Rose for Emily William Faulkner

Sides of change

William Faulkner, a resident of Oxford, Mississippi, a veteran who didn't attend any literary school. His work, A Rose for Emily, explored the history and legends of the South while delving into sensitive human character insight. He discusses how Emily, the main character, refused to accept the change. It is the spirit of his capture, the shed in the past and the present as it refers to the rejection of the change and the rejection of progress.

Select a post civil war at the end of the 19th century, beginning of the 20th century, A Rose for Emily showing two sides opposite of townspeople who accepted it:, Emily who refused it. Her father influenced vatiihsota transformations; While their home; Apple, Colonel Sartoris; Darling, Homer, symbolized in the past. Emily was raised very traditionally; Her father was a very old-fashioned, not believe equality between women and men. Even in a world of equality, taught a woman's place is in the background, Emily. Her admiration for him was that his "pencil games save portrait" and its best games in his age of death, the death took games 3 days to identify him. On his death, Emily refused to accept something has changed the master is gone.

This refusal also seemed to accept the modification, you are forced to save her. Even after all transformations, was the first war fought primarily to end slavery is war, Emily refused to give you the freedom of it. She kept him until the day she died, "[s] he ...[T] he Negro went right through the House, behind, not seen anymore. "its ways and nothing was Emily, not even the ambivalence surrounding of the people towards the games. She pitied, continuous world, be a Falcon, and there were those who were happy when she fell, "she had become humanized," they said. Emily not to move: she was a mysterious, eccentric loner, who reject change.

It is a concept which did not take up the Emily. "Next generation" of city leaders tried to make her pay her taxes, she clung to the old agreement that Colonel Sartori's tax remitted. The death of Colonel Sartori, like other changes, neighborhood, and the firm was denied in reiterating that "[it] to [EC] no taxes Jefferson." she was released the same way she was closing their "thirty years before." Did not receive the same duties, remove. Fellowship, Emily denies the present past.

The old tradition and are not only things saved Emily. With the beginning of the relationship between games and Homer scandalous (Yankees) is eliminated the feeling of desertion, it felt after her father's death by killing Homer. There, in a room on the second floor, Homer's remains lay untouched since it has the same name. Put his name in the bedroom upstairs, "[t] he [had] probably lain pointer once her attitude, but now the long sleep, love conquers even outlasts the grimace of love, had cuckolded him." she had preserved his points, and memories shared with games room is happy this is upstairs in her house.

And the personification of Emily Grierson, decay was "[a] stubborn, fielding." Emily, just like her home, once the symbol of the southern aristocracy, he left her with only one neighborhood type. While "... Automotive cotton gins and destroying the neighborhood was seized, ... " She resisted and refused to change the time capsule and a life just like that never was buried. She was caught between the past and present is a stand still like her now, she stood there, affected by the changes around the games. Emily refused, resisted the change; In fact, she refused to progress.

The progress of our joy and satisfaction is required. It is important for us to learn from the past, and use it to improve things for the future. Emily vashaor after the war fled who really change, the Lotus is useless. She lives her life, which in the past two ???????? the changes around the games, was recluse. She was very isolated until the end of the games, which could avoid and she was a little open, change, change-Hamran is inevitable. As former United Kingdom Prime Minister, Harold Wilson at the end he said, "who change is the architect of decay. Only one institution, this progress is the cemetery. "

Exaggerated Stereotypes of Mountain Folk

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

The short story "Sawdust," written by "Chris Offut," gives the reader an insider's view into the life of a backwoods Appalachian family. Written in the first person, the speaker, Junior, doles out bits and pieces of his early childhood growing up with his brother, Warren, and his mother and father. Authentic hill-speak gives the reader the sense of being there as the adult Junior takes up the quest for a GED.

According to Junior, no one on his hillside has ever finished high school. And in his own words, he, "don't hunt, fish, or work." But getting a GED becomes something that nags at him even though it causes strife within his family and generates a considerable amount of gossip among his neighbors. His mother accuses him of getting above his raising while his brother displays some temper at the idea and eventually stops speaking to him for a time. Even his neighbors get into the act and Junior finds himself forced to defend his now deceased father and his own reputation.

Despite his own doubts and the feelings of his family and neighbors, getting his GED becomes Juniors personal Holy Grail. In the end he works up his courage to take the GED test but this generates another problem, how to pay the fifteen dollar fee required by the state. Even that takes a backseat to the choice of returning for the test result versus never knowing. Junior shows the reader than even personal fears can be overcome if one is stubborn enough.

Receiving his GED certificate is Junior's final personal accomplishment in this story. When the reader leaves him he is searching a creek bank for pop bottles because he still owes the state fifteen dollars.

While I found this story to be quite amusing, it struck a not so pleasant cord within me. As someone born in the hills of Appalachia, I can honestly say that I have never encountered anyone quite like Junior or his kinfolk. Mr. Offut has taken certain characteristics and blown them way out of proportion and perhaps that was his intention, but then again, perhaps not. He commented in an interview with "Ace Weekly" that he wanted to write a book about "us" instead of "them."  I think he failed miserably.

Still, you may find "Kentucky Straight" amusing. I must confess I stopped reading after "Sawdust," because sometimes having your culture turned into a joke for the amusement of others simply isn't pleasant. Especially when done by one of your own.

"Everyday Use" by Alice Walker - A Review

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

This is a story, set in the rural American south, family house in a pasture, in which an African-American mother, "Mama Johnson," who grew up in the early part of the past century, struggles to absorb, understand, evaluate and appreciate the ramifications of her strongly bucolic and dirty background in comparison with a daughter (Dee) who had obtained an impressive advanced formal education in Augusta in Georgia and migrated to work in an urban environment. Mama, in several ways, views her other daughter, Maggie, who is in the comparison the less fortunate one. Her ungenerous appearance partly stems from a house fire that left her with severe burns from which conspicuous scars remain. In Mama's words: "Have you ever seen a lame animal, perhaps a dog run over by some careless person rich enough to own a car, sidle up to someone who is ignorant enough to be kind to him? That is the way my Maggie walks. She has been like this, chin on chest, eyes on ground, feet in shuffle, ever since the fire that burned the other house to the ground. Dee is lighter-skinned than Maggie, has nicer hair and a fuller figure."

The story begins with Mama and Maggie awaiting the visit of Dee. Despite Dee's being a direct blood relative, the two went to great lengths, the previous afternoon to make the yard, "so clean and wavy." This is a moving short story that illustrates the conflicts between formal education, rural tradition, urban modernism, culture, individualism, egocentrism, community, cooperation, family relationships, aesthetic appearances, capitalism, morality, abandonment, transformation, opportunism, intimidation, oppression, and emancipation. The story illustrates a common American scene, more so in the African-American context.

It was realized early in life that Dee was the significantly brilliant and ambitious one of the two daughters, she longed for the modern advanced setting; in Mama's words, "She use to read to us without pity; forcing words, lies, other folks' habits, whole lives upon us, sitting trapped and ignorant underneath her voice. She washed us in a river of make-believe, burned us with a lot of knowledge we didn't necessarily need to know." She was outspoken and unabashed, loved to dress well and display her beauty, "Dee wanted nice things." Mama, a woman whose formal school education was shut down in 1927 right after she had achieved a second grade education, apparently embraces her daughter's brilliance and ambitiousness by raising money, with the help of their church to send her to school in Augusta. Mama and Maggie, must have, on one hand, been eager to see Dee leave the home habitation, at least for sometime. The aura in the story, of her boldness, ambitiousness, and zeal for sophistication and achievement making people uneasy while struck with awe, is very powerful. Dee was a young lady of beauty and sophisticated language; Mama tells Maggie that she knows of some childhood friends that Dee had. To Mama, such friends were mostly mysterious, grim-faced, and they often seemed to be in a Dee-induced trance...astounded by her knowledge, bombastic articulation, and beauty. Mama says, "She [Dee] had a few [friends]....Furtive boys... Nervous girls who never laughed. Impressed with her they worshipped the well-turned phrase, the cute shape, the scalding humor that erupted like bubbles in lye." The author, Alice, Walker does not mention the father or fathers of Dee and Maggie, although she is strong on mentioning her, "rough man-working hands." It is hence safe to presume that Mama is a single mother. Walker would also lead us to wonder about the relationship between the two sisters. Mama, in the piece of writing, concentrates on these two so much that it is likely that these were her only children. Dee apparently has a certain level of fondness for her less fortunate sister, but that seems to be overshadowed by her superiority complex, by her looking down upon Maggie because Maggie does not measure up to her aesthetic and intellectual attributes as well as world view. Dee is quite outward looking and ambitious.

Maggie is quite the opposite...burned, bruised, poor sighted, ungainly in appearance, abashed to the extent of often hiding in corners and wanting to bury her head in the sand. At some point in the text, Mama says of Maggie, "...she stops and tries to dig a well in the sand with her toe," giving us the impression that she sometimes wished that the world would swallow her. The fire that burned and handicapped Maggie, undoubtedly contributed to her stultified development and reservedness. But it is not clear whether the bullying attitude of her older sister Dee also contributed to this. We must remember that Dee did read to her sister and mother, indicative of her desire for these blood relatives to become of higher social level and esteem. Mama talks of Maggie, "Sometimes Maggie reads to me. She stumbles along good-naturedly but can't see well. She knows she is not bright." The author also makes us curious about the house fire that scarred Maggie. Mama emphasizes that Dee hated the house and seemed to rejoice in it's burning down. This would raise suspicion that Dee had something to do with the fire. But hardly anything about how the fire was started is mentioned.

As Mama and Maggie await Dee's arrival, Mama imagines what it would be like for her to be introduced alongside an imagined celebrity Dee in a Johnny Carson-like high audience show, a situation in which she would get to travel in a luxurious limousine. She knows it is mostly a dream, and she knows that there is some pretentiousness and vanity in such shows, much of it scripted. Mama opines that in the TV spotlight, it is people of such attributes as slender build ("hundred pounds lighter" than she is) and fair-skin ("like an uncooked barley pancake") that are preferred. She displays unappreciation for staring straight into a ("white") stranger's eyes, and she was raised to be wary of whites. She marvels that Dee can look anyone in the eye, without hesitation. It is indeed a new generation of blacks, and more are coming. Mama knows that TV leaves out a lot of reality. She is a good example of reality, and she is proud of her bucolic strength: "In real life I am a large, big-boned woman with rough, man-working hands....I can kill and clean a hog as mercilessly as a man." Unlike this era, such comparisons between masculine and feminine strength seem to have been quite common.

The visit, by Dee, to such close blood relatives that she had not seen for years, is notably short. Mama and an intimidated Maggie are astounded by the glamorous, brilliant, luxurious attire and jewelry on Dee. They are also awe-struck by the appearance of her, "short, stocky," companion from the other side of the car. Dee starts by uttering, "Wa-su-zo.Tean-o." Although, nothing further is mentioned about those words, some, with some knowledge of African languages would know that it stands for, "Wasuze otya nno?," 'How was your night,' in the Luganda east African language. The man starts with the Arabic-Islam greeting, "Asalamalakim," which Mama, at first, thinks is his name. Dee says she is no longer Dee, but now goes by the African names, "Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo." No explanation of these African names is offered, aside from Dee's dubious mentioning that they attach her to her indigenous African heritage, and displace names given to her by "oppressors," this in reference to her legacy of slavery. Walker does not tell us that Leewanika is probably a misspelling of the name of southern African King Lewanika who collaborated with the British. Neither does Walker elaborate further on the other names. "Ngero," in Luganda, means "stories" or "tales," "Wangero" meaning, "the one associated with stories/ tales." Kemanjo is probably a misspelling of some African name, or it is not a common African name. Mama gets to learn that "Asalamalakim" is Hakim-a-barber, probably a mishearing of the Arabic Islam names, "Hakim Akbar." All this is quite representative of the movements toward Africanism and black power in the 1960's and 1970's. Many of the quite formally educated, started adopting African and Islamic names, many times they did not know the meaning or histories of these names, and many became misspelled. It was an attempt at Africanization of identity, and embracing of Islam as an alternative religion to Christianity which was often perceived as the religion of oppressors. Indeed, many slavers and their ancestors have been Churchgoers. The paradox here is that the Dees and Hakims of this world are disdainful of their black-African heritage that is closest to them. Compared to the African culture of the Deep South, adopting African names is only a token of African culture. This ambivalence is becomes even more profound as Dee attempts to plunder his family of valuable crafts, such as quilts (put together over ancestral generations) and a churn handed down from previous ancestors. Dee likely wants to keep these valuables, as tokens of her heritage, as souvenirs, displayed in her home. Dee even belittles Maggie who owns some of them, saying she was only capable of putting them to, "Everyday use," and laughingly saying that, "Maggie's brain is like an elephant's" (also meaning that she has a good memory). Both Mama's and Maggie get disturbed and angered by Dee's demeanor of disrespect, insulting, selfishness, and aggression. Maggie still wants to give in to Dee, over the quilts that she really wants. An animated Mama, strongly declines and throws the quilts into Maggie's lap. Dee and Akbar leave shortly, soon after Dee implying to Mama that she did not understand the value of heritage and that Maggie should elevate herself out of the southern black rural environment. It is in this last incident that Mama gets to appreciate the strength and value of her younger daughter as against the seemingly foreign brash mannerisms of her older sister.

This story is quite representative of African-American social dynamics and dilemma. Of those who look down upon their past, as well as their less fortunate peers, while looking for fame and fortune in the capitalist world that involves aggressiveness, opportunism, and acquisition of wealth. The rural South is slow, family is important, with traditionalists finding it hard to cope with the extremes of urbanism. Many who leave traditional black culture are ashamed of it, but they still try to hold on to it by keeping cultural artifacts, antiques and souvenirs. Dee delights in seeing their house burn down, yet she comes back to retrieve articles that well could have burned in the same place. She comes to visit with a weird looking man whom she little talks about. But Mama knows exactly the man that Dee will marry. Family, and culture is strong in the rural south; Individualism and ambiguity are strong amongst the black educated elite, who in this piece are shifting to the culture of "oppressors," though they quite deny that they are doing so. It is a story on black identity crisis, and the place of black culture and values.