Sue Monk Kidd teaches us the importance of relationship and the power of female community. Lily longs for her mother and cherishes the few possession of her mother. She keeps a box of her mother’s memories buried in the orchard. In the box, there…
Throughout the story, the Grandmother is nostalgic, continually remembering and discussing the good times where everybody…
This story takes place in a small, rural southern area. Through Mama's eyes the reader is shown the family's house and yard, as well as all of the family heirlooms covering the grounds. All of these things are factors of the story's setting and relate directly to the family's heritage. Through this setting a feeling of tradition and home is created that seems particular to this family, especially to Mama. Mama and her daughters are a poor family who never had much and do not expect much from life. Their family house consists of "three rooms the roof is tin .there are no real windows, just some hole cut in the side with rawhide holding the shutters up on the outside" (Walker, 90).…
Through Annie Dillard’s description of her mother in her book An American Childhood, the exponential potential for greatness in her mother was covertly relayed. The story portrays her potential through weird quirks and irritations. Mother caught onto unique…
The mother in the short story “I Stand Here Ironing” and the mother in the poem “Daystar” are very important characters. The mother in “I stand Here Ironing” has a negative personality. She is very powerless. On page 80, the mother says, “You think because I am her mother I have a key, or that in some way you could use me as a key?” This shows just because she is the mother that doesn’t mean she has this magic to help. She has a very negative attitude instead of being happy. Her place in society was being poor. She had many jobs to support herself. The Mother in “Daystar” has a tired personality. Her place in society is not described that much. She may be a person that is poor, and is a single parent.…
Stated from page one, "The air held a keenness that made her nose twitch. The harvesting of the corn and cotton, peanuts and squash, made each day a golden surprise that caused excited little tremors to run up her jaws." (Walker 1). This quote from the short story illustrates how the word choice uplifts the story and allows the mood to appeal to be such a joyful and light-hearted story. This type of diction is also found in the story "Everyday Use". To develop the mood of the story, Mama's unique phrases full of diction are the key tool to distinguishing the mood. "In real life I am a large, big boned woman with rough, man working hands." (Walker 1). These types of phrases are found numerous times in the story. Mama's word choice keeps the mood of the story uplifting, even when there is tension between characters. Furthermore, in "The Flowers", as the story continues and reaches its climax, readers can find the mood turning into a more upsetting and gloomy feeling. "It seemed gloomy in the little cove in which she found herself. The air was damp, the silence close and deep." (Walker 1). This quote is placed right before the climax of the story, and with the word choice, the mood begins to slightly change. In addition, "It was only…
The older I grow, the more I realize that my mother has always done so much for me. Her love was patient and forgiving in times when I pushed her to her limits as a child. I love my mother, Hester, with all my heart. I remember as a child, being fascinated with the letter A on her bosom. When I was young I was confused about the situation between my parents. I lashed out in anger towards my mother my throwing prickly burrs at her bosom. In doing so, I added to her already thriving pain and guilt. As I grew up and moved away, my mother decided to continue to live in her tiny cottage in Massachusetts. I sent her gifts from England so she can live in luxury as well. I loved her, and she knew she would always be welcome to come live with me in England at any point throughout her life.…
Agee, James. ""A Mother 's Tale"." You 've Got to Read This: American Writers Introduce Stories That Held Them in Awe. New York: Harper Collins, 1994. Print. 1-19.…
Alice Walker 's short story, "Everyday Use," shows the significance of genuinely understanding our own family traditions and culture through our present lives. The story presents two sides in conflict through the characters of Maggie and Dee. Mama, the narrator of the story, and Maggie, the youngest daughter, appreciates heritage as part of themselves and where they originated from. Dee, the oldest daughter, discarded her heritage from the start and never reformed a connection with it. It is ironic that two sisters from the same family are total opposites.…
Plot: Woman gets call at work from her father, telling her that her mother is dead. Father never got used to living alone and went into retirement home. Mother is described as very religious, Anglican, who had been saved at the age of 14. Father was also religious and had waited for the mother since he first met her. They did not have sex until marriage and the father was mildly dissapointed that the mother did not have money. Description of the house follows, very high ceilings, old mansion it seems, with chimney stains, it has been let go. Jumps in time to narrators ex-husband making fun of narrator fantasizing about stains. Next paragraph is the father in a retirement home, always referring to things: ‘The lord never intended.’, shows how old people have disdain for new things, the next generation appears to be more and more sacreligious. Shows streak of meanness when ‘spits’ out a reference to constant praying, narrator claims he does not know who he is talking to, but appears to be the very pious mother. Following paragraph jumps back in time to when narrator was a child, she asks her mother constant questions about her white hair and what color it was, mother says she was glad when it wasn’t brown like her fathers anymore, shows high distaste towards her father, the narrators grandfather. Mother claims hate is sin, that it spreads throughout your body like black ink in water. Next paragraph jumps to older narrator, discussing her name, Euphemia, how they called her Phemie at home, but when she started to work she called herself Fame (hated her real name), dialogue between her and a bar guest, which is where she worked, at a bar in a hotel. Shows the type of place and type of people she converses with on a regular basis. After that the next paragraph jumps back to 1947 when Euphemia was 12 (so she was born in 1935), she was helping her mother paper the downstairs bedroom because her mother sister Beryl was coming to visit. Her mother…
The Narrator was curious to see what her was about and follows her to a park to find out what she was up to and she found out she attends to other peoples kids and bought food for him and gave more loving and interest in him that she ever receive. One example was when she peak in his big bird book as if she was very interested. Her daughter must be surprised by this because she has never showed interest in her especially the parents-teachers associate meetings she should have attended when she was a student in school.…
This story takes place during the Depression, when finding work was nearly impossible. Even without the Depression, African Americans had a hard time trying to find a job. Lizabeth and her family were African Americans, living in a poverty stricken community made up of broken down houses and shacks. While Lizabeth’s mother went to work every morning, her father would go out searching for work. It was routine for her mother to go to work early and come home late. It was also routine for her father to go out early searching for work and come home in time for dinner still without a job. Lizabeth would still be sleeping when her mother woke up and be in bed by time she came home. The only thing she ever saw of her mother was the food she provided the family with. Lizabeth had a “great need for [her] mother who was never there” (Collier P.129). Missing her mother so much caused her to unleash emotions that made her destroy the flowers.…
While sitting table after gorging on the offerings of Thanksgiving, it was time to fulfill a family tradition reminiscent of my mother’s 90’s new-age phase, we all take a moment to awkwardly attempt to put to all we are thankful for into a thirty-second monolog. When the warmth of the spotlight focused on me, I let the estrogen flow, disregard the patience of the less sensitive family seated at the table, and started in on this long-winded exposé on how each of the women before me gives me all that I’m thankful for. It was upon the conclusion of my verbose explanation on all my mother does for me, that she took this opportunity to tell of how she shares with every mother she encounters the story of, if it wasn’t for her, I might not be sitting with us today.…
When I was a young boy in the 3000s, my mother was so kind to me and caring. she always said it would change. The world would change. That this world would become kind and open to our class. I believed her optimistic words for most of my childhood and a small portion of my teenage years. She kept me moving forward with my life. Every insult, threat, or outburst thrown at me was deflected by my gentle mother’s soft voice playing in my head; things would change soon, they had to.…
This story is about a young lady named Marguerite Johnson, and her relationship to Mrs. Bertha Flowers. Marguerite was an intelligent girl who liked to read books and did well in school. The only problem she had was that she was not a very outspoken person, and kept quiet in class. There was a woman, named Mrs. Flowers, who Marguerite looked up to and admired. It was brought to Mrs. Flowers attention that Marguerite had looked up to her, and that she shared a common interest in reading. Mrs. Flowers invited Marguerite back to her house for cookies and lemonade, and made an attempt to get to know the young lady. Mrs. Flowers read to Marguerite and gave her a reading assignment to help her out. It was the beginning of one of her life lessons and encouraged her to gain more wisdom form Mrs. Flowers.…