Grant Mumma
Professor Beavers
English 1302
7 September 2014
“The Inheritance of Tools” by Scott Russell Sanders begins by describing how the author and his father were both doing carpentry work when the latter passed away, one on a house in Oklahoma, and the other on a bedroom wall in the bedroom of his own home. The moment before he gets the news, Sanders hits his thumb with a hammer, an accident which he links to the death of his father. He goes on to tell how the values of the family are passed generation to generation just as the tools and carpentry skills are, values which include absolute perfection when performing and completing any task and also taking pride in one’s work. After thinking through the death of his father, Sanders proceeds to his toolbox and takes a look at all of his freshly sharpened and oiled knives and chisels, suggesting to the reader that he may want to commit suicide, but he realizes that killing himself will not solve any of the problems he has. Sanders knows that the only realistic
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Scott Russell Sanders uses a variety of very effective techniques, including imagery, characterization, and symbolism in “The Inheritance of Tools” to create a lasting impression on the reader and embed the point that Sanders inherited everything he knows, has, and does, physically, mentally, and ethically from his ancestors.
Sanders uses a great deal of imagery in “The Inheritance of Tools” to create a sense of immersion in his interaction with his father and grandfather and to give the reader an idea that the author’s inheritance does not just include the physical aspect, tools, but also a set of ethics and skills. The image that Sanders provides about the appearance of the hammer, “The head is scratched and
According to Raymond Williams, “In a class society, all beliefs are founded on class position, and the systems of belief of all classes …” (Rice and Waugh 122). His work titled, Marxism and Literature expounded on the conflict between social classes to bridge the political ideals of Marxism with the implicit comments rendered through the text of a novel. “For the practical links,” he states “between ‘ideas’ and ‘theories’ and the ‘production of real life’ are all in this material social process of signification itself” (133). Williams asserts that a Marxist approach to literature introduces a cross-cultural universality, ensuingly adding a timeless value to text by connecting creative and artistic processes with the material products that
Jordon’s Waterhammer: The concept that men are only tool sand nothing else. That the purpose of living is to mine ore.
Stephen is a young man working with his father and several other men as pulp-cutters. These men barely talk and they spend the time they aren’t working playing card games. Working together everyday, Stephen looks at his father as one of the most important people in his life. As his
Explanation; By describing his father, “who lumbered … with deliberation,” as “full bodied” and “an inch or two above six feet” (Wolff 301), Wolff paints a picture of his appearance for the reader. When he mentions that his father “was lavish with money, with others’ money” and that “people were hurt by him” (Wolff 304), he shows readers about the dark and manipulative nature of his father. Therefore, the essay serves as a descriptive piece of his father.
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 word “Inheritance” has a variety of meanings, both in the context of the play and in the general community. In the play “Inheritance” written in 2003 by Hannie Rayson, generates the definition of the word “Inheritance” by portraying the two families (the Delaney’s and Hamilton’s) both families have different perspectives about Inheritance and they have different values in life, as both lives in different environments, one of them lives in rural areas and the others in urban areas. These families fighting fiercely for who will take over the inheritance of the farm (Allandale), The prejudice of this sensitive topic, within the family brings up a contradiction between them, as many of the characters suffered particularly Nugget, and Lyle, as there are the two candidates in getting the inheritance of the farm and they are the only farmers both from the family. In this play we saw the prejudice of William against the aboriginal people have a big
Alice Walkers “Everyday Use”, is a story about a family of African Americans that are faced with moral issues involving what true inheritance is and who deserves it. Two sisters and two hand stitched quilts become the center of focus for this short story. Walker paints for us the most vivid representation through a third person perspective of family values and how people from the same environment and upbringing can become different types of people.
Different types of symbolism are used to add significance to point out uniqueness in connotations that a writer uses when writing literature. An author’s literary works may include multiple symbols to give perception to his or her readers. When a writer uses a symbol, it is intended to heighten the sense a reader’s communication of literary works. The three key symbols in the short story in “Everyday Use” is that of quilts stored away in a trunk, the house, and hands. The quilts represented the African American’s women talent of creativity from those that were made from by other individuals from other people. It is noted that the quilts depicted that a guiding principle during the time of slavery for which they were used to send a form of communication to other slaves (Kirszner and Mandell, 2012). As stated by Kirszner and Mandell (2012), “One design, the Log Cabin, was hung outside to mark a house of refuge for fugitive slaves. Other quilts mapped escape routes out of a plantation or county, often by marking the stars that would act as a guide to freedom for those escaping at night” (page. 345). When slavery came to an end, the quilts created during this period of time were remembered for their significance of ethnicity and legendary importance by the African Americans. Dee was the daughter of the momma who thought it would be better to change her name to Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo as she did not want to carry the heritage name as it seem to trouble her. Dee looks around for items that she can back home with rather than spend valuable time with her mama and Maggie. Suddenly takes notice a truck that is sitting at the end of her mama’s bed, and she pulls out two quilts that were made by her very own ancestors. Dee requests to take the quilts home with her; however, the mama informs her that she had plans to give them to Maggie upon her marriage. Dee was selfish as she wanted them for herself only to display them on a wall, and requested the ones that were completely sewn by hand. The mother suddenly reminisces how the different pieces had a story behind them about herself and her heritage. Why, the quilts were made to be put on a bed. Dee had an opportunity to take a quilt with her when she went off to college
In the short story “Sea Oak,” George Saunders presents a family that is struggling with life in the poor neighborhood of Sea Oak. The narrator works as a male stripper in Joysticks, run by Mr. Frendt. The story also revolves around Auntie Bernie, who dies, resurrects, and dies again after advising the narrator, his sister Min, and their cousin Jade to adopt unorthodox and immoral means of making it in life. Two main themes that emerge in Saunders’ work are grief and loss that people suffer in life, and how the society teaches to deal with them, including the loss of a fruitful life, lack of wealth and success, as well as death.
In Annie Dillard’s “Chapter One” of The Writing Life, she uses metaphors to explain the process of writing. She links words to tools, specifically a hammer that someone uses to
The examination of black women's need to keep their powerful heritage and identity is important to the protagonist in “Everyday Use.” Walker uses the mother’s voice to show the trials and tribulations of a small African American family located in the South. She speaks on multiple levels, voicing the necessity and strength of being true to one's roots and past; that heritage is not just something to talk about, but to live and enjoy in order for someone to fully understand themselves. Unlike Kincaid, Walker gives her black female character’s an identity of their own, each in their own right, and observes the internal conflicts of each mother and daughters struggle with identity. The mother represents a simple content way of life where identity and heritage are valued for both its usefulness, as well as its personal significance. In order to illustrate how the mother viewed identity versus her daughters, Walker quickly acknowledges that the mother has inherited many customs and traditions from her ancestors. She describes herself as a large big-boned woman with rough man-working hands (485). She also describes here various abilities including, killing and cleaning a hog as mercilessly as a man. Being able to work hard and not care about being such a lady, is how the mother defines identity at this point. On the other hand, the two daughters each have opposing views on the value and worth of the different items
Everyone inherits something during life, whether it be money from a recently deceased relative or physical features from parents. Throughout the poem “Heritage” by Linda Hogan, the narrator remembers all the traits and lessons that she has garnered from her kin. A superficial reader of the poem might assume that the narrator is simply reflecting on said traits and lessons, but in reality she is actually attempting to illuminate and reconcile the differences in her life.
“Real Work” by Richard Rodriguez is about a young man struggling with self-confidence. He seeks to build his self-esteem by participating in real manual labor over a summer job. When Rodriguez is offered a job working on a construction site he doesn’t hesitate to say yes. His father had always told him he could never understand the hardships of “Real work’, and Rodriguez felt that completing this summer job would make his father proud of him, and in many ways consider him to be a “Real man”. Richard Rodriguez was raised in America, unlike his family. He never really knew anything different. This made it very easy for his father to tell him that “he didn’t really know
“Everyday Use” is a short story by Alice Walker, which emphasizes the importance of understanding and cherishing your heritage and the inheritance that may come along with it. Knowing who is truly entitled to the inheritance, and what their heritage meant was the central conflict in the story, when the two main characters Dee and Maggie, both wanted the two hand stitched quilts. Rather than looking at the physical aspect of the quilts the author wants the reader to know that the meaning is much deeper. The quilts are used to depict the struggle, triumphs, oppression, joy, pain, and love of each hand that helped to create the prized works of art. The quilts needed to be put to everyday use, rather than a mere decoration on the wall. Through the quilts Walker was able to show what each character valued: Dee valued the materials things, Maggie, valued things she could attach herself to, and Mama valued the acceptance of her daughter Dee.
The tools that are described as "hitting and chipping" show that the experiences that one faces everyday changes them since each of the tools that are describe are one of the five senses that human beings have. Cummings shows how human nature is against change by saying how the effect of the hitting of the tools, essentially the introduction of new experiences, causes the narrator to partake in "an agony of sensual chisels" where he performs "squirms of chrome and execute strides of cobalt". The "squirms of chrome and execute strides of cobalt" can be taken simply as pain. To confirm the reader's thoughts that the poem's central theme is about change Cummings adds the line "i am cleverly being altered that i slightly am slightly becoming a little different".