... Mama has another daughter, Dee, who was sent away to be educated at an early age. Dee being pretty, superficial, and snobbish likes to belittle her mother and sister who are neither educated nor pleasing to the eye. Maggie is homely and badly scarred from being burned in a fire, which leaves her envious of her beautiful sister. Dee comes back one day ... to "visit" and asks her mother for an heirloom quilt that has already been promised to her sister. Maggie, who is used to seeing Dee get her way, is stunned when her mother denies Dee the quilt. Through Mama, the narrator, Walker uses ch...

• Word Count: 1145
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... that has been passed through the generations. She avoided conflict. Mama enjoys the simplistic things in life. Early and at the end of the story, she describes how just sitting in the front yard, although hers is clay and sand, can pass the day away as though she was in her living room. Throughout ... the entire story, Mama pretty much acts like a pacifist. Never wanting to start any trouble or put her foot down about anything. Dee ... trying to convince Dee that the quilts weren't any good. Dee persisted on them going to her. Finally, after seeing Maggie, how dejected she looked, Mama ...

• Word Count: 620
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... heritage or tradition. Only those traditions can live on that are handed down, hence they are a part of the intergenerational culture, and are used every day, as that is the only way to include it in contemporary culture in its entirety. In In Search of Our mother's Gardens, Walker describes the ... understand it. This is the past, the knowledge that the quilts carry; however, this is exactly what Dee does not see in them, while Maggie and Mama "understand a great deal more than Wangero does about the kind of family history sewn into the beautiful quilts, which will, of course, wear out ...

• Word Count: 1911
• Approx Pages: 8
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... nobody tell me nothing I don't already know. At least not when it comes to my kids,"(1) we understand that Viola really believes she "knows it all." A Day Late and A Dollar Short goes within a maximum of 10 year span, often times recalling past events, of the lives of the Pierce family. Viola, Cecil, Paris ... her mother in to her life. Charlotte's children Tiffany, Monique and Trevor are also isolated from their extended family and in Charlotte's words " Mama ain't never got nothing nice to say about mine...both my daughter's got good sense... Trevor's my bright star, get near straight...

• Word Count: 1181
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

ATTENTION-GETTER Begin with a Question (1.1) Which world-renowned food can be round or square, salty or sweet, and eaten as a meal anytime of the day or night? (1.2) Time is up. ANSWER TO QUESTION (1.3) Usually yummy, sometimes gooey, but always an unequaled experience,the answer is pizza. TRANSITIONAL SENTENCE (1.4) Pizza is the perfect food. TRANSITIONAL SENTENCE (1.5) Of all the prepared foods, pizza is one of the most versatile and diverse. TRANSITIONAL SENTENCE (1.6) It can be eaten hot and fresh from the oven or frozen and stored for later use. TRANSITIONAL SENTENCE (1.7) It is portable...

• Word Count: 636
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... Ruth talk about Walter and Beneatha, Ruth suddenly faints. ACT I, Scene 2: The following morning Summary This is the day when the insurance check is expected to arrive. Mama and Beneatha are busy doing spring cleaning. Travis wants to go down to play after finishing his chores. Joseph calls ... is only concerned about the insurance check. Mama is taken aback to learn that his desire for money overshadows his concern for Ruth and the new baby. In frustration, Walter leaves the house. ACT II, Scene 1: Later, the same day Summary Later on the same day, Beneatha dances to African music in h...

• Word Count: 1845
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: High School

... 108). She received the same as anyone else. Wieghbourne, my oldest brother, borrowed Lucys' part of her inheritance to buy that land where George & Buddy were born. Mama only got a minor part. The 80 acres homestead. She could not sell, so she would always have a home as long as she lived. Dad cleared all the ... my mother to finance the crops. He was the father of 11 children. When they married, he had at home then, John, Ernest, Oreal, Allen and Rubyhell.(?) Mama took Gay, Forun, Leo and me with her and left. Weighbourne, Windfield, Effie and Amy stayed at home in our new house. Grace...

• Word Count: 5522
• Approx Pages: 22
• Grade Level: High School

... Dee's characteristic towards the quilt shows no monumental value to her culture and belief. Throughout the story Alice Walker use the quilt to display Mama and Maggie similar personalities and Dee self- centered attitude. In addition Walker use Dee name to show more insights about Dee's self centered ... objects have no symbolic value or importance to her. Dee personality can be labeled as an inconsiderate person. She expresses no regards or sympathy towards Mama. Additionally Dee's personality brought a separation that divides the family in half. In addition, Walker inserts the butter ch...

• Word Count: 1723
• Approx Pages: 7
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... cognizant of what's going on and in some way may relate. The narrator, Mama, "a large big boned woman with rough, man working hands, who wears, "flannel nightgowns to bed and overalls during the day," whose, "fat keeps her hot in zero weather," is strong ... and uneducated and does anything to make her daughters Dee and Maggie happy (Walker 298). Mama spends her days daydreaming about having the perfect family and weighing ... not because she is compassionate about them but so she can put them on display for her friends to see. Mama denies Dee of the quilts, Dee replies, "It's really a ...

• Word Count: 1247
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... (A Raisin in the Sun para. 1). She dreams of becoming a doctor someday and wants to use the money to pay for the rest of her schooling. Mama, who realizes that her family is falling apart, much like her withered plant, only wants to buy a new home so that her family can once again live ... together peacefully. After the family has relentlessly tried to persuade her with what to do with the money, Mama finally comes to her senses and puts a down payment on a new house in a predominantly white neighborhood named Clybourne Park. She then gives Walter the remaining ... him to put half of it ...

• Word Count: 1146
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... of a Salesman mainly takes place inside of Willy's "disturbed, faltering brain, as he relives crucial scenes from the past even while groping through present-day encounters." Although we glimpse what Willy is "seeing" inside his head, the stage setting is the kitchen and two bedrooms of Willy's house, crowded ... "tasteless, rowdy and feather-brained in a horrifying manner." Linda is shown "to be patient, tactful, and considerate." At first the reader may think Big Mama is the strong one, and Linda is too passive, Linda"is shown from the first to possess a realistic awareness of the true...

• Word Count: 1755
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: High School

... of these characters, however, are deferred for so long that frustration grows inside them and eventually bursts out. Each day Walter has to continue working as a servant, his internal frustration and anger build, and he eventually releases his anger against Beneatha, Ruth, and Mama. "Who the hell told you you had to be a doctor?" (1838) he demands of Beneatha. "If you so ... quiet" (1838). When Walter explains why he dislikes being a chauffeur, he tells his mother, "I open and close car doors all day long. I drive a man around in his limousine and I say, 'Yes, sir; no, sir; very good, s...

• Word Count: 1274
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... which contents so much truth of Black people's lives.1 Walter Lee Younger an ordinary African American chauffeur. He lives with his mother Lena, whom everyone calls Mama, his sister Beneatha, his wife Ruth and son Travis Younger in a Chicago black neighborhood, Walter Lee is not satisfied of what he owned. He doesnt ... alcohol to forget his pain, the pain of nobody else in his family understanding him. He feels absolutely powerless, now. His spirit is almost broken. Then, Mama makes a significant decision: she gives all power over to her son. She goes alone to buy a house in Clybourne Pa...

• Word Count: 1867
• Approx Pages: 7
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... is not very aggressive, neither is she weak. She argues with Walter, but normally follows his advice and instructions. She quietly notices, resents, and tolerates Mama's terference in her upbringing of Travis. She is overly apologetic to Murchison, when he finds Beneatha and Walter dancing wildly to African music. But despite ... house, she is crushed, feeling her one dream in life has been destroyed. She says with desperation that she will work twenty hours a day in all the kitchens in Chicago and that she will wash all the sheets in America if she has to, but she will make an ... . A p...

• Word Count: 2602
• Approx Pages: 10
• Grade Level: High School

... ;I knew there was something I wanted to ask you if I could have."(10) She walked over to the corner to the butter churn and told Mama she wanted the top of the churn, which Uncle Buddy whittled out of a tree. Dee also asked for the dasher, Aunt Dee's first husband, Stash, whittled. While ... "But they're priceless!"(12) Maggie than appeared in the room from the kitchen saying, "She can have them, Mama, I can 'member Grandma Dee without the quilts."(12) Mama snatched the quilts from Dee and placed them in Maggie's lap, as she told Dee "Take one or two of the others ... ."(12) Dee than...

• Word Count: 818
• Approx Pages: 3
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... was always the lucky one goin to school learnin stuff, while I had to work my butt off. Just as well anyway he wouldn't of lasted a day in that hot blisterin sun anyhow. Besides he was too little, with his bony little fingers, he couldn't pick anything worth anything. Well when summer school started ... after the war. He wasn't crazy; he was just there cause of them "dreams." Daddy always complained. When he had a job interview and came back without a job, Mama would always say " oh dear, here we go again, that man needs to calm his senses down." Daddy would always drive in, in our "2 cen...

• Word Count: 1508
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

... a very overbearing character, and she attempts to keep Tita captive by trying to keep their family tradition alive. Mama Elena thinks that the youngest daughter should take care of their mother until the day she dies, a tradition which has been in their family for many generations. "You don't have an opinion ... had no team spirit and very little in common with each other outside their continuing friendship with Jean Brodie." (Spark, 2). As a result of Mama Elena and Jean Brodie's controlling behaviours, some of the characters are being oppressed which denies them the right to be their t...

• Word Count: 2548
• Approx Pages: 10
• Grade Level: High School

... are a Christian, African-American family living in the 1950s - an era when discrimination was still at its peak. The Youngers consist of Lena Younger (Mama), her two children: Walter Lee Younger and Beneatha Younger, Ruth Younger (Walter Lee's wife), and Ruth's and Walter's son, Travis Younger. The ... Youngers are a working class family trying to get by day by day with what they can. Mama says it herself, "We just plain working folks" (Hansberry 388). However, Mama is receiving a ten thousand dollar check from her late husband's life insurance. The family recognizes ... the insurance m...

• Word Count: 940
• Approx Pages: 4
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... women before her. They taught her the techniques and traditions that her family has used for many years. She has learned these things and uses them every day. Dee on the other hand views her heritage on a more conceptual basis. Dee is very educated, so she feels as though she knows more than ... be correct to some aspect about the heritage of true Africans but the traditions that she grew up with is what she should refer to. However, Mama tries to explain to her that her name isn't some symbol of oppression but more so an heirloom. She explains that she "probably could have ... "Maggie...

• Word Count: 1050
• Approx Pages: 4
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... (Wattleton, 3). She taught me to never believe the impossible (3). Never believe that something is not possible. This is the motto that Ozie Garrett Wattleton lived by. Mama is an Ponton 3 Evangelistic Minister (Powell). She was African American and a woman but she sustained an accomplishing career(Powell). She traveled the country in pursuit of ... force of my mother's commitment to her belief (Flashman). She compelled sinners to repent night after night and year after year (Flashman). Despite the love and respect Mama and had for each other, she did not approve of what I did (Powell)....

• Word Count: 1936
• Approx Pages: 8
• Grade Level: High School

... able to stand each other much less live together. Well, all their prides come together to form their strongest bond, that of "cultural and ethnic pride". Mama has fought for this all her life, and so has Walter and Beneatha, although not to the same degree. These characters show their strong and proud ... of the whole family pulling together and being PROUD of who they are. Near the start of the play, the family awakens and gets ready for the day's work. Travis, the son of Ruth and Walter Lee Younger needs 50 cents to pay for something at school. The resulting conflict between Ruth and W...

• Word Count: 1383
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

... use the money to finish education. The Younger's dreams are deferred for so long that frustration grows inside of them and eventually bursts out. Walter is Mama's son, Ruth darling husband, Travis caring father, and Beneatha's belligerent brother. Critic Ossie Davis said that Walter was "corrupted by the materialistic aspirations at ... accept him in that role. The following conversation between Walter and his mother illustrates his need for his business venture to make him feel like a man: Mama: "I don't "low no yellin in this house, Walter Lee, and you know it- And there ain't going t...

• Word Count: 1719
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: High School

... feel that the only opinion that should be worried over is that of other family members. "If Granny didn't care, Mama did. Mama hated to be called trash, hated the memory of every day she"d ever spent bent over other people's peanuts and strawberry plants while they stood tall and looked at her like she ... and awkward smile-- any thing to deny what Greenville County want to name her"(4). By rejecting the views and opinions of her family, for example Granny, Mama tries to change the way society looks at her. Meanwhile, jeopardizing and later abandoning her relationship with Bone and the...

• Word Count: 654
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... of this evolution in her book, "Like Water for Chocolate". The protagonist of the novel, Tita De La Garza, is the youngest daughter of Mama Elena. As the black sheep, Tita spends most of her time in the kitchen. Due to tradition, she is prohibited from marrying because she is ... change of character, from despair and loneliness to strong-willed maturity and a passion for life. Tita's caring and forgiving nature makes it easy for Mama Elena to control her like a puppet. Tita never feels a close mother-daughter bond, but instead believes that her mother "had repressed Tita her entire life....

• Word Count: 626
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... have it pass on from generation to generation. The short story is told by an African American woman "Mama" who lives in the Deep South along with daughters Maggie and Dee (changes her name to Wangero). ... meaning of heritage. The main characters were all noticeable opposite with the narrator (mama), describing herself as a "large, big boned woman with rough hands, man working hands" (paragraph 5). Mama was of African-American decent, mid-age. An independent woman, poor yet ... sisters could be noticed. Conflict of which of the sisters was educated versus the other was said to be ignoran...

• Word Count: 648
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School