Mahonoy

Have you ever wondered why interpretations and perceptions of things change over time? It is because everyone has their own opinion and outlook on things, especially when it comes to the interpretation and perception of people and stories. While some of the opinions may be similar to one another, many of them are different. Upon reading Paula Gunn Allen’s “Pocahontas, To Her English Husband John Rolfe” and John Smith’s “The Generall Historie of Virginia”, The reader already had a perception of Pocahontas as it relates to how she looks, where she came from and her personality. After reading both of the works by Paula Gunn Allen and John Smith, although the physical similarities of Pocahontas are evident, within the texts there are differences as it relates to the representation of Pocahontas. Allen revises Smiths representation of Pocahontas through personality, romance and point of view.

This shines light upon her Native American roots and how it can be an inspiration for her Century Quilt, each square representing her family’s racial diversity and mixed roots. It is quite difficult to learn of all the harsh animosity they were enduring, such as Meema and her yellow sisters whose “grandfather’s white family nodding at them when they met” (24-27). The hostility is clear as the white relatives only register their presence; no “hello” or warm embrace as if they didn’t acknowledge them as true family. However, with descriptive imagery, the speaker’s sense of pride for having the best of both worlds is still present as she understands Meema’s past experiences and embraces her family’s complexity wholeheartedly; animosity and all.

While the children were learning the new ways, the adults were as well. Oona’s father had gone to a lumber camp to work. He went to try and earn enough money to build the kinds of houses that the new settlers had already built for themselves. The Native woman began to learn the household needs, and the English language as well. They made clothes similar to the new settlers, and even friended many of them. The way of life that they were once used to was becoming just a speck in their memories. As the generation passes, Oona always remembered to tell the children of how life used to be, and the traditions that were practiced. She recognized that the children would bring the culture with them in the generations to come, but it would never be as traditional as it once was.

"She did not take the broad, beaten road which led to the far-off plantation at Valmonde. She walked across a deserted field, where the stubble bruised her tender feet, so delicately shod, and tore her thin gown to shreds. She disappeared among the reeds and willows that grew thick along the banks of the deep, sluggish

1. What is your first impression of Vladek Spiegelman? What does his remark about friends suggest about his personality? How does it foreshadow revelations later in the book?

This short story is about a young Indian woman named Sumita, her impending arranged marriage and subsequent trip to America, which is symbolized by the color and type of her clothes. The author utilizes color symbolism to express the emotional changes that Sumita is going through and how she uses colors to keep her grounded with her Indian beliefs during her transition from girl to bride-to-be to an Indian-American to widow. There are many examples of colors that represent established Indian beliefs and religion are mentioned throughout the story.

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

She took on the life of a Comanche woman doing the hard work of setting up tepees and helping dry meat and hides. She also went on many buffalo hunts where she and many other women dried the meat and skins. Parker loved her husband and three children, two boys and one girl, her life in white civilization was forgotten as she now had deep admiration for her Indian life, and never wanted to leave. On one unfortunate day Parker and her daughter were captured and taken away to white settlements. She was given new clothes, a soft bed, and fed food that she sometimes rejected. Parker missed chewing on her carefully made pemmican and her soft antelope hide dress, and she couldn’t get used to the soft bed they had given her to sleep on. During her time in white settlement she was given news of both her husband and second son dieing which brought great sorrow upon her. Another great sorrow brought upon her was the death of her young daughter by a white man’s disease. Life to Cynthia Ann was worthless now that she had lost her beloved daughter. After her daughter's death Cynthia Ann moved to her brother-in-law's home where she died shortly after her arrival. Her first son had not yet forgotten about his beloved mother and went on a search for her. When he found her body he had it place in a new casket with his sister at her side where he was later buried beside them after his

GUILT is an emotion one gets when he/she believes or discovers that he/she did a wrong deed and valuated his/her standard social, moral or penal code ( Chaplin, 1975). The intensity of guilt varies from one person to another. When some individuals survive a horrific event, they get this overwhelming feeling of guilt and blame themselves for surviving the abominable situation that others did not survive. This state of mind is a mental condition and is sometimes termed as imagined guilt. It may be found in survivors of holocausts, natural disasters, mass murder and pandemics e.g. the 9/11 Oklahoma City bombings. While this guilt might not be experienced by everyone, it a research based

“ A dress down to the ground… yellows and oranges enough to throw back the light of the sun. Earrings gold, too…Bracelets dangling and making noises…” Her hair, “stands straight up like the wool on a sheep.” (183, Walker). This is how Mrs. Johnson describes her daughter‘s new appearance. Although Mrs. Johnson does not disapprove of Dee’s new African fashion she is not comfortable with it. Dee had taken on the task to flash her African roots while she failed to understand the true meaning of her heritage. Dee makes the mistake of believing that one’s heritage is something that one puts on to display. Mrs. Johnson does not display African fashion. Nonetheless she knows the true meaning of her heritage; something that Dee does not seem to understand. Through “Everyday use”, Walker conveys that culture and heritage are taught from one generation to the next and it is not suddenly acquired and definitely it is not something that one suddenly puts on.

The Narrative of the Captivity, Sufferings, and Removes of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson is a detailed journal that she’s writing to share her experiences with the Native American tribes in the colonies. Rowlandson and her family hearing Native Americans coming over the hills began to run and hide in their house. The Native Americans began attacking the village that they we living in at the time. The Indians began burning houses and ripping colonists from their homes separating the wives from the children, and the husbands from them both. Glancing out the window occasionally Rowlandson has been watching some people survive but some getting clubbed in the head and watching them die. The house that she was hiding in was beginning to burn and there was

Her parents, first-generation immigrants from Puerto Rico, try to guide her and give her advice, but ultimately the difference in cultures could not be reconciled. What was acceptable and expected in Puerto Rico was not the same as in America, and it showed. Cofer’s mother, when giving Cofer clothing advice, did not realize how different American girls dressed compared to the Puerto Rican girls. The bright lipstick and more revealing clothes that Cofer was encouraged to wear on a day to day basis were not commonplace for American girls. Cofer also did not dress correctly when it came to formal events. Often not knowing what to wear, she would mix and match pieces of clothing and accessories until she found something she thought looked presentable. However, this still was not right. In fact, a friend of hers pointed out that you could always tell Puerto Rican girls apart from the rest of a group because they tended to “wear everything at once.”

Johnson has promised to Maggie as a wedding present. These hand sewn quilts were priceless in both women's eyes but for very different reason. Mrs. Robinson looked at them as a part of her life, her everyday use, made from her mother and grandmother's old dresses. "Wangero" saw them in regards to their monetary value. She tells her mother and Maggie that they do not appreciate them for their value, and they do not understand their heritage. She wants to hang them up on a wall, as if to display her heritage, her family's customs. It is clear that Alice Walker disdains Wangero's attitude towards her past, as does the reader. We know who it is who really does not appreciate their heritage, Wangero.

The nose [is] half a foot long, shaped like a beak, filled with perfume with only two holes, one on each side near the nostrils, but that can suffice to breathe and carry along with the air one breathes the impression of the [herbs] enclosed further along in the beak. Under the coat we wear boots made in Moroccan leather (goat leather) from the front of the breeches in smooth skin that are attached to said boots, and a short sleeved blouse in smooth skin, the bottom of which is tucked into the breeches. The hat and gloves are also made of the same skin…with

February 10, 1675 was a sorrowful day for Mary Rowlandson’s hometown (Lancaster). Indians came and destroyed their town showing no remorse. Many were killed and wounded. Some were taken captive. Among those captive is a women named Mary Rowlandson. Throughout her captivity she kept a journal of all her removals and interactions she had with the Indians.