bought this hat for seven dollars and fifty cents, which during the 1960s was enough to pay the gas bill for their apartment (273). Julian’s mother knows that she could have paid the gas bill with the money, but instead, uses the money to purchase an expensive hat, because in her mind, she is a high-class lady that can afford it.

Although it seems as if the main conflict is about the quilt, it is not. In fact, the real conflict is between the two sisters competing for their mother’s affection. The quilt itself represents the mother's love and acceptance of her daughter and the value or the worth that is placed on the relationship.

Even though she is married to Tom, his wealth is not enough to satisfy her. When she sees the shirts she is sad because Tom does not have the luxury of owning such a large collection of clothing. She is blinded by wealth and always seeks more than she has. She cannot fully appreciate what she has because her dream is to always have more, and she will only be happy once she has the best, an unattainable goal that is there to tantalize.

She starts to walk on the path of getting to work. Barely awake and aware of her surroundings. As she continues to head to work she starts immediately regretting her life and choices. She hears the sounds of the street and the workers working. She sees the people that were at her wedding. They were exhausted and lacked tons of enthusiasm. They were all drained and out of spirit. She even noticed little Stanislovas who was ill from his act of overeating sausages and sarsaparilla. He is standing at his lard machine, rocking unsteadily, and slightly closing his

When given a “gorgeous Add-a-Pearl necklace”, she quickly losses it the following year. The tone that Sister has while recounting this memory is of disbelief and anger. There’s jealousy because Stella-Rondo has received a beautiful gift, but scorn when she “threw it away” as if it wasn’t worth her time. The principle literary device is this use of narrative for characterization, to establish who Stella-Rondo is, and to explain why Sister resents her sibling. This gives the reader an example of Stella-Rondo’s attitude, and these simple two sentences easily paints an image of a spoiled child who does not care for what they have received and to unappreciated

As Abner and his family walked towards the next farm, they acknowledged a little pile of manure on the side of the road which he could have chosen to avoid it. Instead, his foot “came squarely down on a pile of fresh droppings” and tracked it into the landowner’s house. His willingness to put himself through the burden of carrying the smell of manure around everywhere he went, shows his resentment towards rich people and his current financial status because he could not afford the luxuries of a wealthy life. The expensive rug represented everything that Abner despised: the wealthy who have wronged him, and the money that he

Before opening the new shop the couple had to do many renovations to the building’s interior. The renovations consisted of the replacing of the walls, floors, and windows. They also remade the second story of the building into their own home. The couple found lots of interior decorations to make their shop unique. Some of these decorations have interesting stories behind them. Inside there are all kinds of coffee cups that people bring after cleaning out their houses. On a table there is a flag folded into a triangle. This flag was brought in by an elderly woman’s son who served in the military. He brought in the flag after it was flown in Afghanistan. He decided to donate the flag to Java Jones because his mother enjoyed the shop so much. On the wall there is a painting of The American Gothic but instead of the normal painting the man is holding a coffee cup and the woman is holding a tea kettle.

Within Ian McEwan’s 2001 novel Atonement, Uncle Clem’s vase occurs at critical moments plays a critical role throughout the plot, helping to depict different forms of love and the class division. It is discovered that Uncle Clem obtained the vase during the First World War when he was given the vase by a thankful occupant of a French town that he had helped to evacuate. We learn that the vase itself is a particularly expensive item and has been passed down onto Cecelia and her family. Therefore it could be interpreted that the vase has a lot of sentimental value to the family and is their ‘keepsake’ in memory of their Uncle Clem. The vase itself helps to show the relationship between both Robbie and Cecelia in a multitude of different ways, for example its shattering and the different types of wild flower arranged within. As well as this the vase also signifies the difference in class within the war and how, no matter your status in a time of crisis everyone is the same, either dead or alive.

On Friday night, the family had a special birthday party for both Carol and her 92 year old father. LaLani, Carol’s caregiver, decorated the private dining room and the Dreamweaver Foundation sent gifts for everyone. Interestingly enough, dad’s gift was a Dreamweaver Money Clip and that was exactly what he needed! As for Carol she had been wishing for months that she could have a snuggly fleece blanket but, felt that the luxury was one she couldn’t afford. Guess what her gift was, a beautiful blue Dreamweaver fleece

Every time she thinks about it or goes near the property and looks at the land where her house once stood, a flood of memories come back to her mind. In line 25 Anne speaks of a trunk and a chest, which inside contained items that she counted best. She realizes that all of her pleasant things now a ruined and worthless and lie in ashes. There will be no more guests over for a good time, no more meals together with family and friends, no happy conversations or interesting stories to be shared. No more candlelight in the windows, or a bridegroom’s voice heard throughout the home.

She had black hair and brown eyes and was quick with her hands. She had a nice shape, too. She worked as a janitress and kept three tenement houses clean. Who would ever believe that mama scrubbed floors to make a living for the four of them? She was so pretty and slight and vivid and always bubbling over with intensity and fun. Even though her hands were red and cracked from the sodaed water, they were beautifully shaped with lovely, curved, oval nails. Everyone said it was a pity that a slight pretty woman like Katie Nolan had to go out scrubbing floors. But what else could she do considering the husband she had, they said. They admitted that, no matter which way you looked at it, Johnny Nolan was a handsome lovable fellow far superior to any man on the block. But he was a drunk. That's what they said and it was true. (Book One, Page

The author introduces symbols to depict the changes in the characters’ lives. The broken figurines and purple hibiscuses represent the fragmentation and transformation the family will experience. The story revolves around a dysfunctional family run by an abusive Catholic father. The father is deeply devoted to Catholicism and uses it as an excuse for his actions. As a result, the servile mother starts to lose the three things she loves: her two children (Kambili and Jaja) and her ballet dancing figurines. Every day, hours were devoted to polishing her figurines. Unfortunately, when the father’s temper flared, the figurines became the victims. When the Jaja did not attend church, the father “picked up the missal and flung it across the room