Category Archives: Clue

Use this tag for posts that explain how a passage offers a clue to interpreting the story as a whole.

Blog post “every day use” by Alice walker

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After reading “ everyday use” by Alice walker, these are some of the clue I found interesting to analyze.
“orchids are tacky” this is one clue where it can definitely means how the relationship between Dee and her mother was. Although Dee always got to do anything she wanted to Maggie felt like she had to hide in corners with her scars. So even the sisters relationship.
“river of make-believe” most of the time they were living in a lie with Dee. Dee always felt kind of ashamed of the way her mother and Maggie lived that most of the time she would not bring her friends. She was ashamed of how her mom didn’t have any education. She was only good at doing man’s job.
“lizards disappearing” this is the description of Dee’s hair. It’s how’s that it is straight and nice just like a city girl would have her hair, although maggie’s hair was never like that. Dee was more of a fancy girl.
“Your heritage” in this word is everything on how Maggie would most likely keep the tradition in her family alive by wearing her great grandmother create which is what made Dee so upset because really wanted to have them but not for the same intensions. That’s why Dee put her sunglasses and got in her car and left. She would argue that Maggie would probably destroy the dresses just by wear them at home and washing it the wrong way. She believed she would do a better job would them, but her mother didn’t think the same way. That’s why the mother turn to Maggie and kissed her in the forehead to indicate that she will do a great job no matter what the others will say. After that Maggie had a beautiful smile in her face showing that she wasn’t really scare anymore, she was more like happy that her mother felt that way

Connect from “Everyday Use”-Alice Walker

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In “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker when Dee was arguing with her mother about who get to have the quilt made by Grandma Dee, Maggie offers for Dee to have them, “like somebody used to never winning anything, or having anything reserved for her” (page 6). Walker only describe  Maggie’s tone when she said “She (Dee) can have them,” but I can imagine Maggie probably have her head droop down looking at her feet, maybe even playing with her fingers to distract herself from the sadness of never able to own something she wants.

Growing up with a sister, there were many moments in my life where my sister and I fight over toys, clothes and other little stuffs. Unlike Maggie, when my sister said to my mother “She can have them” she said it to gain sympathy from my mother so it will result in her winning over the object we were fighting for or my mother would get her something nicer then the one I have.

I remember 2007 Black Friday, I was in seventh grade and my sister was in fourth grade, and it was not usually for a teenager to own a personal laptop during that time period. My mother thought it would be a good chance to get my sister and I a new MP3 player, but I can also get a personal laptop for school purposes. I was really excited about that news, but my sister was not. She wined to my mother about how I can always get new and advance stuff because I am the oldest and she only get the old stuff pass down by me. I tried to be rational and asked why does a fourth grader need a personal laptop for? So my sister gets all droopy and teary and said “She can have them” I guess my mother thought it was unfair that my sister doesn’t always have the chance to get new things. So in result, my sister end up getting a new MP3 player and a laptop and I only have a MP3 player. I seriously thought I was adopted.

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I found “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker to be a compelling short story about a mother getting a visit from her most well-achieved child. Although what I found most compelling of the story were the elements implemented into the story such as Point of View, the setting, the establish of the characters and much more. The most appealing of the elements that mainly intrigued me was the element of the Point of View. The one element that left me in bewildered was the Theme.This story takes place in first person Point of View, we use I just as the narrator, or the mother, in “Everyday Use” uses I to depict herself. “I will wait for her in the yard that Maggie and I made so clean and wavy yesterday afternoon”. The reason I find this element to be the most appealing is the aspects of this element. Point of View allows us the reader to see and take in the emotions and the thought process of the mother who is being visited by her daughter. “But even the first glimpse of leg out of the car tells me it is Dee. Her feet were always neat ­looking, as if God himself had shaped them with a certain style”. This quotes goes to show the very idea of how much a mother pays attention to her kids and the her thoughts of her own daughter.  On the other hand, I found the Theme to be a little difficult to understand. Theme is the meaning of the story, or what is the story trying to convey to the reader. The story has a compelling ending and an emotional peak, the incidents with the quilt, but I don’t quite understand what Alice was trying to convey as the theme of the story ; Justice? I would have thought that the theme was never going back on your words but the story seems to be more oriented towards the traditions and the culture that it seems to be aimed at following ones’ values. “They had been pieced by Grandma Dee and then Big Dee and me had hung them on the quilt frames on the front porch and quilted them “. The quotes shows how much of a tradition and maybe how cultural most of the things in the house were from the quilts to the benches.

HW for September 7; Blog Posts, step-by-step

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Dear class,

Great discussion today.  Below is the homework for September 7, followed by blog instructions and reading questions.

1. In light of the CUNY standard of 3 hrs of out-of-class prep time for a 75 min session, the following includes a suggested breakdown of how you might spend those 3 hours of HW/prep.

-Read and take notes on “The Elements of Fiction” (1 hrs)

-Read “Everyday Use,” taking margin notes using reading questions (see below) and plot graph (ENG 2001 plot graph F16) (1-1.5hrs)

-do blog, or comment (30 mins-1hr).

-Print out + bring Charters, Walker, and the Plot Graph (with notes) to class.  (Your plot graph does not have to be exhaustively detailed, but it should show some attempt to break down “Every Day Use” into its parts.)

There will be a quiz on “The Elements of Fiction.” If you’ve read it carefully, you will be fine!

2.  As noted in class, Blog Group 1 is up to post for this Wednesday.  Whether you’re in that group or not, please make note of the following steps, as they include commenting instructions.

a. Read the Guiding Questions below and select ONE Blog Prompt.

b. Blog prompts are divided in to 3 categories: Clue (explain how a passage offers a clue to the story as a whole), Connect (connect the story to the world outside the text), or Create (do a creative writing piece, followed by a brief explanation of how your piece directly responds to the original story), .  By the end of the semester, you should have tried at least one of each category.

c. Go to “Posts” and “Add New.”  Write a 300 word post, by 5 pm the day before class.  The post should feature the minimum # of quotations, directly respond to the prompt, and adhere to professional standards of civility and proofreading.

d.  Create posts should include both a creative writing section and a brief explanation/analysis, explaining how your piece is directly rooted in the text.  If you write a creative writing piece that either has nothing to do with the original story, or directly contradicts it, you’ll be penalized.

e. Before posting, select your category: Clue, Connect, or Create.

f. Post!

g. The rest of the class now has until 10 am the following morning to post a comment.  Comments should be 100-150 words and should directly respond to a point in the original post.  Again, standards of civility and professionalism are expected. You are expected to post 14 comments, approx. one per week, throughout the semester.

g.  Remember, blogs and comments are part of a process.  They grow out of engaged in-class participation, and they lead to better, more thoughtful papers.  Conversely, if you’re not doing the blogs, it will affect both your blog grade and, in all likelihood, your papers.

3.  Below are the reading questions and prompts for Wednesday’s class.  I suggest reading these questions before you start “Everyday Use.”

 

  1.  Which Elements (e.g. Style, Character, POV) were most appealing in “Everyday Use”?  Which Elements were the most troubling or confusing?  Blog prompt: clue.  Write about one appealing and one troubling/confusing Element in “Everyday Use.”  Refer directly to at least one quote from the story for each Element.  Explain how that quote offers a clue to why your chosen Element is appealing or confusing.

2. Ann Charters defines the rising action of a story as “the dramatization of events that complicate the situation and gradually intensify the conflict.”  Locate moments or actions that intensify the conflict, or complicate the situation, in “Everyday Use.”  They could be a comment that Dee/Wangero makes, or an action that Ma Johnson takes, or even one that she doesn’t take.  Blog prompt: create.  Pick one “rising action” moment in “Everyday Use.”  Pretend you are Wangero/Dee.  If you were writing an email to a friend about that moment in your visit home, what would you say?  What feelings did that moment spark in you?  As you create this imagined response, refer directly to at least one quote from the story.

3. Ann Charters defines the climax of a story as its “turning point,” its “emotional high point.”  After the climax, “the pace of the narration [tends to] break off dramatically.”  What single moment would you identify as the climax of “Everyday Use” and why?  Blog Prompt: connect. Think of a climactic moment in your own life – a moment of maximum drama or suspense.  It could be taking an important exam, or waiting to hear news from the doctor, or avoiding an accident.  How does that moment resemble, or differ from, the climax of “Everyday Use”?  Refer directly to at least one quote from the story, explaining how that quote helps you connect the story to your own experience.

best,

Professor Kwong

Welcome!

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Welcome to your section of English 2001!

Please take a look around, browse the Syllabus, and note the Readings.  Please complete the Welcome Survey by the end of next week. If you have further questions, you can contact me here:

LKwong@citytech.cuny.edu.

best,

Professor Kwong