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The importance of history to the world pdf
The importance of history to the world pdf
The importance of history to the world pdf
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The story The Coffin Quilt: The Feud between the Hatfield and the McCoys is about choosing between family and what is right. Ann Rinaldi writes about main character Fanny McCoy and her family’s rivalry between the Hatfields. This character doubles as the narrator and protagonist. Fanny lives in Kentucky during the early 1800’s. Her family consists of her sisters and her brothers as well as her mother and father. Fanny deals with much conflict as the plot thickens. Although Fanny is only seven at the beginning of the novel she has to begin to learn whether she should choose between her family and her beloved sister Roseanna. As Fanny grows to the mature age of sixteen she has to make decisions that could further affect her relationship between her family and her future. …show more content…
It was near the very beginning of the book when the feud between the two families is introduced.
The disagreeance between both clans started out when Fanny’s grandfather Randel’s pigs go missing and “Devil” Anse Hatfield and his wildcats end up killing Randel’s younger brother there is also lingering hatred from the civil war between the families. While Roseanna “Ro” and Fanny are both aware of this conflict between the two families Ro decides to run off with a Hatfield while at a town hanging. Soon enough news of this uncanny relationship gets out and the two families once again broke out into war. When the McCoy’s finally got Rosanna back onto their side they found that she had a large secret that she had been keeping from her family. She also had come back with a quilt. This quilt was made by Ro to keep track of the deaths that both families were experiencing. Another conflict that Fanny experiences is when she starts to see “Yeller Thing” in the woods. This creature is only a mere fragment of Fanny’s imagination and he appears to her when something bad is about to happen. Throughout the book Ro’s coffin quilt grows quite large as the families battle illnesses as well as death through the
war. I did not enjoy this book. The story and plot were both great and intriguing although Ann Rinaldi’s writing style through this piece of literature is not what I thought would be intended for such a sorrowful book. To me I felt like the scenes that needed more example and detail were the ones that seemed to leave you questioning and filling gaps that should have been at least introduced. Other scenes seemed to have dragged on forever where all needed detail was stated. I also felt as though many characters were not fully introduced such as Fanny’s brothers. It seems that they separately come up a few times in the story described in shortened detail then they end up dead as do many other characters in the book. Although this book had the potential to be great I felt it lacked the description it needed to keep it going. I would give this book 3 out of five stars. I did this because of the plot and story left the reader intrigued even though I felt that many details were left unexposed. I would not recommend this book to a friend. I feel as
...e on her part. Throughout the story, the Mother is portrayed as the dominant figure, which resembled the amount of say that the father and children had on matters. Together, the Father, James, and David strived to maintain equality by helping with the chickens and taking care of Scott; however, despite the effort that they had put in, the Mother refused to be persuaded that Scott was of any value and therefore she felt that selling him would be most beneficial. The Mother’s persona is unsympathetic as she lacks respect and a heart towards her family members. Since the Mother never showed equality, her character had unraveled into the creation of a negative atmosphere in which her family is now cemented in. For the Father, David and James, it is only now the memories of Scott that will hold their bond together.
The narrator has two daughters, Dee and Maggie. Dee was this cute girl who was super intelligent and sophisticated. She often saw herself as being above her mother and sister and would often make them feel stupid and bad about themselves. "She used to read to us without pity, forcing words, lies, other folks' habits, whole lives upon us two, sitting trapped and ignorant underneath her voice". She shows that Dee enjoyed making her mother and younger sister feel dumb about themselves because it made her feel superior. Her whole life Dee detested her family and where she came from and couldn’t wait to get away. But, still her mother worked her booty off to provide her with high education and a good life. Dee goes away to college and when she returns she is a completely different person, suddenly interested in her family; photographing them upon arrival. With her guest, new "Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo", invades her mothers house taking everything in like it’s a cute display for her. Finally, when Wangero (Dee) demands that her mother give her some quilts, her mum can not take anymore. She tells Dee that Maggie, not her, will be receiving the quilts and she snaps. "I did something I never had done before: hugged Maggie to me, then dragged her on into the room, snatched the quilts out of Miss Wangero's hands, and dumped them into Maggie's lap. Maggie just sat
Although this story is told in the third person, the reader’s eyes are strictly controlled by the meddling, ever-involved grandmother. She is never given a name; she is just a generic grandmother; she could belong to anyone. O’Connor portrays her as simply annoying, a thorn in her son’s side. As the little girl June Star rudely puts it, “She has to go everywhere we go. She wouldn’t stay at home to be queen for a day” (117-118). As June Star demonstrates, the family treats the grandmother with great reproach. Even as she is driving them all crazy with her constant comments and old-fashioned attitude, the reader is made to feel sorry for her. It is this constant stream of confliction that keeps the story boiling, and eventually overflows into the shocking conclusion. Of course the grandmother meant no harm, but who can help but to blame her? O’Connor puts her readers into a fit of rage as “the horrible thought” comes to the grandmother, “that the house she had remembered so vividly was not in Georgia but in Tennessee” (125).
... attempts to change the way Mama and Maggie perceive tradition by using the quilts as a wall display. Mama refuses to allow it, Dee was offered the quilts when she was in college and didn’t want them at that time. Mama gives the quilts to Maggie as her wedding gift to be used every day as they were intended, knowing how much Maggie appreciates them. I agree with Mama and Maggie for keeping family memories and objects in daily use. It is important to maintain your family history in your everyday life to preserve those special memories.
Though the novel is not told from Frado’s perspective, her story becomes more sympathizing and sentimental from a third person narrative. Wilson uses her supporting characters to express Frado’s emotions and to show her development. Through her style, the reader becomes more aware of the Belmont family and society’s prejudices through how they react to Frado’s suffering. For instance Aunt Abby, one of the more sympathizing characters, says “we found a seat under a shady tree, and there I took the opportunity to combat the notions she seemed to entertain respecting the loneliness of her condition and want of sympathizing friends” (54). While Aunt Abby makes an effort to console Frado, there is no real sympathy in her words. They are mechanical and rehearsed. Aunt Abby does not genuinely care for Frado but she does pity her situation.
Stella-Rondo brings out jealousy in Sister that causes tension between them. Sister hates that Stella-Rondo married Mr. Whitaker since Sister supposedly had him first. She feels like Stella-Rondo broke them up by lying. Most likely, Sister is upset because she was not the one to end up with the guy she liked, but she displays her feelings childishly. Sister’s snide comments towards her sister are the real reason that Stella-Rondo turns their family against her. Stella-Rondo’s lies about her daughter, Shirley T., increase Sister’s jealous feelings. Stella-Rondo claims that Shirley-T. is adopted, but Sister does not believe her. Sister wants her family to see through Stella-Rondo’s lies and realize that this two-year old child is not adopted. She points out that Shirley-T. is the “spitting image of Papa-Daddy” (359). Sister cannot stand that Stella-Rondo left Mr. Whitaker after only staying married to him for two years. The fact that “the first thing she did was separate! From Mr. Whitaker!” when Stella-Rondo got married and moved away infuriates Sister (359). Consequently, Sister makes sure her family knows that she had him first. In the heat of the moment at the end of the story, Sister starts saying that Mr. Whitaker left Stella-Rondo, not vice versa, which only builds up more tension.
Throughout the story, it has been Sister who has tried to persuade the reader to take her side in the debacle with her family. The truth is that it was Sister who caused the entire dispute that is going on with her obsession to compete with her sister that goes back to her childhood where she feels that Stella-Rondo is spoiled and continues to be spoiled up to the end following Sister’s desperate need for attention.
The stories begin by portraying both Granny Weatherall and Miss Emily as very stubborn old women. ?The Jilting of Granny Weatherall'; starts out with Granny defying the doctor who comes to visit her, and in the beginning of ?A Rose for Emily';, Emily defies her tax collectors. Each woman is stubborn with denial. Granny Weatherall refuses the fact that she is dying and fights it with many excuses and anger. Even as she dies at the end, Granny is still fighting the fact that she is dying and never actually accepts her death. Miss Emily denies that her father died, and then refuses Homer Baron?s rejection by killing him and keeping his body. Emily then withers away in her denial, waiting for her death.
First and foremost, was how Fanny's loving opinion drastically changed towards Ro. “Her voice, so sweet, like dripping honey, had always made things all right with me. Had always put my fears to rest. Now that same voice was saying things I couldn’t abide” (163). As the result of Roseanna creating the coffin quilt, Fanny realized that Ro had changed and was a different person then before. Next was Johnse and Ro's risky love. Disregarding their feuding families, they still ran off together, and planned to get married. “Nothing, honey. You don't say a word. Tell Pa you couldn’t find me. When we're wed we'll let them know, sure 'nuff”(36). Since Roseanna and Johnse loved each other, it created the main conflict, as they ran off together. Lastly, Bill and Bud emotional relationship. “I heard the music before I got to the top. Bill was playing his fiddle softly. The sun still cast a faint light in the west. He was backlit by the light, kneeling by the graves”(167). Since Bill was suffering after the death of his brother, he would play the fiddle by his grave and grieve. Their love was intensified after the passing of Bud. As a final point, love and hate both added tension and conflict between the Hatfield and McCoy
Zora Neale Hurston has been married and divorced twice, which assisted her in developing Joe and Missy May’s marriage. Hurston’s rocky marriage occurred just prior to the writing of “The Gilded Six-Bits” which portrays a marriage replete with infidelity and hatred. Missy May’s infidelity tests the strength of her marriage with Joe, which ultimately succeeds the trials and tribulations. Perhaps Hurston spared Joe and Missy May’s marriage to prove to herself that marriages can stand through infidelity, because neither of her marriages continued through the hardships. Hurston saw marriage as an important commitment capable of forgiveness and recommitment. Hurston creates Joe, as the character that forgives and forgets, possibly this is what she expected or desired in her own husbands. Hurston uses her own life experiences to depict her characters a...
The major idea I want to write about has to do with the way Mrs. Hale stands behind Mrs. Wright even though it seems like everyone else especially (the men) would rather lock her up and throw away the key. We see this right away when she gets on the County Attorney for putting down Mrs. Wright’s house keeping. I find this to be wonderfully symbolic in that most women of this time usually allowed the men to say whatever they wanted about their sex, never standing up for themselves or each other
The quilts were pieced together by Mama, Grandma Dee, and Big Dee symbolizing a long line of relatives. The quilts made from scraps of dresses worn by Grandma Dee, Grandpa Jarrell’s Paisley shirts, and Great Grandpa Ezra’s Civil War uniform represented the family heritage and values, and had been promised to Mama to Maggie when she married. However, Dee does not understand the love put into the making of the quilts, neither does she understand the significance of the quilts as part of her family heritage. It is evident she does not understand the significance of the quilt, having been offered one when went away to college declaring them “as old-fashioned” and “out of style”. She does not care about the value of the quilts to her family, rather she sees it as a work of art, valuable as an African heritage but not as a family heirloom. She wants the quilts because they are handmade, not stitched with around the borders. She tells Mama, “Maggie can’t appreciate these quilts!... She’d probably be backward enough to put them to everyday use… But, they’re priceless!.. Maggie would put them on her the bed and in five years they’d be in rags. Less than that!” (317). The quilt signifies the family pride and history, which is important to Mama. She makes the decision to give the quilt to Maggie who will appreciate it more than Dee, to whom she says, “God knows I been saving ‘em for long enough with
The main objects of topic throughout the story are the quilts that symbolize the African American Woman’s history. Susan Farrell, a critic of many short stories, describes the everyday lives of African American Women by saying “weaving and sewing has often been mandatory labor, women have historically endowed their work with special meanings and significance” and have now embraced this as a part of their culture. The two quilts that Dee wanted “had been pieced together by Grandma Dee and then Big Dee and me [Mother] had hung them on the quilt frames on the front porch and quilted them” (par. 55) showing that these quilts were more valuable as memories than they were just blankets. The fabrics in the quilts “were scraps of dresses Grandma Dee had worn fifty and more years ago. Bits and pieces of Grandpa Jarrell’s paisley shirts. And one teeny faded blue piece, about the piece of a penny matchbox, that was from Great Grandpa Ezra’s uniform that he wore in the Civil War” (par. 55) putting forth more evidence that these are not just scraps, but have become pieces of family history. The q...
It is over the quilts that she comes into conflict with her mother since the two quilts were already promised to the other daughter, Maggie.
Mrs.Dickinson is a widow because her husband died in a plane crash. That makes her to be a independent person. After the death of her husband, she has no help in anyway. She tend take care of the family by herself. Financially, she has to go out and work, she has two jobs which will earn her money to live. "She helped a friend with a little hat shop......bred puppies for sale". Emotionally, she is independent. Her son, Frederick, is the only one lives with her. She hasn’t marry any other man in five years after the death of her husband. "It was five years since her tragedy and she had not married." (P112) She also try to raise her son by herslef. There is no baby-sister to take care of Frederick. She is the only one who puts Federick on first place. "But you see, there’s Frederick. He’s the man in my life now. I’m bound to put him firstt". (P113) As she becomes a widow, she try to do everything on herslef, without anyone’s help.