Sam's Role In Transitional Object

"I look at my homely sketch. It doesn't need anything. Even through the river in my eyes I can see that. It isn't perfect and that makes it just right" (198). This relates to her character traits because it shows her big emotions/expressions and that those emotions change her personality and reputation and that all gives her encouragement to finally finish and like her

However, one of the most interesting concepts is how these mothers contribute to the ways in which their daughters develop their own identities and individual practices that enable them to mother themselves. More specifically, how they learn to doctor wounds, process emotions and thought, and care for themselves in all aspects of life. Therefore,

People not only know the identity of someone by knowing their scars, but each scar tells a story of what a person has gone through. Sethe's back and the scars caused by her beating are important in the story

The resentment within the young girl’s family is essential to the novel because one can understand the young girl better as she makes her decision.

She wants the audience to feel as innocent as she did in the beginning, as shameful and disgusted in the middle, and as nostalgic in the end of her article. In the beginning, she creates the image of what she looks like, “… [b]ell bottom jeans and blue peasant blouses and striped knit shirts that clung to my breasts, ” (Wilkinson). By doing so, readers can vividly imagine what she looks like and feel more attached and involved in the story she is creating. In the middle she takes us through all the times she was sexually abused and by using imagery, she makes the reader feel as beaten down and scared as she was. For example, she creates an image of the church where her first sexual assault occurred, “At the entrance to the church was a small vestibule with two white doors. Behind the doors was a dangling rope attached to the church bell,” (Wilkinson). She goes on to build the tension with her words like “groped,” “accident,” “hiding,” and “secret,” (Wilkinson). These make the reader more and more uncomfortable as she describes her experiences, which was the point, to make the reader feel some semblance of what she did. In the end, she describes her older and present self, looking through old pictures: “ Sometimes in old photographs, I see glimpses of that young woman. Corners of my mouth turned down. Staring into the camera with empty eyes where joy should

Without the proper guidance from a healthy role model in Baby’s life, she has trouble forming and maintaining proper romantic and sexual relationships. Throughout the novel Baby is shown to

It shows her other girls’ hatred of Andy. It provides her with hope and tells her she’s not alone. It makes her realize Andy is a predator who hurt many women before her and didn’t target her because she was stupid or because she deserved to be targeted. This feeling of freedom is evident by her thoughts of being like a bird (Andersen 186) as she escapes from a large

Ma's character change is an important part of the novel, because while the men in the novel tend to see life in short little spurts, the women see life as a never-ending circle, and they understand life must go on, no matter what. The sudden change in Ma's nature shows early signs of the soon to be womens suffrage.

Katie Nolan, Francie’s mother, is the main reason that Francie is able to survive her arduous childhood and succeed in life. Food, heat and protection are always available to the Nolan children even if it means that Katie has to work multiple jobs or even sacrifice some of her own needs. Katie gives all she can to provide for her children and Francie truly values her mother’s hard work. Francie appreciates her mother’s thougtful acts, but still, Francie develops

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

Another very important aspect is the symbol used in this short story. I suppose it is justified to say that the children are the symbol uniting all different aspects in the story. Before Mamzelle Aurélie had to keep the children she was leading a very lonely life. As the children were living with her, her life got a sense and she became a happy person. But after they left her she realized that she wasted her whole life and regrets everything. Through those children all the different themes of the story like family or loneliness come together.

From this moment on, every acceptable quality she has will mean absolutely nothing to her. As long as she has her big nose and her two thick legs, that is all she will see herself as wholly. This leads her to thinking about permanently removing her unwanted flaws. She believes that if she removes her flaws, she will finally be accepted by society. In both stories, the reader interprets that both the woman and the young girl have specific qualities that someone in their lives has pointed out as flaws. The opinions of these certain people obviously matter to both of them, so they eventually decide that they want their flaws removed for good.

The essence of the relationship between a mother and child is a mutual ascendency in regards to identity. Children are subject to an instinctive longing for a mother. It is the mother’s influence that guides them in their process of discovering all the realities the world posses and in that processing discerning their identity. Conversely when a woman becomes a mother the presence of her child causes her to evaluate and develop her identity under the pretense of motherhood. Paula Nicolson touches on the value of both these scenarios in her article “Motherhood and Women’s Lives” where she expresses how the mother child relationship gives the pretense for both parties to find their authentic identities (Nicolson). Sue Monk Kidd evaluates the

The author entered the conflict about the value of motherhood in which American feminists were then, as they are now, engaged. Motherhood is also seen as a moral transformation, as a woman comes to terms with being different in that she ceases to be an independent individual because she is one way or the other attached to another her baby (FPS). Barbara Christian writes that Walker combines the forces of traditional and feminist perspectives on motherhood, attempting a compromise that would allow the protagonist to survive:

     Throughout the story there are several aspects of the Protagonist’s character that play a major role in the shaping of her future. During her childhood she