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A gendered perspective in Everyday Use by Alice Walker
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Society Rules Archetypes in the short story, “Everyday Use”, demonstrates the author, Alice Walker’s, purpose to express the need for people to step outside society’s rules. Hence the archetype of the unhealable wound, shown by Walker through the character Maggie. As a young girl, Maggie was burned in a house fire, leaving her with scars across her body. As a result of this incident, “she has been like this, chin on chest, eyes on ground, feet in shuffle” (1). Furthermore, the incident of the fire left Maggie with a lasting impression of self doubt and a lack of confidence as she lives in the shadows of those around her. These thoughts have been put upon her by society’s expectations and succumbs the little confidence Maggie had. At the
same time, the archetype, a young man from the provinces, shows another way society influences people’s outlook. Dee is Maggie’s sister and is a worldly figure in comparison to her family. When she returns to her family’s home, she immediately finds problems with the home as “it is three rooms, just like the one that burned, except the roof is tin” (2), and sees it unfit for actual living. Instead of being grateful that the new house was more fireproof than the last, Dee takes on society’s outlook and would rather tear down the home than embrace the fact that her family has a home that would keep them safe from future accidents. Walker depicts Dee as the uncharacteristic young man from the provinces as the new problems she sees with her family’s house are really not real issues as society's opinions hinder her judgment. In conclusion, through the descriptions of her characters, Walker reveals how the views of society take over the beliefs of individuals leaving little room for individuals to be themselves.
Willow, an action adventure that premiered in May 1988, is an action adventure movie that creatively displays real life situations through fantasy and reality. In the beginning of the movie willow is plowing his field and tells his children to go play but no to go too close to the river. Willow Ufgood's (Warwick Davis) children find a baby after hearing it cry and Willow reluctantly takes it in. Willow and his family end up falling in love with the baby but are required to take the baby. After they are attacked by the queen’s pigs, Willow sets out on an adventure, along with several other adventurers, to take the baby to the first human they see. By showing archetypes and heroism, Willow relates to American culture and accurately displays
In life usually people do not meet others by accident they are meant to cross her/his path for a reason. Throughout the book “Wild” by Cheryl Strayed it shows how she was impacted by many archetypes through her journey she encountered both positive and negative. Archetypes are certain types of people or things. Strayed accomplished her journey hiking the Pacific Crest Trail alone and demonstrating who she really is. There are various archetypes that play a big role in Cheryl's physical and emotional journey. The archetypes create who she is today and without them she wouldn't be able to transform.
Glasspell, Susan Trifles. Backpack Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing 4th Ed.
After discovering a God-given talent, a young boy struggles to achieve his only dream; to become the best there ever was. Baseball is all he has ever known, so he prevails through the temptations and situations laid before him by those out to destroy his career. His hopes and dreams outweigh all the temptations along his journey. These hopes, dreams, and temptations are depicted through archetypes in the movie The Natural.
Flannery O’ Conner’s short story, “A good man is hard to find”, explains emotional reactions, betrayal, and violence. The misfit is an example of a devil figure. This character archetype is best seen when we see the misfit’s true colors shine as he murders the grandmother and her family. O’ Conner uses setting archetypes best when she uses a clear bright sky or an open dirt road, which can mean a variety of outcomes. This helps understand the many plot twists in the story. We best see symbolic archetypes as the three bandits including the misfit. They represent a mock of the holy trinity and represent evil. “The fall” is a good archetype that shows the misfit’s lack of innocence when he betrays the grandmother. This best explains the whole
An archetype in literature is defined as a typical example of a certain type of person. A character in a poem or play can be placed into many different archetype categories. Archetypes help a reader to gain a better understanding of who a character in the work is on the inside. This deeper insight into the character allows the reader to follow the flow of the story easier and more effectively. There are many different archetypes that can help to advance the story. One of the most useful in advancing this story is the typical powerful character. Whether it be supernatural or cunningness this character always comes out on top in the situation and holds the most control over others and their actions. “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?”,
are characters that can be defined by their traits as certain archetypes. All novels and films contain archetypes that allow their audience to understand and relate more to
In modern times, phrases such as “an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind,” are commonly used. Also, the mere word revenge holds negative connotations as it is seen as immature and unnecessary. The theme of revenge uses archetypes to develop ideas without having to reiterate their meaning. According to the creator of the term, Carl Jung, “archetypes are defined as being a collectively inherited unconscious idea, pattern of thought, image, etc., universally present in individual psyches.” (Dictionary) The Count of Monte Cristo, one of the novels that pioneer this theme, tells the story of a man’s quest for revenge on those who betrayed him. This man spends 14 years of his life imprisoned because of his betrayers, but he manages to escape to avenge his suffering. In the novel The Count of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas uses the archetypes of the byronic hero, the betrayer and the old sage to demonstrate that one’s suffering doesn’t give them the right to seek revenge on those who have failed them.
“We meet ourselves time and time again in a thousand disguises on the path of life” (Jung). Writer’s usually have archetypes in their stories to engage the reader's understanding. Throughout the book Wild by Cheryl Strayed, she encounters several archetypes both positive and negative. She was impacted by the people, which made her accomplish her journey hiking the Pacific Crest Trail alone and getting herself back together. There are various archetypes that play a big role in Cheryl's physical and emotional journey. The archetypes make her who she is today and without them she wouldn't be able to transform.
In Alice Walker’s story “Everyday Use,” symbolism, allegory, and myth stand out when thinking about the characters, setting, and conflict in the story. The conflict is between the mother and her two daughters (Maggie and Dee). There is also the conflict between the family’s heritage (symbolized by the quilt, bench, and butter chum) and their different ways of life. Dee chose a new African name, moved to the city, and adopted a new way of life while Maggie and her mother have stay behind. The quilt (the most important symbol) represents the family’s heritage in that it is made of scraps of clothing worn by generations of family members. The quilt has been sewn by family hands and used on family beds. It has seen history and is history. Maggie and her mother see that that history is alive but Dee thinks it is as dead as her name. Dee does not see that name as part of her heritage. By analyzing these symbols, a number of possibilities for a theme can be seen. Walker could be suggesting that to understand the African-American heritage, readers have to include the present as well as the past. However, the theme could be that poverty and a lack of sophistication and education cannot be equated with ignorance. Lastly, she could be telling her readers that dignity or self-respect rise from and are virtually connected to one’s entire heritage- not just a selected part of it.
Author Alice Walker, displays the importance of personal identity and the significance of one’s heritage. These subjects are being addressed through the characterization of each character. In the story “Everyday Use”, the mother shows how their daughters are in completely two different worlds. One of her daughter, Maggie, is shy and jealous of her sister Dee and thought her sister had it easy with her life. She is the type that would stay around with her mother and be excluded from the outside world. Dee on the other hand, grew to be more outgoing and exposed to the real, modern world. The story shows how the two girls from different views of life co-exist and have a relationship with each other in the family. Maggie had always felt that Mama, her mother, showed more love and care to Dee over her. It is until the end of the story where we find out Mama cares more about Maggie through the quilt her mother gave to her. Showing that even though Dee is successful and have a more modern life, Maggie herself is just as successful in her own way through her love for her traditions and old w...
The movie The Purple Heart, was based on a real-life situation in Japan when some US soldiers were captured and tortured by the Japanese. In the movie, the way the American soldiers are treated is inhumane. The article by Keen describes how countries perceive their enemies. The aim of this paper is to discuss the movie The Purple Heart, linking the events to the related Keen archetypes.
When analyzing literature from an archetypal perspective, one does not simply look at the character’s behavior in that literary piece. Rather, when using the archetypal theory, one connects the traits and actions of the characters in the literary work, the settings, the surroundings, and the situations to a familiar type of literary character. In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, the characters Abigail Williams, John Proctor, and Reverend Hale exhibit common archetypal behavior and fit into a certain archetypal figure.
Archetypes are everywhere, both in real life and in literature around the world, and humans know them all. American Gods is a fantasy novel written by Neil Gaiman in 2001. The book revolves around the premise that every god that has been believed in has manifested into human form and has traveled to America through the minds of immigrants. Shadow Moon is the main character in this novel, which follows his adventure with the American gods. Wednesday, Odin, is Shadow’s boss and also the strongest advocate for fighting the new gods: internet, plastic, and TV. Laura is Shadow’s wife, who died in a car accident at the beginning of the novel, and is staying alive with the help of a magical golden coin. Other characters that
The fairy tales that we have become so familiar with are embedded with love, imagination and enchantment. In truth, these are just common archetypes; originally fairy tales had a much darker backdrop. They were once symbols of sexualisation and brutality as not everything ended happily ever after. Deriving from promiscuous and overlooked on goings from the 19th century (such as molestation), these ideas were later suppressed when they became children’s tales. John Updike described traditional fairy tales as ‘The pornography of their day’, hence they contained elements of wish-fulfilment and gratification such as rape, pleasure and attainment. This is true to a certain extent but they also consisted of violence, mutiny and injustice. An exploration