高级英语Unit-4--Everyday-use-知识点梳理
Unit 4 Everyday use for your grandmamma
What is a plot?
If an author writes, "The king died and then the queen died," there is no plot for a story. But by writing, "The king died and then the queen died of grief," the writer has provided a plot line for a story.
A plot is a causal sequence of events, the "why" for the things that happen in the story. The plot draws the reader into the character's lives and helps the reader understand the choices that the characters make.
The Structure of a plot
1.Exposition - introduction of the
main characters and setting
2.Rising Action - one (or more)
characters in crisis
3.Climax - point of highest emotion;
turning point
4.Falling Action - resolution of
character’s crisis
5.Denouement (outcome) - “untying
of plot treads”; resolution
Narration Narrator
First-person narration; third-person narration
Narrator ≠ author
The title
The meaning of the title requires the reader to read deeper within the short story. The phrase “Everyday Use” brings about the question whether or not heritage should be preserved and displayed or integrated into everyday life. “Everyday Use” pertains not only to the quilt, but more so to people's culture and heritage and how they choose to honor it.
The theme
The main theme in the story concerns the characters’ connections to their ancestral roots.
Dee Johnson believes that she is affirming her African heritage by changing her name, her mannerisms, and her appearance, even though her family has lived in the United States for several generations.
The theme
Maggie and Mrs. Johnson are confused and intimi dated by her new image as “Wangero”.
Their own connections to their heritage rest on their memories of their mothers and grandmothers; they prefer to remember them for who they were as individuals, not as members of a particular race.
Because of their differing viewpoints, they place different values on some old quilts and other objects in the home.
The background
By the 1960s, following the success of civil rights leaders like Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X, some African Americans began to take pride in their heritage as a way of gaining their esteem, forging a group identity, and creating a platform for greater political power.
Known as “black pride” or Black Nationalism, these ideas encouraged many young African Americans to learn about their cul tural ancestry, grow their hair into “Afros”, dress in traditional African clothing, and reject their “slave names”. Cultural nationalism
Cultural nationalism was founded on the belief that blacks and whites have separate values, histories, intellectual traditions and lifestyles and therefore that in reality, there are two separate Americas.
Cultural nationalism was often expressed a as a conceptual and aesthetic return to the motherland (rarely an actual return), a recognition of the African roots that blacks in America had begun to forget as a result of slavery, biased education and stereotyped representations in the mass media.
In his article, "Black Cultural Nationalism," Ron Karenga, one of the strongest voices in favor of cultural nationalism,
writes,
"Let our art remind us of our distaste for the enemy, our love for each other, and our commitment to the revolutionary struggle that will be fought with the rhythmic reality of a permanent revolution"
Cultural nationalism on a visual level was expressed in the same way, by the wearing of brightly colored African clothing, such as dashikis, and the adaptation of the Afro hair style, both symbolic representations of the important relationship between Blacks in America and their African roots.
Mama (Ms Johnson)
The narrator of the story.
She is a middle-aged or older African-American woman living with her younger daughter, Maggie.forget
Although poor, she is strong and independent, and takes great pride in her way of life.
She is over weight, and built more like a man than a woman. She has strong hands that are worn from a lifetime of work.
Maggie
Dee’s sister who was badly burned by a fire when she was young.
She has low self-confidence and becomes uncomfortable when Dee is around.
Maggie contrasts Dee by showing a special regard for her immediate family.
Dee
Mrs. Johnson’s older daughter.
She is attractive, sophisticated, and well-educated.
She is also very selfish, bold, and overly confident.
When she returns home, she insists her family calls her Wangero because she wants to be a bigger part of her culture. The only reason she wants this is because it’s suddenly the new trend.
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