In "Everyday Use," Alice Walker cleverly develops the personalities of the three central characters. This was vital since Dee, Maggie, and Mama are the story's three main protagonists. Walker uses the three significant characters brilliantly to convey the story's underlying themes. Mama's two kids, Dee and Maggie, will be compared in this essay.
Alice Walker creates a strong image of Dee in the first paragraph. She appears shallow at first. But as the novel progresses, she gets more complicated. Dee, a girl blessed with beauty and brilliance, struggles with her origins and identity. She is a selfish and arrogant character. Her selfish and egoistic character shines through her gaze. She is portrayed as a fair-skinned black girl who feels superior to others due to her tiny waist, pleasant air, and education. Unlike Dee's negative character, Walker strengthens Maggie's character. She protects her people's heritage and culture. The two daughters and their mother's characters symbolize many parts of African American origin and culture. They are also the readers' creative guide to understanding the African Americans' identity conflicts during the period.
Dee's character shows a rudimentary awareness of her ancestry and culture. She embodies the misdirection and bewilderment of black youth in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Her sister and mother's conversations reflect this. Dee believes her competent and above her sister and mother's lives. She bravely tries to "take" the quilts that her mother had promised Maggie. She claims her sister Maggie cannot appreciate the quilts since she is too old-fashioned to utilize them. She mistakenly feels that she is honoring and maintaining her ancestry by repurposing these quilts. However, her ambition to showcase the quilts may be seen as a white capitalist exploiting indigenous artworks. On top of that, she is disregarding and rejecting her cultural history, all in defending it. Dee represents the efforts of a unifying identity since she has not yet realized her position in the community as both an American and an African.
"Everyday Use" by Alice Walker is a captivating short story full of significance and symbolism. However, as this paper mentioned, the story's strength comes from the central characters' opposing and distinct traits. Without Dee, the readers would not be able to comprehend the era's identity issues. However, no one would understand the importance and dedication of confident African Americans to preserve their ancestry and tradition without Maggie.
Essay 2: Much Ado About Nothing
However, deceit is useful. This is shown in Shakespeare's "Much Ado About Nothing." Throughout the play, dishonesty is employed to further either positive or wrong goals. Some characters use deception to help others cope and prosper in their social lives. In "Much Ado about Nothing," the concept of deception is crucial to the story's progression. Using deceit helps characters attain their goals and reasons, and these reasons indicate the characters' positive and lousy use of dishonesty.
Several characters utilize dishonesty throughout the play for various reasons. Benedick and Beatrice privately love one other yet openly portray that they do not love each other. Characters have used deceit to progress and achieve their goals. Claudio and Hero also fool Benedick and Beatrice into believing they love each other. Thus, Claudio and Hero's deception lures them into falling in love and marrying them. Claudio and Hero's trickery eventually brought Benedick and Beatrice together, proving that dishonesty may be beneficial in some cases.
Envy, duplicity, pretense, and counterfeiting are all used by Shakespeare to convey his topic of deception. Benedict and Beatrice secretly admire one other but fight openly to disguise their affections. When they throw obscenities at one other, they hope that the other will recognize their actual devotion emotions, which merely widens the chasm between them. They lose love in their quest to outwit each other's intellect. This is typical of today's society's advice to women to put up a strong face and not quickly accept any relationship offer. Many of them lose the person they admired to a less snobbish lady.
When Don Jon and Don Pedro visit relatives in Messina, Don Jon apologizes to the city's governor Leonato for betraying his brother in the war. In reality, Don Jon is enraged with Don Pedro for defeating him in battle and has set out to avenge his brother (Shakespeare). He fools his brother into thinking everything is OK, although his heart is in turmoil. This represents severe sibling rivalry that is widespread in many homes nowadays.
Jealousy drives Don Jon to plot against Claudio. First, he attempts to persuade Claudio that Hero is in love with Don Pedro. If he fails, he accuses Hero of adultery. He deceives his naive sweetheart Margaret by dressing her up as Hero and acting as though Hero herself was flirting with Borachio. Claudio despises Hero, considering her adulterous. Today's marriages face similar issues, including adultery.
Also, Leonato and his friends utilize the deception of Hero's death to punish Claudio for refusing to marry her. Leonato and his colleagues used this dishonest ploy to make Claudio feel guilty for killing an innocent girl. Leonato's main goal was to gain favor with Claudio so he would do what he instructed him. This is a nefarious use of dishonesty for selfish hidden purposes.
The meaning of "Much Ado About Nothing" is conveyed through deception. Various characters in the play employ deceit to further their goals. Many examples of dishonesty have been used to attain selfish and ill-intentioned goals. However, lying has effectively turned other people's social life around, such as in marriage. As shown in Shakespeare's work, deception and manipulation can be used for good and evil.
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