ipl-logo

Alias Grace Quilts Analysis

495 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Alias grace literary analysis

The quilts are playing an important role of metaphor in Alias Grace through the whole story. Each of the quilt pattern represents a part of Grace’s life, and she uses different pieces of cloth from different clothes that were belonged to different people in different period of time to make these quilts too. In the last chapter of the story, Grace was released from the prison when she was 46 years old. She was able to take her properties that belonged to her when she was caught, which most of these were dresses. However, after 29 year of staying in a case, these dresses were rotted and faded. The dresses represent their owners that Nancy and Mary Whitney were died and they became rotting corpse; Grace became an old woman. Grace believed that …show more content…

She is making a quilt called Tree of Paradise, which she is going to make it with the cloths she collected like Mary Whitney’s petticoat, Nancy’s white dress and her dress in prison. This is weird that Grace used Nancy’s dress because there was a big possibility that Grace killed Nancy or she helped McDermott to kill Nancy, if not she should hate Nancy, because Nancy treated Grace bad. It is reasonable if Grace makes a quilt with her dress and Mary’s, but not with Nancy’s normally. If I am Grace, I would not put my best friend and the person I hate. However, Mary said Nancy was staying with her and they were good friends, also Mary was in Grace’s body. It is possible that Nancy were staying together with Mary in Grace’s body, so Grace made a quilt that represent the three of the are together. The pattern of that quilt is a tree with snake borders. Compare to the life in prison, although Grace was not rich, her life out of prison was still much better. However, the paradise was surrounded by snakes, which are the symbol of Satan and always attract people to the hell, represents Grace was lured by Mary Whitney or just her desire to kill Nancy and Mr.

Show More
Related
408 Words | 2 Pages

The poem, “The Century Quilt”, by Sarah Mary Taylor demonstrates the meaning of The Century Quilt through the use of tone, imagery and symbolism. This complex quilt has a way of bringing family together through means of remembrance, as the quilt will be passed on and on. Symbolism in this poem is most prominent in the title itself. “The Century Quilt” makes its implication of being passed on by the word, century. A century is a long period of time and within that time period the quilt will have been passed down through means of connecting with family.

Read More
220 Words | 1 Pages

Furthermore, Sarnowski acknowledges mother’s disappointment as Maggie gives up the quilts, pointing out that they represent memories of family members. The author believes that displaying these quilts will disintegrate the sense of family history they carry. Consequently,

Read More
906 Words | 4 Pages

In the poem The Century Quilt, by Marilyn Nelson Waniek, the speaker expresses the deeper meaning by presenting a story about a quilt that has been passed down through the family. She continues to look back and express her family history though the memories as well as the passing on of the quilt to future generations. The quilt contains multiple meanings such as, her heritage and identity and even the diversity within family. As an author, she knows that to get this message across, it requires more than a simple story or memory, but also provide detailed imagery in which the reader will gain an insight to how meaningful and impactful this quilt is. The intensity in which the speaker describes this undertaking and the appreciation she feels

Read More
699 Words | 3 Pages

Wright was in the process of stitching. They noticed the beauty of the quilt and how neat the stitching was… up to a certain point. The last piece that had been added to the quilt was poorly stitched. Mrs. Hale points to the bad stitching and says to Mrs. Peters, “Why, it looks as if she didn’t know what she was about,” and continues to tell how she believes Mrs. Wright did the piece while nervous about something (1085). Mrs. Peters then tries to fix the stitching so that no one else notices.

Read More
975 Words | 4 Pages

In the play Trifles, written by Susan Glaspell, and the play A Doll’s House, written by Henrik Ibsen, there are two ladies who undergo two different situations. Mrs. Wright is someone who is assumed as the murderer of her husband Mr. Wright. On the other hand, Nora manipulates her husband by taking out a loan without his approval. These two ladies both face isolation in their relationships and eventually end up without their husbands. These two characters differ in their personalities, their actions in their marriages, and their overall marriage.

Read More
498 Words | 2 Pages

When Dee practically demands the quilts promised to Maggie, Maggie automatically forfeits them without complaint. She never takes the time to battle her sister and she doesn't lose her composure. She, akin to a defenseless child, gives in to the pressure of Dee. "She can have them, [the quilts] Mama,” She is far more worried about keeping the peace and hiding from the commotion than defending what belongs to her. This professes Maggie to be a very complacent and scared girl, especially in the face of her sister Dee.

Read More
985 Words | 4 Pages

During the story, Flannery O'Connor uses different symbols that represent the grandmothers major turning points in finding grace and redemption. The symbols she uses are the grandmother’s clothing, the weather, and Bailey’s shirt. The grandmothers clothing plays a very important role in the story and the theme of grace and redemption. As described in the story the grandmother was wearing

Read More
1338 Words | 6 Pages

“the quilts are the central symbol of the story representing the connectedness of history and intergenerational tries of the family” (“everyday use”). This means that the quilts mean heritage and remind the daughters of grand mom dee. The quilts are fought over at the end of the story because of the meaning of them. One daughter wants them for everyday use and one wants them just to have them because it means heritage to her. The mother at the end of the story agrees that they should be used for everyday use.

Read More
1260 Words | 6 Pages

“Am I a bad feminist?” “It seems that I am a ‘Bad Feminist.’ I can add that to the other things I 've been accused of since 1972, such as climbing to fame up a pyramid of decapitated men 's heads (a leftie journal), of being a dominatrix bent on the subjugation of men (a rightie one, complete with an illustration of me in leather boots and a whip) and of being an awful person who can annihilate – with her magic White Witch powers – anyone critical of her at Toronto dinner tables. I 'm so scary!” Atwood’s satirical description of herself here is remarkably similar to societal perceptions of Grace in Alias Grace.

Read More
176 Words | 1 Pages

The greatest strength of the story lies in the author’s use of a child narrator who recounts the events without any self consciousness or a sense of social taboo. The young girl’s consciousness is used to present a situation which is never spelt out but is nevertheless conveyed to the reader in all its complexity. What the adult writer wants to communicate about the relationship being conducted under the quilt is concealed by the bewilderment of the young narrator and we only see its frightening shadow. The quilt becomes a metaphor for secrecy and concealment as well as a trope for the narrative. Asaduddin opines: “The dextrous use of the quilt both as an object and a metaphor and its shadows as symbols create an ambiguity that seems to arise

Read More
869 Words | 4 Pages

Ms. Johnson didn't have an education, yet she knew the value of the quilts and she didn’t let a few words from Dee change her decision of giving the quilts to Maggie. Dee leaves her mother’s house quite upset and tells her sister, “You ought to try to make something of yourself, too, Maggie. It’s really a new day for us. But from the way you and Mama still live you’d never know it” (Walker 12).

Read More
1014 Words | 5 Pages

The play “Trifles” by Susan Glaspell is largely based on stereotypes. The most prevalent one explores the difference between gender roles. Glaspell exerts the repression of women in the 1900s. During that time, women were highly looked down upon by men, and were only seen as the housekeepers and child bearers. This example is displayed throughout the play with the men, however, the women in this play prove that the stereotypes of gender roles held against them are completely wrong, which is shown through the characters, set design, and symbolism.

Read More
690 Words | 3 Pages

Mrs. Wright’s quilt is evidence that she is angry or nervous. The quilt has a “‘log-cabin pattern’” and is quilted nicely, but the last few stitches are not. It “‘Looks as if she didn’t know what she was about.’” This difference in sewing shows a sudden change in mood or thought process. When nervous or angry people tend not to care as much about what they are doing and can even be aggressive.

Read More
927 Words | 4 Pages

The short story The Lottery was published in a magazine called The New Yorker. It was published in 1948. The author of this short story is Shirley Jackson. It was June 27th 10:00 a.m. a clear sunny morning

Read More
1561 Words | 7 Pages

The quilts are the main symbol for the reason that each character has different views on them and their meaning, just like the readers. Near the end, the mother needs to choose whom to give the quilts to, to keep. Both of them have quilts with opposite views on what their use will be. Dee only wants to just hang them up, while Maggie wants to appreciate their appearance. I conclude that Alice Walker wanted Maggie to have the quilts because she thinks would actually mean something.

Read More

More about Alias Grace Quilts Analysis

Related Topics

Open Document