The Sacrifice; an Analysis of Language in Alice Walker's Roselily

“ She thinks of her mother, who is dead. Dead, but still her mother. Joined. This is confusing. Of her father a gray old man who sold wild mink, rabbit, fox skins to Sears, Roebuck (Walker pg.2). Roselily once again starts to think back to the days when she was a child, to the days when she had no worries. She feels her mother who is dead still stands beside her in spirt to guide her on this unknown journey she is about to embark on, and for a moment it gives her comfort. “Or forever hold,” the Preachers’ words ring in Roselily’s ear. “ She does not even know if she loves him. She loves his sobriety. His refusal to sing just because he know the tune. She loves his pride. His blackness and his gray car. She loves his understanding go her condition. She thinks she loves the effort he will make to redo her into what he truly wants (Walker pg.3). Here the author really dives in to what Roselily thinks of her new husband. She knows she doesn't love him and probably never will. However, there are aspects about him which she thinks she can love and she realizes that will have to do

Throughout the novel, the author Edward Bloor uses literary devices such as similes to make the readers visualize the descriptive situations in the story. These similes describe to the reader how different occurrences relate to other actions, objects, or living things.

All the motivations conflict with each other constantly. On one hand, Linda "more than loves her husband, she admires him" (1213). She wants to follow his dreams to the end, but at the same time

“The Flowers” by Alice Walker is a very well written yet short and sweet story that paints a very vivid picture of main problem the times. It expresses the reality of the lynching of the African American community in a way that is very easy to understand. Alice Walker uses vibrant details to bring to light the severity of the problem and what people of that time period went through. The story also showcases a deeper meaning that does not necessarily revolve around lynchings but represents the loss of childhood innocence. “The Flowers” explains the reality of racism and lynchings of the time while also providing an inner lying message about one’s coming of age and loss of innocence.

Although Roselily’s life in Mississippi before marriage may not have been the greatest but, she is comfortable with it, and is scared of the change that is about to occur. As the preacher is finishing the ceremony she thinks” She wants to live for free for once. But she doesn’t know quite what that means.” She knows that once she gets married, between being a housewife and his restrictive religion she will

Self-sacrifice is an act done by many, specifically Roselily. “Roselily” by Alice Walker is a story about Roselily, a woman getting married for her children to have a better life. Because of this marriage, Roselily sacrifices numerous aspects of life for her children. Alice Walker shows that self-sacrifice is a life-changing decision through various aspects of Roselily’s marriage, such as religion, cultural norms, and having to leave everything she’s known, all for the sake of her children’s well being.

The setting of Alice Walkers short story” The Flowers” is important for us, the readers to obtain a perspective of how life was like growing up for a 10 year old African American girl by the name of Myop. The title of the story is “The Flowers.” When you think about flowers, you instantly compare them to being beautiful, pure, and innocent. The title of the “The Flowers” is a symbolism that correlates to Myop who is the protagonist of the story. Myop is just like a flower in the beginning of the story. She’s a pure and innocent child but that pure innocence changes when she discovers something that’ll change her life forever.

     Alice Walker is an African American essayist, novelist and poet. She is described as a “black feminist.”(Ten on Ten) Alice Walker tries to incorporate the concepts of her heritage that are absent into her essays; such things as how women should be independent and find their special talent or art to make their life better. Throughout Walker’s essay entitled “In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens,” I determined there were three factors that aided Walker gain the concepts of her heritage which are through artistic ability, her foremothers and artistic models.

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.

How do we lose our childish way of seeing the world? How can we suddenly they see the world as it is, in all its evil? ‘The Flowers’ is a story about a young girl who goes through an experience that forces her into changing her way of seeing life, and it presents themes like growing up and loss of innocence.

Wealth and property feature heavily in the wife’s portrayal of marriage and along with the issue of her independence is responsible for many of her marital conflicts. The first three husbands "riche and olde" were married each for "hir land and hir tresoor" then discarded as the Wife looks for other prospects. When one of these husbands tries to restrict the Wife’s spending she refuses to let him be both "maister of my body and of my good" so refuses sexual favours in return for her freedom as she will not become a mere possession. She generalizes that women "love no man that taketh or keepth charge" suggesting an element of independence and individualism in 14th century marriage. The wife resents being controlled; she

In Alice Walker's "Everyday Use” she creates a conflict between characters. Walker describes a family as they anxiously await the arrival of, Dee, the older sister of the family. When Dee (Wangero) comes home to visit Mrs. Johnson and Maggie, right away the readers see the differences in the family by how they talk, act, and dress. Dee has changed her name to an "African" name and is collecting the objects and materials of her past. Dee thinks that since she is in college she knows mores then the rest of her uneducated family. She is more educated and looks down on the simple life of her mother and sister. When Dee asks for a beautiful family heirloom quilt to hang on her wall, Mrs. Johnson finally denies her of this task. Mrs. Johnson finally sees that Dee does not want the quilt for the same purpose as Maggie does. Instead, Mrs. Johnson will give Maggie the quilt to keep her and her husband warm. The theme of the importance of heritage becomes clear at this point of the story. This theme is shown by Walker's use of conflict, irony, and symbolism. All throughout her short story she incorporates heritage. She describes it as a background feeling between family members, and African heritage to heirlooms that have been in the family line for generations. Dee the older sister takes her heritage for granted by only wanting her heirlooms for her educational purposes.

Also, while she claims Biblical support for her views on marriage, the support that she cites is conveniently edited to suit her purposes (for example, Solomon did have 700 wives and 300 concubines -- but his appetites led to his turning away from God; and the marital relationship specified in the Bible is a reciprocal one rather than the one-sided one she speaks of, tilted in favour of the wife -- she conveniently ignores that while the "Apostel [...] / [...] bad oure housbondes for to love us weel", he also exhorts women to love their husbands), and she elsewhere ignores the Bible when it proves difficult to "glose" in her favour (as in her dismissal of its injunction to dress "in habit maad with chastitee and shame"). Moreover, her behaviour is a demonstration of all the anti-feminist accusations

     Chicago is as poem that captures how the cities of America are in that time period. He addresses the city as "you", as if it were a living person and all of the people that make things happen in the city are the organs of that person. The poem has a positive outlook on the city of Chicago. It details the flaws and shortcomings of the city. He talks of painted women on the streets luring the farm boys, which would be women with make-up applied heavily working the streets. He says that they tell him the city is brutal, crooked, and wicked

Her views intensify both when she states that God gave the poor the gift of sex to use as means for gaining riches and when she expresses that genitals are “wise and perfect”; they are not simply made for reproduction “they were not made for nothing, safe to say” (Chaucer). Her topic of discussion swiftly shifts off of the topic of her views on sex to the topic of a man’s roll in marriage. She begins by comparing the wife to a debtor and the husband her slave, then stating that she will have unlimited power over his body during their marriage.