Sofia In The Color Purple

In “The Century Quilt”, the speaker illustrates the importance of the family quilt in which determines her future heritage to pass on. The speaker states “My sister and I were in love with Meema’s Indian blanket.” to create nostalgic tone and to relive a sentimental moment in her life. The blanket provided peace, love, and safety to the speaker during the times she spent underneath it. “I remembered how I’d planned to inherit that blanket, how we used to wrap ourselves at play in its folds and be chieftains and

Quilting can also be used for expression of oneself or for social commentary. Back in the 1800’s when there were many wars women would usually make quilts because they were what was needed in those times and the fabric was often hard to come by and it was usually saved for clothes making.” It was a means to escape from the isolation of their lifestyle and it allowed them the artistic freedom to express themselves. The quilts produced by our ancestors told stories about their lifestyles that could not be captured by pen and paper. Every quilt we see today, regardless of when the quilt was made, relates a story. The types of fabrics, the design of the quilt, the signature of the quilter, all reveal an intimate story of the woman or man who made the quilt.” (Meeske,Quilt Me a Story) They used quilting to get out of the bleakness and horrible things that were going on in their lives at the moment and put how they felt in the quilts. Around the mid-1800’s women quilted a lot more to show artistic talent, political views, and even their emotions. “Prior to a woman’s ability to vote, some women used their artistic talents and expressed their political views through a quilt. The issue of slavery in the United States in the mid-1800s led to quilt patterns called Slave Chain

The quilts are used in the representation of what heritage means to Mama and Maggie versus Dee’s view of them. Mama describes that:

Comparably, Aunt Ida’s quilt evokes the same feeling of unity, but for different reasons. The quilt is symbolic of an awareness of AIDS. Likewise, the quilt demonstrates the empathy Aunt Ida shares for the many families who have lost a loved one from this illness. Aunt Ida’s quilting is not for display, it is to keep a person warm (45). The warmth Aunt Ida tries to expresses is not only literal but metaphorical. The quilt is to wrap the families with the strength and warmness these families needs at this time. In the same manner, the quilt is to unify all these family for a cause. The cause is to bring awareness of AIDS and try to make a social consciousness and unification. Aunt Ida states that we may all like patches, but she is unsure about Washington (46). The mention of Washington is more a political critique towards the government for not helping and bringing the sufficient resources for AIDS. Aunt Ida through the quilt is bringing a unification not only to the families, but to the country as well.

Lastly, Mrs., Wright’s quilt is directly symbolic of the empathetic relationship that all three of the women, Mrs. Hale, Mrs. Peters, and Mrs. Wright, share throughout the work.In many ways, the

In the story, a family heirloom becomes a conflict because while Dee wants to take the quilt to decorate her home, Maggie would make better use of the quilts by using them instead of framing them. This quilt that has been passed down from generation to generation, is symbolic of the love that both the older generations and the present generation has for each other. The quilt also symbolizes the strength of the family and the stitching is symbolic of the bonds that hold a family together. Mama ultimately decides that the quilt will go to Maggie because Dee does not understand the practicality of the quilt which is that they were from pieces of clothes that were lived in, which represented their past. Alice Walker was also emphasizing that it is the woman in the family that have held and currently hold families together by depicting closeness of the female relationships.

Firstly, the crazily sewn quilt patch suggests that Mrs. Wright was preoccupied with someone or something else. The patch that

The use of symbols in this short story provide a deeper meaning to the emotions the characters have and are essential to the story as a whole. The major symbol in the short story are the quilts. The quilts are where the title “Everyday Use” comes from. Walker shows this by having Dee exclaim, “[s]he’d probably be backward enough to put them to everyday use” (556) when Mama proclaimed that the quilts will go with Maggie instead of Dee. Mama realizes that Dee does not need anything extra in life because of her escape to the outside world. However, Maggie is literally scared from her past and the sentimental value behind the quilts can provide her with comfort. Maggie views the quilts as a way to hold on to something from the family heritage and potentially keep the family heritage alive. Meanwhile, Dee has moved on with her life and even changed her name. By doing this, she is slowly eliminating her past and all ties with it resulting in a falsely perceived view of the quilts. Dee talks about how she will “[h]ang [the quilts]” (556)

Waniek describes the quilt in great detail, describing the memories show it’s history, which tells the reader it has been around for awhile. When Waniek does start to describe the quilt’s physical appearance, she leads into talking about the owners of the quilt, noting what color they are. The color of the people goes much deeper than we think, in fact it holds both a connotation and denotation. Waniek uses those elements to further explain the complex meanings of the quilt.

The saying "memories will last forever" points to the fact that our memories will always stay with us. Such a powerful statement provokes digging deeper to how important memories are, and how they are cherished. Memories can be evoked through special objects such as quilts. Some people are washed over with waves of emotion from memories tied to the special objects; however, some people do not truly cherish their memories. In the poem "My Mother Pieced Quilts" by Teresa Acosta and the short story "Everyday Use" by Alicia Walker, both authors use imagery and figurative language as a symbol for family memories to illustrate their themes.

In the poem “The Century Quilt” by Marilyn Nelson Waniek the speaker uses symbolism and tone to convey a deeper meaning behind the quilt. The speaker’s symbolism displays the diversity in the speaker’s family. The speaker’s tone conveys pride in their family. Each square of the quilt represents a different section of the speaker’s family, and past occurrences.

“Quilts designed for everyday use, pieced wholes defying symmetry and pattern, are signs of the scarred generations of women who have always been alien to a world of literate words and stylish fantasies” (Backer Jr. & Pierce-Baker 49). This quote perfectly describes why quilts are often used as symbolism. Since they are pieced together and mended over many generations, quilts are able to stand as a symbol for each generation that has worked on the quilt. Dee desires the quilts because it shows the craftsmanship of her ancestors, however, Dee wants only to display the quilts and not to use it. This is in severe opposition to Maggie who has already been promised the quilts. Dee replies “’Maggie can't appreciate these quilts!’ she said. “‘She'd probably be backward enough to put them to everyday use’” (Walker 490). Mama sees no problem in this and even explains that she is tired of keeping them since no one has been using them. Eventually, Maggie caves and says that she can remember her grandma without the quilts. This fills Mama with joy and she decides to give Maggie the quilts she promised and she told Dee to grab a different quilt. Dee was angry and stormed off to the car. As she was leaving she told the family that they don’t understand their

How could a simple quilt ruin the relationship with anyone family? “You will not understand. The point is these quilts, these quilts!” (Walker 321). Characterization relates to the characters personality and appearance. Maggie and Dee both wanted the quilt that their grandmother made. Maggie is the youngest of her sister Dee. Mama gave the quilt to Dee and Maggie was upset. Alice Walker is the author of this story “Everyday Use”.

Alice Walker is a story about the bonding of her family. Family bonding is a huge when it comes to family, because that’s what keeps families strong. Walker informs mothers and daughters that bonding between family members is important, by her tone, the symbol of the quilt, and relationship between mothers and daughters. The narrator in the story will show examples of the way family bonding can keep a family strong.

Culturally, the symbolism of a quilt is understood to be an heirloom piece that is closely guarded and highly prized. The ownership of the quilt and the generational lines it passes down is known before the piecing is begun. Stitching the pieces together is done by groups of women. The tiny bits of cloth each carry a memory, one from grandpa's shirt, one square from an aunt's Christmas dress, a piece from the flannel nightgown a mother wore as she pulled her sick child close to her bosom. The pieces are carefully and artistically pieced together into a collage of