Hi folks! Sorry the blog is late...because I'm late in posting, I will be checking the responses on Monday morning. This gives you plenty of time to think about the question before responding.
I'm going to use this blog as a place to discuss irony in literature. We'll also touch upon it in class, but I figured I'd use this space for you all to explore the definition and apply it to our reading so we can have a discussion instead of a lecture.
The definition of irony when used in literature - a technique used by a writer to show truth or a message in a story. This is done by using a situation or character to convey one idea, in order to convey the truth of another idea to the audience. Example: If my friend woke up with two black eyes, and I told her, "You look nice this morning." What I said to her is false, and brings out the truth of the situation: that she looks awful with her face beat up.
Using this definition of irony, let's apply it to Dee/Wangero, one of the main characters in "Everyday Use" by Alice Walker (you know, the second story you all read so carefully this week for class). What is the irony of Dee's reverting to traditional African culture, while shunning her family's roots? What is Dee actually doing to her family's history by doing this? Use quotes to back up your opinion...how do the mother and Maggie play into this irony? How do they showcase the true history of the family?
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I believe this story shows a lot of irony. I found it ironic how the mother doesn’t meet the expectations of the daughter. “I am the way my daughter would want me to be: a hundred pounds lighter, my skin uncooked barley pancake.” Her mother did everything for Dee even if it was something expensive like going to college. I believe Dee was very spoiled compared to Maggie that is why I find it ironic that Dee doesn’t appreciate her family. The difference between Dee and Maggie is that Dee never learned the meaning of “no.” I think it is wrong how Dee disowns her family after all they have done for her. Dee comes from a poor family and I don’t think she understands how hard is was for her mother to raise the money for her to go to college. Dee is found to be a different person when she brings home her boyfriend Asalamalakim. Dee then wants nothing to do with her family because she enjoys the life of being rich. Dee got so brainwashed by her boyfriend that she even changed her name to Wangero. “I couldn’t bear it any longer being named after the people who oppress me.” It is ironic to me because her mother has done so much for her but yet Dee just doesn’t want to be associated with her past life.
ReplyDelete-Amanda Bordiere
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ReplyDeleteThe character Dee in “Everyday Use” brings out irony to traditional African culture while shunning her family’s roots. In the story Dee wants to take her grandmother’s quilt while the Momma promised them to Maggie. Dee is looking to use the quilts not out of respect of the folk art African culture but just as decoration in her home. Maggie could actually contribute to her culture by using them for “every day use” because she can pass down the tradition of making her own quilts. Dee shuns her family roots because she has no true understanding of the respect of her culture. She not only shuns her ancestors but as well as her own mother, because she shows no compassion towards to hard working. ‘ “ Maggie can’t appreciate these quilts!” she said. “She’d probably be backward enough to put them to everyday use” ‘ ( Walker, 1311). The quote demonstrates how Dee shuns her African culture because the grandmother would probably appreciate if one of her grandchildren used the quilts; as Maggie would have. While Dee on the other hand, just wants to feel like she is important enough to own them. It may seem ‘weird’ to us that using the quilt until it becomes bits and pieces of scraps, is respectful to the culture. Although it appears this way, it actually seems be much more respectful in a way that you could use those scraps to make your own quilt to pass onto.
ReplyDeleteMeghan Viola
Dee is reverting to traditional African culture while shunning her family’s roots by wanting her mother to change what she looks like. An example of this is when the mother thinks, “I am the way my daughter would want me to be: a hundred pounds lighter, my skin uncooked barley pancake.” The mother in this story is a strong single mom who did everything for her daughter Dee. Her daughter does not see the strong women that she is which is changing her family history by weakening the women appearance. The mother and the sister Maggie play into this irony by cleaning the house and trying to impress Dee. They show the true history of African culture by being strong women living by themselves and not letting the Dee change the way they live.
ReplyDeleteI find it ironic that the mother spoils Dee, the daughter that left home more than Maggie. Dee comes home to get family heirlooms from her mother. This had more to do with the fact that Dee wants to learn about the African culture instead of the family roots. It is also very ironic that Dee cares about the things like the quilts and what the family considers as their china to learn about the African culture instead of talking to her mother to learn about the African culture. I also find it ironic that the mother considers one daughter smarted than the other, especially the fact that the mother calls her daughter that lives with her as stupid and not pretty. “She knows that she is not bright. Like good looks and money, quickness passed her by.”
ReplyDelete-Patricia Campos
What the irony is about Dee reverting to traditional African culture and shunning her family's roots is that she has become so in touch with her race's traditions but does not think twice about her own bloodline, which in my opinion is more important to your own history than to your races history in general. What I feel she is actually doing to her family's history is kind of making up her own, assimilating her family's history to the greater more generalized history of all African Americans. Thus creating a background that is not truly hers. An example of this is when they were discussing why Dee had changed her name to Wangero. Dee had said "I couldn't bear it any longer being named after the people who oppress me" (Walker 1309). Her mother then goes and says that she was named after her aunt Dicie, and that name can be traced back in their family all the way back to the civil war. This is a good example of irony because Dee is so passionate about her new revelation of African culture and changing her name that she didn't even consider where her name really came from and made up her background to fit her reality of her African heritage. The mother and Maggie play into this irony because they show what their family was really like and their traditions and not a family that conforms to the norms of African culture, but to their own culture. They showcase the true history of their family by the way they live, by how they view their lives and what the little things mean to them. Like the quilts for example, Dee made a big deal about them, but the mother and Maggie saw them as they were and felt like they should be used that way and not hung up on a wall.
ReplyDelete-Ashley Piper
The irony I found in the story "Everyday Use" could be found in the quote "I am the way my daughter would want me to be: a hundred pounds lighter, my skin an uncooked barley pancake". This quote is Mama saying what Dee wants her mother to be like. The irony is that Dee wants so badly to be immursed into her African culture yet she wants her mother to appear like the typical "white" T.V. family. Mama worked so hard to raise money to give Dee a college education but it's Maggie who appreciates and accepts Mama for who she is, not Dee. She shows no appreciation for all that her mother has done for her.
ReplyDeleteTianna Perkins
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ReplyDeleteThe main character Dee leads back to her African culture while avoid her family’s ancestry by wanting her mother to change her appearance. An example is when the mother says, “I am the way my daughter would want me to be; a hundred pounds lighter, my skin uncooked barley pancake.” Mother in this story does everything for her daughter. Dee does not see the powerful women that she is which is changing her family by demoralizing them. Mother and the sister act into this irony by trying to impress Dee. They show the true history of being strong women living by themselves and not letting the Dee change the way they live so they can stay true to their African roots.
ReplyDelete