1. Everyday Use for your grandmama
Unit four
Everyday Use for your grandmama
Alice Walker

2. Fiction Reading Stories is Fun!
Fiction usually refers to literature consisting of invented narrative, especially the novel and short story.

3. the elements of fiction
plot (conflict)
character
setting
point of view
theme
symbol

4. conflict a person against another person a person against society
a person against nature
two elements or ideas struggling for mastery within a person

5. plot
exposition
rising action
crisis
falling action
resolution

6. character
protagonist -the major, or central character of the plot
antagonist-the character against whom the protagonist struggles or contends

7. flat character
round character

8. a developing character
a static character

9. characterization By showing the character acting and speaking
By revealing a physical description of the character
By revealing the character’s thoughts
By revealing what other characters think about the character
By commenting directly on the character

10. point of view
----the position from which the story is told
omniscient point of view
limited omniscient point of view
first person point of view

11. symbol dove—peace roses---love spring---life winter—death
the skull and crossbones on a bottle---poison
a journey on the road---the journey through life

12. the occasionally-coined symbol
the conventional symbol
the occasionally-coined symbol

13. (1) about the author
(2) about the author’s works

14. About the author Alice Walker ( 1944 - ) Novelist poet biographer
editor
civil rights warrior

17. Main Literary Creations
The Third Life of Grange Copeland
In Love and Trouble
Meridian
The Color Purple
By the Light of My Father’s Smile
The Temple of My Familiar

18. The Color Purple the Pulitzer Prize
The National Book Award
the National Book Critics Circle Award

22. Text analysis In your first reading:
Where do you figure the story is set?
Who is the narrator?
How many characters are there in the story?

23. characters Maggie Dee Asalamalakim, Dee’s boyfriend
mother of Dee and Maggie
Maggie
Dee
Asalamalakim, Dee’s boyfriend

24. What is the conflict?
Who is in conflict with whom?
What point of view did writer develop the plot?
What is the theme of the story?

25. plot Exposition--- Preparation made to receive Dee
Description of Mother and two sisters

26. rising action---- Dee and her boyfriend’s arrival Dee’s new name
about Dee’s boyfriend

27. Crisis---
Dee wanted the quilt
Mother refused to give Dee the quilt, instead, she gave the quilt to Maggie

28. Falling action---
the three characters’ attitude toward heritage represented by the quilt
Resolution---
Mother and Maggie felt relieved to see Dee leave

29. Text analysis Part 1 (1-2) General introduction---
Preparation made to receive Dee

30. Text analysis Part 2 (3-16) Description of Mother and two sisters
(3-4) what Mother was expected to be
(5-6) what Mother actually was
(7-12) Description of the two sisters
(13-16) More about Mother and Dee

31. Part 3 (17-the last but one para)
Dee’s visit
(17-23) Dee and her boyfriend’s arrival
(24-25) Dee’s new name
(26-28) Dee’s boyfriend
(29-) Dee wanted the everyday use
Part 4 (the last para)
Mother and Maggie felt relieved to see Dee leave

32. Everyday use for grandma
bench
churn
dasher
old quilts

33. In your second reading:
What adjectives are used to describe Maggie and Dee?
What are the major and evident differences between the two sisters?
How are mama and Maggie contrasted with Dee in the story?
What is the situation of the black people in the white world?

34. Details of the text

35. “I will wait for her in the yard that Maggie and I made so clean and wavy yesterday afternoon.”
What can you infer from the first sentence?

36. It is like an extended living room.
extended – enlarged by a new addition to the original space
large– enclosing much space; spacious

37. enlarged family--- a group of relatives by blood, marriage or adoption, often including a nuclear family, living together, esp. three generations are involved
extended care---nursing care provided for a limited time after a hospital stay

38. she will stand hopelessly in corners,
hopelessly– without hope or expectation for solving a situation
helpless– lacking help or protection

39. homely and ashamed of the burn scars down her arms and legs,
ashamed– feeling humiliated or embarrassed from a sense of inferiority
embarrassed– feeling ill at ease so as to result in a loss of composure

40. She thinks her sister has held life always in the palm of one hand, that "no" is a word the world never learned to say to her. (metaphor) ---She thinks that her sister has a firm control of her life. She could always have anything she wanted, and life was extremely generous to her.

41. What can you tell about Maggie from this description?
What do you suppose has happened to Maggie?
Why does Maggie admire her elder sister?

42. Maggie
burn scars
nervous
hopelessly
homely
ashamed of
envy and awe

43. where the child who has "made it" is confronted, as a surprise, by her own mother and father
Stepping off from the car, the official was confronted by two terrorists.

44. What would they do if parent and child came on the show only to curse out and insult each other?
(rhetorical question)

45. like this one– no derogatory tone
in which Dee and I are suddenly brought together on a TV program of this sort
Of this sort– it carries a derogatory tone, suggesting that the TV program is of poor or inferior kind.
like this one– no derogatory tone

46. Limousine

47. The talk-show icon---Johnny Carson— master conversationalist

50. overalls

51. hog 1) a pig, esp. a fat one for eating
2) a male pig that has been castrated
3) a dirty person
swine---(old& tech) pig
boar---male pig on a farm that is kept for breeding
sow--- fully grown female pig

52. “I am the way my daughter would want me to be: a hundred pounds lighter, my skin like an uncooked barley pan-cake.” (simile)
the skin---barley dough which has a creamy, smooth texture

53. Johnny Carson has much to do to keep up with my quick and witty tongue.
---the act or power of speaking; manner of style of speaking

54. ready tongue
witty tongue
silver tongue

55. Some phrases with “tongue”
a loose tongue 饶舌
a rough tongue 说话粗鲁
a bitter tongue 嘴刻薄
a slip of the tongue 失言,口误

56. Paraphrase:
Johnny Carson, popular TV talk show star, is famous for his witty and glib tongue. But in this respect, I am far better than he, and has to try hard if he wants to catch up with me.

57. a rough evaluation of Dee
I will wait for her in the yard that Maggie and I made so clean and wavy yesterday afternoon…..
What kind of woman would Dee like her mother to be?

58. Who ever knew a Johnson with a quick tongue
Who ever knew a Johnson with a quick tongue? Who can even imagine me looking a strange white man in the eye ?
(rhetorical question)

59. It seems to me I have talked to them always with one foot raised in flight ,…(metaphor)
---ready to leave as quickly as possible because of discomfort, nervousness, timidity, etc
It seems to me that I have talked to them always ready to leave as quickly as possible.

60. Dee, though. (elliptical sentence)
Dee, however, is not like me.

61. totter stumble
stagger plod
toddle shuffle
stride stroll
sidle

62. ever since the fire that burned the other house to the ground

63. Dee is lighter than Maggie
Light– the color of one’s skin, complexion, not weight

64. and feel Maggie's arms sticking to me

65. in little black papery flakes
papery--- thin, light like paper
flake—a small thin mass
flakes of snow

66. Why don't you do a dance around the ashes?
----(rhetorical question)

67. She washed us in a river of make-believe, burned us with a lot of knowledge we didn't necessarily need to know.
----large quantities of a destructive nature
Paraphrase:
She imposed on us lots of falsity and so-called knowledge that is totally useless to us.

68. Organdy (organdie)– a very sheer, crisp cotton fabric used for dresses, curtains, etc.
Pumps: low-cut shoes without straps or ties

69. black pumps to match a green suit

70. She was determined to stare down any disaster in her efforts
She was determined to stare down any disaster in her efforts. (personified)
Stare down– to stare back at another until the gaze of the one stared at is turned away.

71. At sixteen she had a style of her own' and knew what style was.
a style of her own– a unique way of doing things
What style was– the current, fashionable way of dressing, speaking, acting etc.
in (grand) style—in a fashionable and luxurious way
to be in/ out of style

72. She stumbles along good-naturedly
Stumble– to speak, act or proceeding a confused , blundering manner
to stumble through a speech

73. Like good looks and money, quickness passed her by. (personification)
She is not bright just as she is neither good-looking nor rich.

74. Never could carry a tune. (elliptical sentence)
I could never carry a tune.

75. Why does the mother say Dee will never bring her friends to visit them
Why does the mother say Dee will never bring her friends to visit them? What does this tell about Dee?

76. ----rhetorical question
… when did Dee ever have any friends?
----rhetorical question

77. Furtive boys in pink shirts hanging about on washday after school.
---furtive//sly
---to cluster around
to linger around
--- a day, often the same day every week, when the clothes, linens, etc. of a household are washed.

78. Impressed with her they worshiped the well-turned phrase, the cute shape, the scalding humor that erupted like bubbles in lye. (simile)
---the quick and great humor that would make everybody laugh immediately．

79. He flew to marry a cheap city girl from a family of ignorant flashy people .(metaphor)
He wasted no time in marrying a contemptible city girl from a family of ignorant ostentatious and vulgar people．

80. She hardly had time to recompose herself.

81. Stream of consciousness
A technique of writing that imitates the flow of thought, feelings, images, and memories through the mind of a character in a work of fiction.

82. And she stops and tries to dig a well in the sand with her toe
And she stops and tries to dig a well in the sand with her toe. (metaphor)
-----move her feet in great discomfort

83. “Like when you see the wriggling end of a snake just in front of your foot on the road. "Uhnnnh.” (elliptical sentence)
wriggle– to move to and fro with a twisting and writhing motion

84. “Dee, next. A dress down to the ground, in this hot weather
“Dee, next . A dress down to the ground, in this hot weather.” (elliptical sentence)
Dee comes out of the car next. She is wearing a dress long enough to touch the ground, in spite of this hot weather.

85. A dress so loud it hurts my eyes.
Loud– attracting attention by being unpleasantly colorful and bright
Eg. a loud pattern

86. Earrings gold, too, and hanging down to her shoulders
Earrings gold, too, and hanging down to her shoulders. (elliptical sentence)

87. Dangling--- to hang swinging loosely.
Bracelets dangling …
Dangling--- to hang swinging loosely.
Hanging– to attach to something above with no support from below

88. Dee’s appearance a yellow organdy dress black pumps a green suit
a long dress
earrings
bracelets
hair

89. Since I am stout it takes something of a push.
----(infml) rather a (an), a fairly good
something of a particular quality, feeling
something of an actor, / a poet
something of a mystery, / a surprise

90. You can see me trying to move a second or two before I make it.
Paraphrase:
You can see me trying to move my body a couple of seconds before I finally manage to push myself up.

91. go through motions with Maggie’s hand…
motions---trying to shake hands with Maggie
go through motions---pretend to do sth. by making the movements associated with a particular action

92. ---Maggie’s hand lacks firmness and is cold though she is sweating.
Maggie's hand is as limp as a fish, and probably as cold, despite the sweat, (simile)
---Maggie’s hand lacks firmness and is cold though she is sweating.

93. Anyhow, he soon gives up on Maggie.
Soon he knows that won't do for Maggie, so he stops trying to shake hands with Maggie.

94. Why does Dee change her name?
"No, Mama," she says. "Not 'Dee', Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo!" (elliptical sentence)
"No，Mama，”she says "My name is not Dee now，it has changed into Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo!”
Why does Dee change her name?

95. What might names serve as especially for the black people during the Black Power Movement?
---take pride in their heritage
---forge a group identity
---create a platform for greater political power

96. review
I can’t imagine you doing disgraceful things.
He couldn’t imagine why people were opposed to his suggestions.

97. If you are upright and not afraid of losing anything, you will be able to look anyone in the eye.

98. A big fire burned to the ground more than 300 homes in the slum neighborhood.
As long as we stick to these principles, we will surely be successful.

99. This blouse doesn’t match the color or the style of the skirt.
She was shocked at the news, but before long she recomposed herself.

100. He is fond of hanging about at street corner.
He has seen something of life.
He is something of a scholar.

101. What are some of the characteristics of the writer’s use of language that suit her background?
simple words
fragmented sentences
ungrammatical sentences

102. Though, in fact, I probably could have carried it back beyond the Civil War through the branches.
As I see Dee is getting tired of this, I don't want to go on either. In fact, I could have traced it far back before the Civil War through the family branches.

103. "there you are." 1) here is what you wanted.
Eg. --there you are! A nice cup of tea.
2) I told you so.
Eg. --there you are. I knew I was right.

104. Every once in a while he and Wangero sent eye signals over my head.
Paraphrase:
Now and then he and Dee communicated through eye contact in a secretive way.

105. "Why shouldn't I?" I asked. (elliptical sentence)
“Why shouldn't I call you by your new name?'’

106. After I tripped over it two or three times
trip– to stumble, catch one’s foot and lose one’s balance
Eg. The loose board tripped him.
trip over– mispronounce it, fail to say it

107. Always too busy feeding the cattle, fixing the fences, putting up salt-lick shelters, throwing down hay . (elliptical sentence)
Those people were always too busy：…

108. She talked a blue streak over the sweet potatoes.
blue streak–(colloquial) anything regarded as like a streak of lightening in speed, vividness, etc.
talk a blue streak– to talk much and rapidly
Over– while occupied or engaged in
To discuss the matter over lunch
Let’s talk about the matter over a cup of coffee.

109. churn– a container or contrivance in which milk or cream is beaten, stirred or shaken to form butter

110. "Uncle Buddy whittle that, too. " asked the barber
"Uncle Buddy whittle that, too?" asked the barber. (elliptical sentence) ---"Did Uncle Buddy whittle that one, too?” asked the barber．

111. "Maggie's brain is like an elephants," Wanglero said, laughing
"Maggie's brain is like an elephants," Wanglero said, laughing. (simile)
---"Maggie's brain is very slow，”Wangero said, laughing．

112. dog mule
snake sheep
lizard fish

113. a cold fish
as busy as a bee
big fish in a small pond
dog tired
rain cats and dogs

114. I can use the churn top as a center piece for the alcove table,”
--- an ornament, like a bowl of flowers placed in the center of a table. Anything artistic can be used as a centerpiece

115. ----a depression in the wood of handle left by the thumb and fingers
You didn't even have to look close to see where hands pushing the dasher up and down to make butter had left a kind of sink in the wood .(metaphor)
Sink: an area of slightly sunken land, esp. one in which water collects or disappears by evaporation or percolation into the ground.
----a depression in the wood of handle left by the thumb and fingers

116. After dinner Dee (Wangero) went to the trunk at the foot of my bed and started rifling through it.
suitcase

117. rifling– to ransack, rob, pillage and plunder
search
rifling through it– searching through the trunk as if she was ransacking and robbing the house

118. Maggie hung back in the kitchen over the dishpan.
---(off) be reluctant to advance as from timidity ,shyness.

119. Out came Wangero with two quilts.
-----inversion

120. "Mama," Wangero said sweet as a bird. (simile)
"Mama，”Wangero said in an extremely sweet voice．

121. "Why don't you take one or two of the others. ”. I asked
"Why don't you take one or two of the others?” ?I asked .(rhetorical question)
---You may take one or two of the other quilts．

122. "Imagine. " she breathed again, clutching them closely to her bosom
"Imagine!" she breathed again, clutching them closely to her bosom. (elliptical sentence)
“Imagine that she did all the stitching by hand!” she breathed again，clutching them to her bosom．

123. breathe again– having a feeling of relief or reassurance
breathe– saying something softly, murmuring, whispering
breathe again– having a feeling of relief or reassurance

124. She gasped like a bee had stung her. (simile)
She breathed suddenly in painful surprise．

125. “But they are priceless!”
--of great value
invaluable
expensive
costly
dear
precious
sumptuous
luxurious

126. Less than that!
Paraphrase:
If Maggie put the old quilts on the bed, they would be in rags less than five years.

127. a kind of dopey, hangdog look
hangdog– ashamed and cringing
a hangdog expression

128. This was the way she knew God to work
This was the way she knew God to work. This was the way she knew how God worked

129. 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. (metaphor)
One is suddenly filled with a new spirit or a thoroughly thrilling and exciting emotion caused by an entirely new experience.

130. You ought to try to make something of yourself,
make– turn out to be; prove to have the essential qualities of
He would make a capable leader.
make something of oneself---be successful

131. It's really a new day for us. (metaphor)
For us colored people, this is a new era, and we must seize our opportunities．

132. Study questions In what way did Dee want to create her own identity?
What’s the writer’s attitude towards cultural heritage?

133. It is very difficult to trace this quotation to its source.
Their way of life could be traced to the ancient traditions handed down to them by their ancestors more than one thousand years ago.

134. They traveled like a blue streak through Italy.
When the officer asked for volunteers, not one soldier hung back.
He is clever. I hope he will make something of himself.

135. Analysis of three characters
Mother---
black, a hard-working woman, big and strong, stout
received no education
knew her position
bread-winner and protector of the family
disliked Dee

136. Maggie black, homely (with burn scars) not clever
shy, timid, passive, unconfident
submissive, clumsy, poor-tasted
accept what is given to her
tolerant
dislike Dee

137. Dee blessed with good looks and brains
at 16 she had a style of her own
had few friends
shallow, snobbish
manipulative
fault-finding
overly concerned with style, fashion, aesthetics
lack a true understanding of heritage
never accept “No”

138. contrast
appearance
character
personal experience
attitude

139. different views on African culture
Mom and Maggie---a traditional life of the black
Mom---hardworking black woman
great love of a mother
Maggie---plain, timid
shy, conservative
know the exact way of Their life

140. Dee accepting the education and culture of the white people
knowing little about black culture, despising the black and even hated her identity
ignoring the love and beauty of her family and race

141. Dee --- getting interested in her own culture
--- finding the ‘value” of her family
--- forming a shallow view on her culture
--- neglecting the history and the love of the everyday use
--- keeping them as ornaments

142. Maggie not realizing the value of the everyday use
knowing the history of everything
considering the quilts a souvenir of the grandma

143. Dee represents a materialistic, complex, and modern way of life where culture and heritage are to be valued only for their aesthetic appeal.
Mother and Maggie represent a simple way of life where culture and heritage are valued for both its usefulness and its personal significance.

144. the conflict of the society
Dee --- a black girl trying to enter the mainstream of America
well-educated
knowing little about her culture
Maggie--- living in a less-open environment
giving up high education
able to pass down the precious culture

145. Effective Writing Skills
1) making effective use of specific verbs
2). using adjectives accurately
3) .successful portrayal of characters
4). using many elliptical and short, simple sentences to achieve certain effect
5). using languages which suit the background of characters

146. Rhetorical Devices 1.simile 2.metaphor 3. rhetorical questions
4.understatement
5.hyperbole
6.metonymy

147. stumble
stammer
stutter

148. secret
covert
clandestine
furtive

149. fat
fleshy
plump
stout

150. peep
peek
peer

151. clutch
grab
grasp
seize
take