His Talk Her Teeth Analysis

As in many of Flannery O'Connor's stories, weather is an important indicator of characters' moods and important moments. As Tom Shiftlet drives off with the younger Lucynell Crater in the car, supposedly to go on a honeymoon, "The early afternoon was clear and open and surrounded by pale blue sky;" he still has a chance to redeem himself. But after he abandons her at The Hot Spot, he has lost his chance at salvation; this moment is enforced by the weather: "Deep in the sky a storm was preparing very slowly and without thunder as if it meant to drain every drop of air from the earth before it broke." After the hitchhiking boy has thrown himself out the passenger door, all is really lost for Tom Shiftlet, and "there was a guffawing peal of thunder from behind and fantastic raindrops, like tin-can tops, crashed over the rear of Mr. Shiftlet's car."

The children's mother still had on slacks and still had her head tied up in a green kerchief, but the grandmother had on a navy blue straw sailor hat with a bunch of white violets on the brim and a navy blue dress with white dot in the print. Her collars and cuffs were white organdy trimmed with lace and at her neckline she had a pinned a purple spray of cloth violets containing

It was mother who decided to contribute most of the flock for feeding the village...passing out thighs and drumsticks to the little children who acted just as pleased as punch… yet for all her slaving over a hot stove, Father hardly noticed how she’d won over the crowd

“Go to your room. You ain’t going to that county fair tonight. Ya hear me?” Mama yelled.

Ida drew circles and lines on the paper with a crayon, when asked what did she drew she replied "mommy,daddy."

“I carefully picked up the tray and watched myself walk to Mrs. Merriweather. With my best company manners, I asked her if she would have some. After all, if Aunty could be a lady at a time like this, so could I” (318).

His mother had warned of rain. It was in the forecast, she had said in her small, fretting voice. She had urged him to wear his raincoat and to take his umbrella, but he had forgotten the umbrella in the rush of leaving, and how he thought of the five blocks he would have to walk from the Omni station to the Century National Bank, and of the morning crowd that would push against him in its hurried dash through the fine mist of the rain that had begun during the train ride from Decatur.

Whilst crossing off his daily chores, a glimmer, seemingly radiating from a mound of manure, had caught his eye. Some poor beast had downed the abandoned needle amidst a mouthful of its afternoon snack, and, presumably, plopped it out the next morning, fully intact. Mrs. Clarke, to her credit, stayed true to her word. Although her sewing needle returned in a somewhat grotesque, lackluster manner, she did indeed treat us to ice cream — even letting us get double

The story takes place at Mrs. Johnson’s house, where Mrs. Johnson and Maggie are waiting for Dee to come over for a visit. Mrs. Johnson raised two daughters on her own. She does not see herself as a bright and beautiful woman but takes pride in being able to work like a man. She is proud of her yard and the hard work she and Maggie have done to make it look when Dee comes to visit. Mama is portrayed as a “large, big-boned woman with rough, man working hands” (Walker). She also makes reference in being able to “kill and clean a hog as mercilessly as a man” (Walker). These assertions do not portray her as being the typical elegant and aesthetic mother but women who can do anything to make her daughters delighted and joyous. She does, nevertheless, enjoy doing countless things. She also dreams of having a prosperous life. Mama and Maggie are both more fascinated in the practicality of objects around them more than anything else. Alice Walker draws images through her words of three women in a family. Mrs. Johnson is affable and tough. Mrs. Johnson’s inner monologue suggests us a glimpse of the limits of a mother’s unconditional love and her devotion towards her children. Mama is a practical character. When she says, “But of course all this does not show on television”, it can inferred that though she dreams of things she wanted to do, she is a person with her both feet on the ground. She knows that those things sound good only in imagination but they are not conceivable. Critic David White advocates, "Mama takes pride in the practical aspects of her nature and that she has not spent a great deal of time contemplating abstract concepts such as heritage... [but her lack of education] does not prevent her from having an inherent understanding of heritage" (White). She is a spiritual woman. She characterizes one of her actions in

Constant changes of feelings between characters can be identified all throughout literature. In the short story “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker, feelings between Mama and Dee create a monotonous battle of emotions. The way Dee dishonors her family takes a toll on the relationship she has with her mother. When Dee comes home from college, she immediately begins blustering about what she thinks she should derive from her family’s heritage. She eventually rants so much that it causes hard feelings to come between her and her mother.

Mama brought on her nipples, tiny breaths of inaudible sighs, vowels of delicious clarity for the little red schoolhouse of our mouths.

She grasped my hand to release my mind from the trance. I stroked my fingertips over the wrinkles that adorned my mother’s weathered hands: the past few months had aged her greatly.

“Long before the year was up, Janie noticed that her husband had stopped talking in rhymes to her. He had ceased to wonder at her long black hair and finger it. Six months back he had told her, ‘If Ah kin haul de wood heah and chop it fuh yuh, look lak you oughta be able tuh tote it inside. Mah fust wife never bothered me ’bout choppin’ no wood nohow. She’d grab dat ax and sling chips lak uh man. You done been spoilt rotten.” (Hurston 27)

Mama stands outside and waits for Dee to return home. Mama fantasizes about being on a tv program with Dee, where Dee embraces her with tears in her eyes. She then thinks of how she thought Dee hated them until they raised enough money to send her to school. Finally, Dee arrives with a man named Hakim-a-barber. After greeting Mama and Maggie, Dee goes back to the car and grabs a camera. She takes several pictures of Mamma and Maggie in front of the house. She then tells Mama that she has changed her name to Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo because she could no longer bear being named after the people who oppress her. At dinner, Dee asks Mama if she could have the top of the butter churn and the dasher. After dinner, she goes to the trunk in Mama’s room and digs out old quilts made by her grandma. She asks mama if she can have the quilts also. Mama tells her that she promised Maggie the quilts, but she could have the ones made with a sewing machine. As Dee leaves she tells Mama that she doesn’t understand her heritage. Mama and Maggie watch as Dee leaves and sit in the yard until bedtime.

Getting back to Papa’s conversation, he says, “I’m a man; therefore, I know about the man stuff. There is something I want you to know and the only way I know how to tell you is to say it is straight out. There is no delicate way to say this; men are vulgar creatures, Molly. They’re perversive rogues that only want one thing - to lay you down, spread your thighs and have their way with you. Don’t let your head be turned by just any boy you pass on the street. Even here in Butler County!” If I thought the woman thing scared me- what Papa said really scared me- As soon as he finished with me, I went straight to Becky’s cabin, told her what Papa had told me, and asked her what he meant.