Symbolism In 1955 By Alice Walker

In “How to read literature like a professor” by Thomas Foster he explains different literary techniques that writers use when writing a story. Some of these techniques were symbolism, tone, major conflicts, foreshadowing and using certain settings. Even though all of these techniques are important to the story, symbolism is more important because it is used the most throughout the book. Symbolism is the use of people or objects to portray a certain idea or quality of something.

Pulitzer prize winner, Alice Walker, best known for her ability to put the struggles of African American women into words. Walker’s poem “ For My Sister Molly Who in the Fifties” published in 1972, reflects the time period in which black woman began to receive a better education. Molly was struggling with her own double consciousness, which resulted in her choosing her new identity and overthrowing the old. In “For My Sister Molly Who in the Fifties”, Walker uses characterization metaphors and similes, symbols, and allusions to show how class can divide families.

“The Devil and Tom Walker” Allegory Throughout the history of literature there have been many prominent and robust allegories published. “The Devil and Tom Walker” is a short story written by Washington Irving. An allegory can be represented as a story, poem, or essay that can be picked apart to reveal a hidden meaning, usually a moral or political one.

In Alice Walker’s, Nineteen Fifty-Five, a young white singer, Traynor, acquires song rights from an African American rhythm and blues singer, Gracie Mae. The song makes Traynor rich and famous. Obsessed with finding out the song’s meaning, Traynor remains in contact with Gracie Mae through letters, gifts, and visits. The conflict of the story is in Traynor’s inability to ascertain the meaning of the song. Traynor eventually passes away, without ever resolving the conflict.

Authors may use this item to tell the story with different items and by using symbolism many

“A Rose for Emily,” “A Worn Path,” and “The Lottery” by William Faulkner, Eudora Welty, and Shirley Jackson all have similar writing styles in their literature. In these three short stories the authors all use contrasting nature within their literature to predict the outcome and to learn for the upcoming events in the readings. The authors take subliminal phrases and subliminal symbolic text to have the reader become more attached and understand more of what the characters, setting and theme of the story has to offer. Using these three stories the reader of this essay will understand and grasp the symbolic meanings in text of each these short stories.

Many authors through time and through this day and age have used symbolism in their works. Critics may say there is too much symbolism in some works. There is never too much symbolism in a work. Symbolism enhances the characters, words, places, and objects to levels that a average work could not reach without the use of symbolism. The more symbolism an author uses, the more attached a reader becomes to the story. Look at August Wilson 's Gem Of the Ocean play. It is loaded with symbolism and has a deep meaning to the story. Every main character has something that symbolizes them. It shows the character 's back rounds and what they have been through.

Alice Walker's short fictional story, "Nineteen Fifty-five", revolves around the encounters among Gracie Mae Still, the narrator, and Traynor, the "Emperor of Rock and Roll." Traynor as a young prospective singer purchases a song from Mrs. Still, which becomes his "first hit record" and makes him rich and famous. Yet, he does not "even understand" the song and spends his entire life trying to figure out "what the song means." The song he sings seems as fictional as certain events in this story, but as historical as Traynor's based character, Elvis Presley.

Walker tells a story of a young African American woman from Mississippi who is about to escape poverty and disgrace by marrying a man she barely knows, a Muslim from the North. Roselily has three children already when she marry 's her husband. Walker describes her as a woman with respect and compassion. This analysis will talk about Roselily during her poverty times, her marriage, and how she came to understand the changes in her life. Roselily did not understand a lot of things, however as time passed, she developed into a beautiful woman who came from poverty, and moved out of poverty by making some strong and powerful decisions. Decisions that made her life a better one. Throughout Roselily, Alice Walker uses mood, time and place in the setting to craft her story eloquently and effectively. This analysis will analyze the setting and the theme.

In the short story, “Everyday Use”, three key symbols immediately grab the reader’s attention and reveal how differently the characters Dee and the mother understand them. These three symbols in the story are the family name, the churn and the hand sewn quilts. As a matter of fact, each character sees the symbols from different perspectives and therefore has a different appreciation of them. First, when Dee arrives for a visit with her mother and sister, she reveals that her name is no longer Dee, but Wangero. Understandably, the mother is confused and cannot understand why her daughter would change her name prompting her to ask questions.

Alice Walker in an American novelist, short-story writer, and poet known for her famous novel The Color Purple. She has won both the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award. Her writings focus on multi-generational periods and inter-connecting black women in the North and the South. Although she is widely known for his novels, her short stories are equally spectacular. Walker is known for incorporating symbolism, imagery, and tone in her writing.

Explanation for symbolism…. My explanation for symbolism is when an author uses symbols to represent an ideas. An author can also use an object in the article to says something in double meaning. For example in the article “The Color Purple” written by Alice Walker she uses the flowers as a sign of freedom. The same freedom Celie wanted to feel.

“Off with their heads!” “Touch the spinning wheel!” “Did I say anything about purple dragons?” We all recognize the quotes of Disney’s infamous female villains. In these, and all other Disney movies, there is usually a female protagonists and antagonists who reign supreme to their male counterparts. But what happens in reality? Do women have that same authority over their lives? Alice Walker sheds light on this debate in her novel The Color Purple. Celie, the main character, grows up in a predominantly, male-ruled society. Women are viewed as inferior and should are expected to obey their male superiors. From her rapist, falsely identified as her biological father, to her husband Albert, or more commonly referred to as Mr. ____, the males who surround Celie frequently dictate her life to her and assume that she does not hold the power to retaliate. Although men do not believe it to be true, women’s abilities make them as equal as their male counterparts.

While Harper Lee’s novel fits nicely within the time it was published in, Alice Walker’s novel does not have as much of a place in the 1980s. The direct setting of The Color Purple is unclear because it does not contain many dates or clear references to real events, although it takes place over decades as Celie and the other characters are noted to have aged. Nevertheless, Alice Walker’s novel also includes issues with race and gender, although it is portrayed in a manner that was unpopular with the readers of the 1980s. Alice Walker focuses more on women’s rights than those of race because she focuses on the hardships of Celie and her sister, Nettie. In doing so, The Color Purple was harshly criticized during the 1980s because of the representation of men in the novel. Celie constantly deals with rape and abuse, but she is only abused by black men. Tony Brown, who is a nationally published columnist and television show host, criticized the novel’s film counterpart as "the most racist depiction of Black men since The Birth of a Nation and the most anti-Black family film of the modern film era." (Bobo 337). Alice Walker collaborated on the film, and to Tony Brown, the film was created at the “expense of Black people and of Black men” (Bobo 337).

In every piece of writing there is something the author wants you to think about, or take a stance on per say. Alice Walker, author of 'Everyday Use', creates a story about a family, but there are underlying meanings. There seems to be a power struggle between Dee the eldest daughter of Mama, pushing Maggie to feel left out. The characters in the family display a larger meaning of society and the African American culture. The constant struggle between which cultures to follow creates controversy between family members. The symbolism in the quilt, and characters personal description, along with their reactions, are literary devices in the story.