Preview

The Century Quilt

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
299 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The Century Quilt
ltNikolas Bernadel
Mrs. Sutterfield
IB English III
2 May 2012
The Century Quilt: Literary Analysis Marilyn Waniek’s “The Century Quilt” employs symbolism to relay a young girl’s emotional attachment of a grandmothers’ blanket to that of her own quilt. Waniek’s depiction of the quilt not only serves as a reminder of how passionate the young girl felt about her grandmother’s blanket, but also how she envisioned her quilt to share similar properties that embodied her grandmother’s blanket. In lieu of the literal concept of using the quilt to keep her warm, the speaker suggests that he quilt will tie-in with her grandmother’s blanket in that the memories of her childhood would be preserved. This relationship allows the reader to interpret the symbolic importance of the quilt to that of the girl’s personal desires. It can also be inferred that the quilt also served as a reference to the speaker’s heritage. When describing her quilt, the speaker describes a pattern of squares with the colors of white, brown, and “the yellowbrown of Mama’s cheeks” (Line 17). These repeating patterns of squares most likely pay homage to the speaker’s mixed heritage, with her family being of both Native American and Caucasian descent. The speaker’s heritage is supported by her visions of her grandmother’s childhood back in Kentucky “among her yellow sisters; their grandfather’s white family” (Lines 25-26). While one could argue that the speaker is simply reciting the life of her grandmother, it can also be said that the speaker is optimistic about her own future, and that she herself would relive her memories whilst under the quilt, such as meeting her unconceived son. The speaker’s desire to share the same emotional response to her quilt as her grandmother to her blanket signifies the priority Waniek placed

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Powerful Essays

    William Makepeace Thackeray’s Vanity Fair is a novel that revolves around the age old question, “Can money buy happiness?” Rebecca “Becky” Sharp, an orphan, raised alongside her foil, Amelia Sedley, is attracted by the rich lifestyle that Amelia has. Amelia, however, is gentle and humble, and dreams only for a happy life with her husband. Thackeray allows his characters to reveal themselves through their own words and actions, and sometimes even uses names to characterize, including Little Ricketts, who has fevers; Fogle, Fake & Cracksman, a business firm; Baron Bandanna; and The Reverend Felix Rabbits, who has fourteen daughters. The characterization and developments of two completely different young women, Rebecca Sharp – cunning and merciless – and Amelia Sedley – humble and loyal – provides two paths to the satisfaction of desire.…

    • 1100 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Lottery

    • 670 Words
    • 3 Pages

    2. How does the contrast between the two sisters' appearances, personalities, lifestyles, and feelings about the quilts help to convey the story's theme?…

    • 670 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    How does your culture influence the way you look at the world and others? A person’s culture always influences the way they see the world and others. The Literary texts “My mother pieced quilts” by Teresa Paloma Acosto, the short story “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker and the letter “An Indian Fathers Plea” by Robert Lee. Each of these Literary Works show how a person’s culture is always effects the way a person looks at the world or other people.…

    • 1016 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    AP Lit Q1 Final

    • 788 Words
    • 4 Pages

    This particular poem doesn’t follow any specific rhyme scheme or any tight outline in general. So it comes off as more narrative because it truly feels like the author is speaking from her heart as she talks about the quilt, she’s telling her story. However, with the way each line is broken off, the reader has something to think about after reading each set of lines. Such as “I think I’d have good dreams/for a hundred years under this quilt” (21-22) is a very clear implication of how safe this quilt makes her feel when she’s using it. There’s just a feeling of warmth attached to it that she simply can’t find in any other item she owns. In the beginning of the piece when she talks about the century quilt, she sounds as if she’s more excited about Meema’s visit because she’s aware she’ll bring the quilt along with her. Then in the next line she mentions falling asleep underneath an army green blanket that was issued to her father by Supply. When talking about her dad’s army blanket, she simply states what the color of the blanket is but nothing else. The century quilt however, the author knows everything about it from what every inch of the detailing looks like, to all the experiences she’s had with it that have ended up being some of her most favorite memories now. Although it’s an inanimate object, the author’s excitement when she talks about the century quilt is almost tangible.…

    • 788 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The quilts are pieces of living history, documents in fabric that chronicle the lives of the various generations and the trials that they faced. “These are all pieces of dresses Grandma used to wear.” (Walker 9) “Some of the pieces, like the lavender ones, come from old clothes her mother handed down to her,” (Walker 9) The quilts serve as a testament to a family’s history of pride and struggle. With the limitations that poverty and lack of education placed on her life, Mama considers her personal history one of her few treasures. She mentions that "After second grade the school was closed down." (Walker 3) and because of this she is not educated and cannot…

    • 429 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Clays Quilt

    • 1871 Words
    • 8 Pages

    This chapter opens up with Alma riding with Clay to the beach for a little break away from Free Creek like Alma suggested they do. Alma sees three crosses, one solid white and two others yellow, planted into a hillside…

    • 1871 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Esperanza Rising

    • 870 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The drawing I chose was the making of the blanket by Esperanza, I believe this blanket represented such a huge cultural identity of who Esperanza and her family really are. The blanket was given to Esperanza from her grandmother Abuelita before they left Mexico to come live in California, this way they can escape Romona’s marriage to the mean uncle. “Look at the zigzag of the blanket. Mountains and valleys. Right now you are in the bottom of the valley and your problems loom big around you. But soon, you will be at the top of a mountain again. After you have lived many mountains and valleys, we will be together.”(51) This blanket was such a huge emotional support mechanism for Esperanza during all her trials in California. So in this paper I want to focus on what the blanket means to Esperanza and how it helped her deal and cope with all the ups and downs. This paper will show why I drew her crocheting the blanket with different colors and what similarities there are between Esperanza and the blanket.…

    • 870 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Analyzing, interpreting and presenting historical information involves dealing with great levels of uncertainty. As there exists limited artifacts which have survived the test of time, piecing together an era involves making educated assumptions. In the case of Martha Ballard, her diary provides us with a limited account of her life from 1785 to 1812. In both the movie and the book, the producers and the author have invested great effort into providing an authentic representation of Martha’s time as per her diary entries. This paper will discuss the difficulties faced by Ulrich, Richard P. Rogers and Laurie Kahn Leavitt in representing Martha’s time, the benefit of studying the lives of the marginalized and the ordinary people, difficulties in studying material culture and offer an analysis of quilts to make deduction regarding the women’s lives and their roles at the time.…

    • 1137 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Even after we are gone the memories never seem to fade away, they reside in our family and the things that surround them. In Wanieks’ poem “The Century Quilt” a family uses a century quilt to keep their memories together as generations pass; utilizing tone, imagery and dedication to convey a complex meaning of the speakers attributes to the century quilt. In the poem “The Century Quilt’ the speaker develops a complex meaning through imagery when describing the colors, fabric and memories that have gone with the family for years. The speaker talks about a particular quilt that she remembered as a child.…

    • 434 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Romantic period was begun from 1798 to 1832 or it lasts about 34 years. It was also divided into three reigns which the first reign was led by George III, the second reign was led by George IV, and the last reign was led by William IV. People argue that Romantic Period started from French Revolution to Reform Act; therefore, it also titles Age Revolutions. After the revolution that happened in America and France, English people hoped for change and revolution in England. Throughout Romantic period, there were many inventions and changes in some aspects of English people’s life. The changes occurred in society, such as transforming rather industrial than agricultural. Many inventions were found: the steam engine, spinning jenny, the power loom, and so on. The establishment of factory system also marked the development of economic system. People from countryside massively moved to city to get better life because they were poor as an impact from industrial England. Actually, the changes that were made were slow, and many people were suffering since the changes of social and economic condition brought its problems: many people were unemployed, war between social classes at home grew, and the worst example was the Peterloo massacre of 1819 when government soldiers attacked a large group of protesters. It killed eleven people and injured about four hundred.…

    • 1994 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Of Plymouth Plantation

    • 923 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Cited: Bradford, William. "Of Plymouth Plantation." _The Norton Anthology of American Literature_. 7th ed. Vol. A. Ed. Nina Baym. New York: W. W. Norton, 2007. 105-120. Print.…

    • 923 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Aunt Jenny S Tiger

    • 1051 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Aunt Jennifer reveals her dreams of a happier life in her needlework. From the title it seems as if the narrator is a child. In the first stanza the narrator tells us that Aunt Jennifer makes a panel with images of tigers parading proudly across it. The tigers are free, unlike their maker. Her panel contains animals that are happier and more confident than she is. There is a ‘certainty’ about them that their maker lacks in her. On the panel Aunt Jennifer paints confident, proud tigers. They are assured and confident dwellers, ‘denizens’, of their green world. ‘Denizen’ suggests independent citizen. The image of the tigers is contrasted with the image of Aunt Jennifer, as Jennifer is not an independent person of her own world. She is instead a wife, weighed down by duties as we learn in the second…

    • 1051 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Lod Hdiyu Dhuow

    • 3065 Words
    • 13 Pages

    Below on the floor are small made from the same animal membrane suggesting them to be like living caskets. She expresses feelings of loss and absence using various visual metaphors. This symbolises death and murder. Cruel acts represented by the harsh stitching can suggest these actions are simply “sewn” up and hidden away, never to be spoken of. The…

    • 3065 Words
    • 13 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Lumber Room

    • 1713 Words
    • 7 Pages

    The story presents extremely topical subjects. Actually, the whole novel can be divided into two parts: Child’s world and Adult’s world. The author seems to be suggesting that adulthood causes one to lose all sense of fun, imagination. Adults become obsessed with insignificant trivialities, like the Aunt which is obsessed about punishing and nitpicking on the children. Children in Munro’s stories are very imaginative. Nicholas imagines the whole story behind the tapestry while the Aunt comes out with boring stories and ideas like a circus or going to the beach. She tries to convince Nicholas about the fun of a trip to the beach, of circus, but lacks the imagination to sound convincing. She describes the beach outing as beautiful and glorious but cannot say in detail how it will be beautiful or glorious because she is not creative. As for the Lumber room, it is symbolic of fun and imagination of the child’s world which is definitely lacking in the adult world. It emphasizes the destruction of life that adulthood and pride can bring. The Aunt’s world is full of warped priorities. She puts punishment and withholding of enjoyment as more important than getting to know and molding the lives of the children. She keeps all the beautiful and creative things of the house locked away in a lumber-room so as not to spoil them…

    • 1713 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    "Romanticism" is a period, movement, or style in arts starting in the late 1700s and flourishing in the early 1800s, a time when the modern mass culture in which we now live was first taking form: the rise of nation-states as defining social and geographic entities, increasing geographic and social mobility, people moving to cities, new technology including power from fossil fuels, individualism, imaginative idealization of childhood, families, love, nature, and the past. The Romantic era is the historical period of literature in which modern readers most begin to see themselves and their own conflicts and desires.…

    • 1814 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays

Related Topics