Rhetorical Analysis of Hurricane Essay Example for Free

Rhetorical Analysis of Hurricane Essay Martin Luther King once said, â€Å"There comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, popular, or political, but because it is right. † The song â€Å"Hurricane†, written by Bob Dylan takes a stand and ignores what was safe, popular, and politically right during the 1960’s and 1970’s, in order to paint a picture of injustice. Dylan organizes the actual events of a man named Rubin â€Å"Hurricane† Carter who was a middleweight boxer wrongfully accused and convicted of a double homicide. Dylan narrates the song and uses his credibility as a rock star to reason with a broader audience, while evoking the emotions of listeners by describing horrific events, prejudice, and coercion by fraudulent figures of authority that developed false allegations. As a result the man (Hurricane) authorities came to blame was convicted and put in prison for 20 years but as Dylan says in his song, Hurricane could have been the champion of the world, referring to â€Å"Hurricane,† who was a well known sports figure for his boxing talent. The song is also narrated in such a way that Dylan tries to convey a message that will not only cause a critical analysis of the injustice by his fan base but also by the general public. The setting of the song takes place in Patterson, New Jersey, which is a line written in the song that reads, â€Å"and they arrive on the scene with their red lights flashing in the hot New Jersey night. † In the first verse of the song Dylan attempts to hook listeners with the words, â€Å"pistol shots ring out in the barroom night. and after describing a bartender laying in a pool of blood he then moves on to quote a secondary character named Patty Valentine as saying, â€Å"My god they’ve killed them all! † describing the three men that lay slain in the barroom. The next two sentences tells audience what Dylan is going to do in which he says, â€Å"Here comes the story of the Hurricane, the man authorities came to blame for somethin’ he never done. Put in a prison cell, but one time he could-a been the champion of the world. The first verse grabs the emotions of listeners by creating fear while imagining the sound of gun shots, a woman screaming, and a man laying dead in a pool of blood. While the second to last sentence of the first verse, gives an identity to the main character â€Å"Hurricane,† which is an attempt to stimulate an audience to imagine a man who is like a hurricane. The first time listening to the song, one might envision a man who was very tall, muscular, and who could rip doors of their hinges, and could pick up Volkswagens and throw them the length of a football field. In reality â€Å"Hurricane† is only five foot, eight inches and weighs one hundred and seventy pounds. However, Dylan does a fantastic job pulling his listeners in while introducing the main character and opening events that would build on one another until an apex of the song is reached. Dylan not only exhibits credibility because of his fame but most importantly his song writing ability. Two of his previous songs â€Å"Blowin’ in the wind† and â€Å"The Times Are a Changin’† were anthems used during the U. S. Civil Rights and anti-war movements of the 1960’s. Dylan’s way with words was again what enabled him to tell of Hurricane’s awful injustice, while hoping the lyrics to the song would invoke his audience to work to prevent and end similar injustices from happening in the future. Throughout the song Dylan makes suggestions of racial prejudice and coercion by the Patterson, New Jersey police, the District Attorney (D. A. ), and the judge who over saw the proceedings. For example he writes, â€Å"Number one contender for the middle weight crown had no idea the shit was about to go down when a cop pulled him over to the side of the road just like the time before and the time before that. In Patterson that just the way things go. If you’re black you might as well not show up on the street. Less you wanna draw the heat. † The heat Dylan is referring to was the ongoing harassment of African American’s by the Patterson police. Later in verse nine Dylan writes, â€Å"All of Rubins cards were marked in advance the trial was a pig-circus, he never had a chance. The judge made Rubins witnesses drunkards from the slums. To the white folks who watched he was a revolutionary bum and to the black folks he was just a crazy nigger. No one doubted that he pulled the trigger. And though they could not produce the gun, the D. A. said he was the one who did the deed and the all-white jury agreed. † In this verse Dylan is making a point that not only were the Patterson police trying to make an example out of Hurricane but also the D. A. and the overseeing judge. Keep in mind that during 1966 the United States was in the midst of a historical transition as just two years earlier President Lyndon B. Johnson had signed the Civil Rights Act outlawing all forms of discrimination against African Americans and women, including racial segregation. The act created serious tension among whites and blacks as a majority of whites refused to accept the change and the blacks were free to fight back against those who refused. In the end the tension provoked many hostile riots and fights to breakout all over the U. S. The year 1966 also marked the start of the Black Power movement, which was maintained until the 1970’s. The movement brought together black collective interest that consisted of racial pride, political goals, establishment of other social institutions, and most importantly a continued defense against racial oppression. Given the historical context one could attest that Dylan’s speculation of lingering racism could very much be true and at that time was very much alive. Throughout the song Dylan continually uses words and fraises that evoke the beliefs and values of those not only of the 60’s and 70’s but also of today’s generation. Dylan incessantly draws attention to the callous environment that was created and controlled by the Patterson police. The Police and the District Attorney needed someone to arrest for the barroom murders and the person that fit the description was Hurricane. In verse four Dylan introduces two more characters named Alfred Bello and Arthur Dexter Bradley. By doing this Dylan keeps the attention of his audience as he writes, â€Å"Alfred Bello had a partner and he had a rap for the cops. Him and Arthur Dexter Bradley were just prowlin’ around he said. † Dylan is telling the story as though Bello was speaking to the police in regards to why he and his partner were at the crime scene. Dylan goes on to quote Bello again having said, â€Å"I saw two men runnin’ out and they looked like middle weights (boxers) they jumped into a white car with out-of-state-plates. Dylan uses the above sentence to further suggest that the real criminals, Bello and Bradley pinned the blame on Hurricane and his friend and hinted to the cops in such a way that directed them to accuse and arrest a well known public figure that happened to be a middle weight boxer. Dylan is again trying to send a message to his audience that Hurricane was falsely accused. After the police arrested Hurricane and took him to the hospital to be identified by a wounded victim looking â€Å"through his one dyin’ eye,† the man says, â€Å"Whad you bring him in here for? He aint the guy! Dylan continues to link events together working toward his final message as he narrates the coercion of Bello and Bradley by the Patterson police. When four months later the two are reminded of the murder and reminded of the getaway car and are asked, â€Å"You think you’d like to play ball with the law? Think it might-a been that fighter that you saw runnin’ that night? Don’t forget your white. † Dylan moves on as he writes, â€Å"Rubin Carter was falsely tried. The crime was murder one, guess who testified? Bello and Bradley and they both baldly lied and the newspapers, they all went along for the ride. How can the life of such a man be in the palm of some fools hand? To see him obviously framed couldnt help but make me feel ashamed to live in a land where justice is a game. † Verse ten lets you know up front that Hurricanes conviction was wrong. The next sentence continues to work on the audience’s emotions as Dylan words describe his anger and disgust and that it’s no surprise that Bello and Bradley testified. In the following line, Dylan is alluding to the Patterson county judge as the fool with Hurricane’s life in the palm of his hand. In the last sentence, Dylan’s’ words are directly aimed at the American justice system calling it a game, which tells the audience you should be ashamed too. In the final verse Dylan hits listeners with a combination of three punches as he ends with his experienced opinion, beliefs, and desires. He writes, â€Å"Now all the criminals in their coats and their ties are free to drink martinis and watch the sun rise, while Rubin sits like Buddha in a ten-foot cell an innocent man in a living hell. Thats the story of the Hurricane, but it wont be over till they clear his name and give him back the time hes done. Put in a prison cell, but one time he could-a been the champion of the world. † It is obvious that Bello and Bradley are the criminals free to drink martini’s and know how to play the justice system game. Rubin sits like Buddha in a ten-foot cell is to influence the audience’s emotions visualizing a man sitting in his own personal hell like a statue that can do nothing but wait. Dylan lets the audience know he has finished the narrative by saying, â€Å"That’s the story of Hurricane. † The statement, â€Å"But it wont be over till they clear his name and give him back the time hes done. Put him in a prison cell, but one time he could-a been the champion of the world. † is telling the audience that they need to stand up and demand that the injustice of a innocent man be cleared and compensated for the time he has spent in prison. The ending chorus reminds the audience that the wrongful conviction not only took twenty years from a man’s life but also his chance at greatness. Before the song starts, Dylan’s reputation precedes him as a bond and a trust had already been established with his audience and those of the general public who knew of him. Although the song is not a part of our current pop culture, Dylan attempts to use his credibility to draw attention back to the racial discrimination and prejudice that was still looming the country after the Civil Rights Act of 1964 had been implemented. From the beginning of the song to the end, Dylan tries to send a message to evoke the values and beliefs of his fans and the general public calling out to them to stand together against what was safe, popular, and politically right and to not only advocate for Rubin â€Å"Hurricane† Carter but also demand the justice system prevent further unlawful injustice from happening in the future. By narrating, Dylan uses he words and phrases to invoke the emotions and hearts of his audience by describing the pain, loss, and anger, that Hurricane felt and the disgust that Dylan, himself felt in relation to the active events in the story and those who are a part of the justice system. The last idea that Dylan leaves his audience with is Hurricane was, â€Å"put in a prison cell, but one time he could-a been the champion of the world. † if it wasn’t for his wrongful incarceration.

Essay --

Reflection 2 Yassir Shahriar 4490353 Professional development is a subject about understanding and using those effectively from my prospective. Besides it enhances a vital skill called â€Å"critically thinking†. Since the course started my expectations were always at the higher level. After the long run with my team and my teacher, I personally believe that I have successfully met my expectations from this course. As I was working with my teams it was really important for me to adopt some strategies and use them accurately. I have actually done that. Hill, C (2007) said, â€Å"A group is an association of two or more individuals who have a shared sense of identity and who interact with each other in structured ways on the basis of a common set of expectations about each other’s behavior†(Hill, C, 2007, International Business, McGraw Hill/Irwin, New York, p-94). Thus my first strategy was we will discuss each of us points and everyone will take them accordingly. I thought that we have make things easier that’s why I arranged a lot of meetings. Moreover I was always connected via internet to...

Everyday Use

A Contrast between Dee and Maggie’s View Concerning Their Heritage In my writing essay I shall analyze the way in which heritage can be conceived in Alice Walker’s novel Everyday Use, trying to point out the author’s main ideas concerning the theme of the story. I would also try to describe the two daughter’s points of view, Dee and Maggie’s, about their ancestral heritage. The contrast between these two daughters is more than obvious not only in their appearance but also in their behavior when it comes to quilts from their grandmother. Everyday Use is a story narrated by a rural black woman, who is the mother of the two girls Maggie and Dee Johnson. Mrs. Johnson, is a simple woman but who, in spite of all difficulties that she passed through, she tried to give her daughters if possible, a good education and of course the most important thing, to make them aware of what heritage is indeed, the fact that traditional culture and heritage is not represented only by the possession of old objects, but also by one’s behavior and customs. She outlines in the story that she is not a very educated woman, but this does not mean that the lack of education is also reflected in her capacity to understand, to love and to respect her ancestors. Since the beginning of the story, the narrator makes obvious the contrast between Maggie and her elder sister Dee. Dee is a very ambitious girl, with a well-defined character, the one who had always been successful and ambitious. Maggie thinks â€Å"her sister has held life, always in the palm of one hand, that â€Å"no† is a word the world never learned to say to her. (Walker 2469). Dee denies her real heritage by changing her given name, after her aunt Dee, to the superficially more impressive one Wangero Leewanik Kemanjo, arguing to her mother that â€Å"Dee is dead and I couldn’t bear it any longer, being named after the people who oppress me† ( Walker 2472), what she does in fact is to reject her family identity. She inspires in her mother â€Å"a sort of aw e and fear more suitable to the advent of a goddess than the love one might expect a mother to feel for a returning daughter† (Farell, â€Å"Flight†). On the other hand, Maggie is the type of simple girl, like her mother, with little education. She is not ambitious like her sister Dee, living somehow in her mother’s shadow. But this might be also because Maggie hadn’t her sister luck and she burned severely in the house fire when she was a child, becoming now a shy and fearful person. These features are more visible in her attitude while waiting for her sister to come home. Mama is projecting her own anger and frustration onto her younger daughter when she speculates that Maggie will be cowed by Dee’s arrival. Maggie will be nervous until after her sister goes: she will stand hopelessly in corners homely and ashamed of the burn scars down her arms and legs, eyeing her sister with a mixture of envy and awe† ( Walker 2469). As Marianne Hirsch says in one of her critical essays: â€Å"the mother sees in Maggie’s angerless, fear an image of her own passive acceptance of Dee’s aggression, her ow n suppressed anger† Moreover, we can see through the lines of this story that, at the beginning, Dee was the daughter that mother preferred most because of her authority and because she wanted to succeed in life by following her instincts. But when she saw her totally changed, not only physically but also in her mentality, mother realized that Maggie was the one that understood the meaning of â€Å"heritage† and tried to give her justice. It is relevant â€Å"Mama’s awakening to one’s daughter’s superficiality and to the other’s deep-seated understanding of heritage† ( Tuten, â€Å"Alice Walker’s Everyday Use† ). However, Dee seems to despise her sister, her mother and the church that helped to educate her. Intentionally or not, she is selfish and she treats her sister with indifference. While Dee escaped from the poor life she was supposed to live, Maggie, next to her mother, represents the multitude of black women who must suffer. Scarred, graceless, not bright and uneducated, â€Å"Maggie is a living reproach to a survivor like her sister† (Cowart, â€Å"Heritage†) . The contradictions about heritage and culture between Maggie and Dee become more extensive when the quilts take part from the story. After dinner, Dee discovers some old quilts which belonged to her grandmother. She is very excited that found them, thinking that these quilts represent the testament of her ancestors. Without taking into account Maggie’s opinion, she asks her mother if she can have those quilts, arguing that she is the only one who can appreciate and have the right to keep them. At first, mother hesitates to give her an answer and offers her other quilts but Dee gets upset and then mother explains to her that the quilts were from Maggie as a wedding gift. Maggie’s tolerance in the story contrasts with Dee’s boldness. When Dee insists that her sister would ruin grandma’s quilts by using them everyday, and that hanging the quilts would be the only way to preserve them, Maggie â€Å" like somebody used to never wining anything, or having anything reserved for her† says â€Å" She can have them, Mama. I can remember Grandma Dee without the quilts† (Walker, 2474). Mrs. Johnson then realizes what makes Maggie different form her sister. She sees her scarred hands hidden in her skirt and says: â€Å"When I looked at her like that something hit me in the top of my head and ran down to the soles of my feet. Just like when I’m in the church and the spirit of God touches me and I get happy and shout† (Walker, 2475). This powerful feelings determines Mama to do something she had never done before: â€Å"she snatched the quilts out of Miss Wangero’s hands and dumped them into Maggie’s lap† ( Walker, 2475). Mama’s behavior here is almost like Dee’s because she rebuffs her wishes for the first time and give justice to the most patient Maggie. The fact that she takes the quilts from Dee and gives them to Maggie, â€Å"she confirms her younger daughter’s self-worth: metaphorically, she gives Maggie her voice† ( Tuten, â€Å"Alice Walker’s Everyday Use† ). In conclusion, I can say that Everyday Use is a story about understanding heritage. This concept is very well exposed by the two characters Alice Walker created, Dee and Maggie. These two daughters have a completely different view in what concerns the heritage from their ancestors; in this case their origins and their inheritance, the quilts from Grandma Dee. Maggie is the one who understands that heritage is about respecting family’s traditions and customs while Dee destroys the traditional image kept by Mrs. Johnson and her sister. She denies her true origins by changing the given name into more fashionable one, Wangero Leewanik Kemanjo. One should appreciate his legacy because it represents indeed what we are. We can not hide our roots and even if we want, this would not be possible because it always remains present in our souls and our minds, we like it or not. WORKES CITED PRIMARY SOURCE: Walker, Alice. Everyday Use. In Love and Trouble: Stories of Black Women New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1973. SECONDARY SOURCE: Cowart, David . †Heritage and deracination in Walker's â€Å"Everyday Use. † Studies in Short Fiction. FindArticles. com. Farrell Susan. â€Å"Fight vs. Flight: a re-evaluation of Dee in Alice Walker’s â€Å"Everyday Use†- Critical Essay†. Studies in Short Fiction. FindArticles. com. Hirsch, Marianne. â€Å"Clytemnestra’s Children: Writing the Mother’s Anger. † Alice Walker: Modern Critical Views. Ed. Harold Bloom. New York: Chelsea House, 1989. Tuten, Nancy. â€Å"Alice Walker’s Everyday Use. † The Explicator 51. 2,1993 Everyday Use Everyday Use Symbolism The Quilts These quilts represent Mama's family and her heritage, they were made by Grandma Dee and Big Dee. Symbolically, each piece of material was made from scraps of clothing that once belonged to someone in their family, including pieces of their great-grandfather's Civil War uniform. . To Maggie, they represent her family; she still remembers with love her grandmother who made one of them and she says it is okay if Dee takes them because she does not need the quilts to remember Grandma Dee. To Dee, however, the quilts have no emotional value.She regards them as a type of folk art that will look impressive hanging upon her walls. (Dee embraces her African heritage while rejecting her personal family history. ) Mama gives those quilts to Maggie because she knows Maggie, unlike Dee, will honor the culture and heritage by using it, or continuing it the way it was originally intended. ‘Maggie can's appreciate these quilts! she said. ‘She'd probably be backward enough to put them to everyday use. ‘ The Butter Churn and the Dasher The author also uses the butter churn and the dasher as a symbol to show mama’s understands of heritage.When Mama takes the dasher handle in her hands, she is symbolically touching the hands of all those who used it before her. Her appreciation for the dasher and the quits is based on the love fort the people who made use of them. Dee wants to use the churn top as a centerpiece for the alcove table and do something creative with the dasher. Mama views and honors her heritage as practical by appreciating what she acquired from previous generations and putting the passed down items into everyday use. Dee views and honors her heritage as superficial by appreciating the passed down items for their materialistic and artistic value Everyday Use A Contrast between Dee and Maggie’s View Concerning Their Heritage In my writing essay I shall analyze the way in which heritage can be conceived in Alice Walker’s novel Everyday Use, trying to point out the author’s main ideas concerning the theme of the story. I would also try to describe the two daughter’s points of view, Dee and Maggie’s, about their ancestral heritage. The contrast between these two daughters is more than obvious not only in their appearance but also in their behavior when it comes to quilts from their grandmother. Everyday Use is a story narrated by a rural black woman, who is the mother of the two girls Maggie and Dee Johnson. Mrs. Johnson, is a simple woman but who, in spite of all difficulties that she passed through, she tried to give her daughters if possible, a good education and of course the most important thing, to make them aware of what heritage is indeed, the fact that traditional culture and heritage is not represented only by the possession of old objects, but also by one’s behavior and customs. She outlines in the story that she is not a very educated woman, but this does not mean that the lack of education is also reflected in her capacity to understand, to love and to respect her ancestors. Since the beginning of the story, the narrator makes obvious the contrast between Maggie and her elder sister Dee. Dee is a very ambitious girl, with a well-defined character, the one who had always been successful and ambitious. Maggie thinks â€Å"her sister has held life, always in the palm of one hand, that â€Å"no† is a word the world never learned to say to her. (Walker 2469). Dee denies her real heritage by changing her given name, after her aunt Dee, to the superficially more impressive one Wangero Leewanik Kemanjo, arguing to her mother that â€Å"Dee is dead and I couldn’t bear it any longer, being named after the people who oppress me† ( Walker 2472), what she does in fact is to reject her family identity. She inspires in her mother â€Å"a sort of aw e and fear more suitable to the advent of a goddess than the love one might expect a mother to feel for a returning daughter† (Farell, â€Å"Flight†). On the other hand, Maggie is the type of simple girl, like her mother, with little education. She is not ambitious like her sister Dee, living somehow in her mother’s shadow. But this might be also because Maggie hadn’t her sister luck and she burned severely in the house fire when she was a child, becoming now a shy and fearful person. These features are more visible in her attitude while waiting for her sister to come home. Mama is projecting her own anger and frustration onto her younger daughter when she speculates that Maggie will be cowed by Dee’s arrival. Maggie will be nervous until after her sister goes: she will stand hopelessly in corners homely and ashamed of the burn scars down her arms and legs, eyeing her sister with a mixture of envy and awe† ( Walker 2469). As Marianne Hirsch says in one of her critical essays: â€Å"the mother sees in Maggie’s angerless, fear an image of her own passive acceptance of Dee’s aggression, her ow n suppressed anger† Moreover, we can see through the lines of this story that, at the beginning, Dee was the daughter that mother preferred most because of her authority and because she wanted to succeed in life by following her instincts. But when she saw her totally changed, not only physically but also in her mentality, mother realized that Maggie was the one that understood the meaning of â€Å"heritage† and tried to give her justice. It is relevant â€Å"Mama’s awakening to one’s daughter’s superficiality and to the other’s deep-seated understanding of heritage† ( Tuten, â€Å"Alice Walker’s Everyday Use† ). However, Dee seems to despise her sister, her mother and the church that helped to educate her. Intentionally or not, she is selfish and she treats her sister with indifference. While Dee escaped from the poor life she was supposed to live, Maggie, next to her mother, represents the multitude of black women who must suffer. Scarred, graceless, not bright and uneducated, â€Å"Maggie is a living reproach to a survivor like her sister† (Cowart, â€Å"Heritage†) . The contradictions about heritage and culture between Maggie and Dee become more extensive when the quilts take part from the story. After dinner, Dee discovers some old quilts which belonged to her grandmother. She is very excited that found them, thinking that these quilts represent the testament of her ancestors. Without taking into account Maggie’s opinion, she asks her mother if she can have those quilts, arguing that she is the only one who can appreciate and have the right to keep them. At first, mother hesitates to give her an answer and offers her other quilts but Dee gets upset and then mother explains to her that the quilts were from Maggie as a wedding gift. Maggie’s tolerance in the story contrasts with Dee’s boldness. When Dee insists that her sister would ruin grandma’s quilts by using them everyday, and that hanging the quilts would be the only way to preserve them, Maggie â€Å" like somebody used to never wining anything, or having anything reserved for her† says â€Å" She can have them, Mama. I can remember Grandma Dee without the quilts† (Walker, 2474). Mrs. Johnson then realizes what makes Maggie different form her sister. She sees her scarred hands hidden in her skirt and says: â€Å"When I looked at her like that something hit me in the top of my head and ran down to the soles of my feet. Just like when I’m in the church and the spirit of God touches me and I get happy and shout† (Walker, 2475). This powerful feelings determines Mama to do something she had never done before: â€Å"she snatched the quilts out of Miss Wangero’s hands and dumped them into Maggie’s lap† ( Walker, 2475). Mama’s behavior here is almost like Dee’s because she rebuffs her wishes for the first time and give justice to the most patient Maggie. The fact that she takes the quilts from Dee and gives them to Maggie, â€Å"she confirms her younger daughter’s self-worth: metaphorically, she gives Maggie her voice† ( Tuten, â€Å"Alice Walker’s Everyday Use† ). In conclusion, I can say that Everyday Use is a story about understanding heritage. This concept is very well exposed by the two characters Alice Walker created, Dee and Maggie. These two daughters have a completely different view in what concerns the heritage from their ancestors; in this case their origins and their inheritance, the quilts from Grandma Dee. Maggie is the one who understands that heritage is about respecting family’s traditions and customs while Dee destroys the traditional image kept by Mrs. Johnson and her sister. She denies her true origins by changing the given name into more fashionable one, Wangero Leewanik Kemanjo. One should appreciate his legacy because it represents indeed what we are. We can not hide our roots and even if we want, this would not be possible because it always remains present in our souls and our minds, we like it or not. WORKES CITED PRIMARY SOURCE: Walker, Alice. Everyday Use. In Love and Trouble: Stories of Black Women New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1973. SECONDARY SOURCE: Cowart, David . †Heritage and deracination in Walker's â€Å"Everyday Use. † Studies in Short Fiction. FindArticles. com. Farrell Susan. â€Å"Fight vs. Flight: a re-evaluation of Dee in Alice Walker’s â€Å"Everyday Use†- Critical Essay†. Studies in Short Fiction. FindArticles. com. Hirsch, Marianne. â€Å"Clytemnestra’s Children: Writing the Mother’s Anger. † Alice Walker: Modern Critical Views. Ed. Harold Bloom. New York: Chelsea House, 1989. Tuten, Nancy. â€Å"Alice Walker’s Everyday Use. † The Explicator 51. 2,1993 Everyday Use A Contrast between Dee and Maggie’s View Concerning Their Heritage In my writing essay I shall analyze the way in which heritage can be conceived in Alice Walker’s novel Everyday Use, trying to point out the author’s main ideas concerning the theme of the story. I would also try to describe the two daughter’s points of view, Dee and Maggie’s, about their ancestral heritage. The contrast between these two daughters is more than obvious not only in their appearance but also in their behavior when it comes to quilts from their grandmother. Everyday Use is a story narrated by a rural black woman, who is the mother of the two girls Maggie and Dee Johnson. Mrs. Johnson, is a simple woman but who, in spite of all difficulties that she passed through, she tried to give her daughters if possible, a good education and of course the most important thing, to make them aware of what heritage is indeed, the fact that traditional culture and heritage is not represented only by the possession of old objects, but also by one’s behavior and customs. She outlines in the story that she is not a very educated woman, but this does not mean that the lack of education is also reflected in her capacity to understand, to love and to respect her ancestors. Since the beginning of the story, the narrator makes obvious the contrast between Maggie and her elder sister Dee. Dee is a very ambitious girl, with a well-defined character, the one who had always been successful and ambitious. Maggie thinks â€Å"her sister has held life, always in the palm of one hand, that â€Å"no† is a word the world never learned to say to her. (Walker 2469). Dee denies her real heritage by changing her given name, after her aunt Dee, to the superficially more impressive one Wangero Leewanik Kemanjo, arguing to her mother that â€Å"Dee is dead and I couldn’t bear it any longer, being named after the people who oppress me† ( Walker 2472), what she does in fact is to reject her family identity. She inspires in her mother â€Å"a sort of aw e and fear more suitable to the advent of a goddess than the love one might expect a mother to feel for a returning daughter† (Farell, â€Å"Flight†). On the other hand, Maggie is the type of simple girl, like her mother, with little education. She is not ambitious like her sister Dee, living somehow in her mother’s shadow. But this might be also because Maggie hadn’t her sister luck and she burned severely in the house fire when she was a child, becoming now a shy and fearful person. These features are more visible in her attitude while waiting for her sister to come home. Mama is projecting her own anger and frustration onto her younger daughter when she speculates that Maggie will be cowed by Dee’s arrival. Maggie will be nervous until after her sister goes: she will stand hopelessly in corners homely and ashamed of the burn scars down her arms and legs, eyeing her sister with a mixture of envy and awe† ( Walker 2469). As Marianne Hirsch says in one of her critical essays: â€Å"the mother sees in Maggie’s angerless, fear an image of her own passive acceptance of Dee’s aggression, her ow n suppressed anger† Moreover, we can see through the lines of this story that, at the beginning, Dee was the daughter that mother preferred most because of her authority and because she wanted to succeed in life by following her instincts. But when she saw her totally changed, not only physically but also in her mentality, mother realized that Maggie was the one that understood the meaning of â€Å"heritage† and tried to give her justice. It is relevant â€Å"Mama’s awakening to one’s daughter’s superficiality and to the other’s deep-seated understanding of heritage† ( Tuten, â€Å"Alice Walker’s Everyday Use† ). However, Dee seems to despise her sister, her mother and the church that helped to educate her. Intentionally or not, she is selfish and she treats her sister with indifference. While Dee escaped from the poor life she was supposed to live, Maggie, next to her mother, represents the multitude of black women who must suffer. Scarred, graceless, not bright and uneducated, â€Å"Maggie is a living reproach to a survivor like her sister† (Cowart, â€Å"Heritage†) . The contradictions about heritage and culture between Maggie and Dee become more extensive when the quilts take part from the story. After dinner, Dee discovers some old quilts which belonged to her grandmother. She is very excited that found them, thinking that these quilts represent the testament of her ancestors. Without taking into account Maggie’s opinion, she asks her mother if she can have those quilts, arguing that she is the only one who can appreciate and have the right to keep them. At first, mother hesitates to give her an answer and offers her other quilts but Dee gets upset and then mother explains to her that the quilts were from Maggie as a wedding gift. Maggie’s tolerance in the story contrasts with Dee’s boldness. When Dee insists that her sister would ruin grandma’s quilts by using them everyday, and that hanging the quilts would be the only way to preserve them, Maggie â€Å" like somebody used to never wining anything, or having anything reserved for her† says â€Å" She can have them, Mama. I can remember Grandma Dee without the quilts† (Walker, 2474). Mrs. Johnson then realizes what makes Maggie different form her sister. She sees her scarred hands hidden in her skirt and says: â€Å"When I looked at her like that something hit me in the top of my head and ran down to the soles of my feet. Just like when I’m in the church and the spirit of God touches me and I get happy and shout† (Walker, 2475). This powerful feelings determines Mama to do something she had never done before: â€Å"she snatched the quilts out of Miss Wangero’s hands and dumped them into Maggie’s lap† ( Walker, 2475). Mama’s behavior here is almost like Dee’s because she rebuffs her wishes for the first time and give justice to the most patient Maggie. The fact that she takes the quilts from Dee and gives them to Maggie, â€Å"she confirms her younger daughter’s self-worth: metaphorically, she gives Maggie her voice† ( Tuten, â€Å"Alice Walker’s Everyday Use† ). In conclusion, I can say that Everyday Use is a story about understanding heritage. This concept is very well exposed by the two characters Alice Walker created, Dee and Maggie. These two daughters have a completely different view in what concerns the heritage from their ancestors; in this case their origins and their inheritance, the quilts from Grandma Dee. Maggie is the one who understands that heritage is about respecting family’s traditions and customs while Dee destroys the traditional image kept by Mrs. Johnson and her sister. She denies her true origins by changing the given name into more fashionable one, Wangero Leewanik Kemanjo. One should appreciate his legacy because it represents indeed what we are. We can not hide our roots and even if we want, this would not be possible because it always remains present in our souls and our minds, we like it or not. WORKES CITED PRIMARY SOURCE: Walker, Alice. Everyday Use. In Love and Trouble: Stories of Black Women New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1973. SECONDARY SOURCE: Cowart, David . †Heritage and deracination in Walker's â€Å"Everyday Use. † Studies in Short Fiction. FindArticles. com. Farrell Susan. â€Å"Fight vs. Flight: a re-evaluation of Dee in Alice Walker’s â€Å"Everyday Use†- Critical Essay†. Studies in Short Fiction. FindArticles. com. Hirsch, Marianne. â€Å"Clytemnestra’s Children: Writing the Mother’s Anger. † Alice Walker: Modern Critical Views. Ed. Harold Bloom. New York: Chelsea House, 1989. Tuten, Nancy. â€Å"Alice Walker’s Everyday Use. † The Explicator 51. 2,1993

Organ Donation - 1237 Words

Specific Purpose: To persuade my audience to donate their organs and tissues when they die and to act upon their decision to donate. Thesis Statement: The need is constantly growing for organ donors and it is very simple to be an organ donor when you die. I. INTRODUCTION A. Attention material/Credibility Material: How do you feel when you have to wait for something you really, really want? What if it was something you couldn’t live without? Well, my cousin was five years old when he found out he needed a new kidney. He went on the organ waiting list right away. He was called twice during a six month span that they had a kidney available only to find out that the kidney wasn’t a good match. He had to wait again. The†¦show more content†¦Talk with your family about your decision. They will be involved in the donation arrangements when you die. If they do not know your wishes of becoming a donor, your wishes may never be carried out. 2. Mark your driver’s license so that your license indicates your intent to donate. Each state varies. a. Fill out, sign and carry a uniform donor card with you. b. This donor card says what organs you wish to have donated and also has places for your family members to sign as witnesses after you have discussed your decision with them (Gundersen Lutheran Hospital [LaCrosse, WI] undated brochure). [Transition: You can see that it isn’t difficult to be an organ donor. Now let’s look at what may happen if you choose to donate your organs and what may happen if you choose not to.] C. Organ donation benefits both the donor’s family and the recipients. 1. If you do donate your organs, your family and the people who receive your organs might benefit in a similar way like this family. A seventeen year old died of head injuries in a car accident. His mom decided to donate his organs. His heart went to a prison chaplain, his kidneys went to a mother of 5 children and a Vietnam vet. 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