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Aims to achieve personal growth essay
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More handpicked essays just for you.
Aims to achieve personal growth essay
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Recommended: Aims to achieve personal growth essay
In the beginning of the book Maggie mentions a scar she received after her father left her with her brother alone to go buy cigarettes. She was burned with a hot pot of beans. To her, this action by her father was neglect. She states, “But I wasn’t like my brother. I couldn’t let things go” (Rash 31).
Mama is very protective of Maggie. Mama protects Maggie and doesn't expose her to the outside world very much. This makes Maggie awkwardly shy of people. Mama is aware of Maggies limitations and problems are a result of the fire. Even though Mama is strictly protective of Maggie, it shows her love for her.
We are not our true selves. In fact, most of us don’t even realize this until much later in life when disaster strikes and we must face the harsh reality. We must face the harsh reality that for most of our life, we do not know who we are and we are not who we are meant to be. In reality, we are not the most-developed versions of our selves during times of joy and happiness. We are not our most-developed selves when everything seems to be falling into place and when all of our hard work is finally paying off.
I was still myself” (Anderson 48). This quote demonstrates how Melinda has a hard time coming to terms with what happened at the party (Anderson 48). The quotation, “It wasn't my fault. I didn't want to go to the party.
Maggie on the other hand, is characterized by her unattractiveness and timidity. Her skin is scarred from the fire that had happened ten or twelve years ago. Those scars she has on her body in the same way have scarred her soul leaving her ashamed. She “stumbles” in her reading, but Mrs. Johnson loves her saying she is sweet and is the daughter she can sing songs at church with, but more so that Maggie is like an image of her. She honors her family’s heritage and culture, by learning how to quilt and do things in the household, like her mother views their heritage.
Maggie in Alice Walker’s short story “Everyday Use” plays the role of being the nervous and ugly sister of the story, however she is the child with the good heart. Maggie was nervous ashamed of her scars “Maggie was nervous… she will stand hopelessly in corners, homely ashamed of the burn scars down her arms and legs”. Living in a house with a pretty sister and being the ugly sister with scars could be the reason why she picked up on a timid personality, being ‘ashamed’ of her own skin shaping her in a way that she degraded herself from everybody else. Maggie was not this way before the fire, her mother stated, as it is quoted that she had adopted to a certain walk ever since the fire.
"She 'd probably be backwards enough to put them to everyday use" (320). Dee thinks Maggie would be dumb to keep the quilts for “everyday use”. Also, she figured her family did not know their own heritage. Dee feels as though her sister should “make something of” herself. She states, “It’s really a new day for us” to show that Maggie needs to see a greater amount of the world.
This attempt to persuade her mom failed because Wangero didn't understand her mother's desire for the quilt. In paragraph 13, her mother says that she had been hanging on them for long enough and wants Maggie to get use out of them. Wangero doesn’t view it the same way and consequentially doesn't persuade her mother to give her the quilts.
The line comes from the Joyce Carol Oates' story "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? " I believe the author is referring to how her family and her friend perceive here. Connie sees herself while at home as dull and quiet compared to the rebellious and outgoing look she presents to her friends. It appears that that neither groups, family or friends, know who she really is. I believe its natural for you to act one way with you friends and another way with your family.
Once Mama realizes that Maggie had always stuck by her side she, “Hugged Maggie to [herself] , then dragged [Maggie] on into the room, snatched the quilts out of Miss Wangero’s hands and dumped them into Maggie’s lap” (Walker 616). Mama was acting on her epiphany, she knew that Maggie should be cared for and protected from her sister because she was loyal to her mother, it was the least she could do. She begins to realize that she was holding onto a daughter that did not embrace her family and so she let her go and embraced the daughter who was there for her all along. Mama’s change can also be demonstrated when she notices, “Maggie [smile]… a real smile, not scared… the two of [them] sat there just enjoying, until it was time to go in the house” (Walker 616).
“Maggie can’t appreciate these quilts! She said. “she’d probably be backward enough to put them to everyday use.” (walker). This shows that dee really wants the quilts but not for the reason her mother wants.
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).
In today’s world, it is very hard to often times stay true to yourself, It is important to stay true to who you are because everyone is unique and is special in their own way so by hiding it the world or people around you will never see it. In Walden’s “Self-Reliance” he say’s, “ Our life is like a German Confederacy, made up of petty states, with its boundary forever fluctuating…” When this is said it is meant to be taken as how controlled our lives can easily become. The petty states seem to represent maybe our family, friends, the society we live in or now social media. These will be the type of things that can hold us back from being who we truly are and want to become.
Maggie has a very bad relationship with her bigger sister Dee with jealousy and hatred. Mama always thinks that Maggie lives an unfair life but Maggie never said that. “Maggie asked me mama when Dee ever had friends” (Walker, 317, 14), this quote shows how Maggie is jalousie from Dee, actually dee has friends. When Maggie sees stuff she doesn’t like she hides it and doesn’t talk but when she knew that Dee wanted to take the quilt that mama promised to give her she dropped the plates and smashes the kitchen door very hard.
Maggie did not go to school, does not dress in colorful attention-getting African garb, and does not have a fancy boyfriend, but she does slam a door which indicates her feelings about the quilts and butter churn her sister has come to claim out from under her feet. The temper has flared, and Maggie gets her quilts. In conclusion, the story seems to tell how different Maggie and Dee were from each other; with few comparisons between the two girls to suggest that they had anything in