-
Unit 4
Everyday Use
--
for your grandmama
Pre-reading Tasks
?
How much do you know about
the history of American black people?
?
Talk about women?s
liberation movement in America.
?
Give a brief introduction
to Alice Walker.
Background
Alice Walker
(1944- ):
A poet, novelist and essayist, was born
into a poor rural
family in Eatonton,
Georgia. Her writing career began with the
publication of a volume of poetry in
1968, which was followed
by
a
number
of
novels,
short
stories,
critical
essays
and
more
poetry
.
Now
she
is
regarded
as
one
of
the
most
prominent
writers in
American literature and a
most forceful
representative
of women?s literature
and black literature.
Her
works:
The
Third
Life
of
Grange
Copeland
(1970);
Meridian
(1976);
a biography of Langston
Hughes
（
1973). Her
most significant novel is
The Color Purple
(1982), which won
all
the
three major book awards in
America
--
the Pulitzer Prize,
the National Book Award and the
National Book Critics Award.
The
novel
was
an
instant
bestseller
and
made
into
an
equally
1
successful
movie
in
1985.
Alice
Walker
is
at
her
best
when
portraying people living in the rural
areas. As a black writer, she
is
particularly
interested
in
examining
the
relationships
among
the blacks themselves.
About the
Article
Everyday
use
was
published
early
in
Alice
Walker?s
writing career,
appearing in her collection
In Love and Trouble:
Stories of Black Women in 1973. The
work was enthusiastically
reviewed
upon
publication,
and
Everyday
Use
has
since
been
called
by some critics the best
of Walker?s
short stories.
The
Main Idea
The
story
begins
with
the
narrator,
a
black
woman,
awaiting
the
homecoming
of
her
daughter
Dee,
an
educated
woman
who
now
lives
in
the
city.
Accompanying
her
is
her
younger
daughter
Maggie.
As
they
wait,
the
narrator
reveals
details
of
the
family
history,
specifically
the
relationship
between her two daughters. To the
mother?s surprise, Dee, who
has been
scornful of the black, is now delighted by the old
way
of
life,
and
she
is
even
more
interested
in
the
old
handmade
quilts
pieced
by
Grandma.
However,
these
quilts
have
already
been
promised
to
Maggie.
Although
Maggie
is
intimidated
2
enough
to
surrender
the
beloved
quilts
to
Dee,
the
mother
snatches the quilts form Dee and offers
her instead some of the
machine-
stitched ones, which Dee does not want.
“Everyday
Use”
(1973)
is
included
in
the
Norton
Anthology
of
Short
Fiction
,
2nd
Edition,
1981.
As
one
of
the
best-written
short
stories
by
Alice
Walker,
it
describes
three
women.
The
mother
is
a
working
woman
without
much
education,
but
not
without
intelligence
or
perception.
The
two
daughters
form
a
sharp
contrast
in
every
conceivable
way:
appearance,
character,
personal
experiences,
etc.
The
story
reaches
its climax at the moment when Dee, the elder
daughter,
wants the old quilts only to
be refused flatly by the mother, who
intends to give them to Maggie, the
younger one. The old quilts,
made
from
pieces
of
clothes
worn
by
grand-and
great
grand-
parents
and
stitched
by
Grandma?s
hand,
are
clearly
a
symbol
of
the
cultural
heritage
of
the
black
people
.
Their
different feelings about the quilts
reveal their different attitudes
towards their heritage as blacks.
Text Stud
1.
wavy:
characteristic
of
waves,
resembling
waves
.
Here
the
3
word describes
the
marks in wavy
patterns
on the clay ground
left by the broom.
2. an extended living room:
an enlarged living room by a new
addition
to
the
original
space.
Extended
means
prolonged,
continued
; enlarged in
influence, meaning, scope, etc.
e.g. extended
care: nursing care provided for a limited time
after a hospital stay
extended
family
: a group of
relatives?
blood, marriage
or
adoption, often including a nuclear
family, living together,
esp.
three generations are
involved.
3.
and
the
fine
sand
…
groves:
Before
the
word
“lined.”
The
link
verb “is” is omitted. fine “not coarse, in small
particles. e.g.
fine cloth, fine sugar
4. “no” is a word the world never
learned to say to her:
She
could
always
have
anything
she
wanted,
and
life
was
extremely generous to
her.
5. a TV program of
this sort: “This sort” carries
a
derogatory
tone
, suggesting
that the TV program is of poor or inferior kind.
6. In real life I am
a
large, big-boned woman with rough
man
working hands:
The
phrase
“in
real
life”
is
transitional
,
liking
this
paragraph and the one above, implying
that those TV programs
4
are nothing
but make-believe and the narrator is very
skeptical
of
them.
In
reality
she
has
the
typical
features
of
a
black
working woman.
7.
overalls:
loose-
fitting
trousers
of
some
strong
cotton-cloth
,
often with a part extending up over the
chest, worn, usually over
other
clothes, t
o protect against dirt and
wear
.
8. I am
the way … an uncooked barley pancake:
My daughter
wishes me to
have a slender figure and a fair complexion;
like
an
uncooked
barley
pancake
:
a
simile,
comparing
the
skin
to
barley
dough which has a creamy, smooth texture.
This sentence suggests that Dee is
rather ashamed of having
a black
working class woman as her mother.
9.
Johnny
Carson
has
much
to
do
…
witty
tongue:
Johnny
Carson, popular TV
talk show star,
is famous for his witty
and
glob tongue
. But in this
respect, I am far better than he, and he
has to try hard if he wants to catch up
with me.
tongue
:
the
act
or
power
of
speaking;
manner
or
style
of
speaking
10.
with one foot raised in flight:
ready to leave as quickly as possible
because of
discomfort,
nervousness, timidity
, etc.
11. with my head turned … from
them:
5
in
order
to
avoid
them
as
much
as
possible,
also
from
discomfort, shyness, etc.
12. Augusta: city in eastern Georgia on
the Savanah River. It is
obvious
that
the
family
lives
in
the
rural
area
in
Georgia,
a
southern state in America.
13. forcing words, lies, … on us two:
The narrator implies that the books Dee
read to them were
written by the white
people and full of their language and ideas,
falsehood and their way of life.
Other folks
refer to the
white people. By reading those books,
Dee forced them to accept the white
people?s views and values.
14. She washed us …
need to
know:
She imposed on us lots
of
falsity
and
so-called
knowledge
that is
totally useless to us. The words
washed
and
burned
are
used
figuratively
,
indicating
large
quantities
of
a
destructive
nature.
15. organdy:
一种细薄的棉织品
16. She
was determined
… in her efforts:
She was determined to face up and
defeat any disaster with
her efforts.
Stare down:
to stare back at
another until the gaze of
the one
stared at is turned away.
disaster:
personified
17.
Her eye lid would not flicker …:
6
Again
it
shows
that
Dee
was
undaunted
with
a
strong
character.
She would look at anybody steadily and
intently for a long
time.
18. At sixteen she had a style of her
own: and knew what style
was:
1)
At sixteen she had a unique way of doing things.
2)
And she knew what was the current, fashionable way
of
dressing, speaking, acting, etc.
19. She stumbles along
good-naturedly:
She
often
makes
mistakes
while
reading,
but
never
losing
her
good temper.
stumble: to speak, act or
proceed in a confused,
blundering
manner.
e.g. to stumble through a
speech.
20. Like good looks … passed
her by: She is not bright just as
she
is neither good-looking nor rich.
21.
When did Dee ever have any friends?
A rhetorical question
,
meaning Dee was not an easy person
to get along with, and she never really
had any true friends.
22. Furtive boys
in pink shirts hanging about … school:
1)
furtive: done or acting in a stealthy manner, as
if to hinder
observation;
surreptitious, stealthy, sneaky
7
2)
hang
about:
(or
around
)
a.
to
cluster
around;
b.
(colloquial ) to loiter or linger
around
3) washday: a day, often
the same day every week, when the
clothes, lines, etc. of a household are
washed
23. I heard Maggie
suck in her breath … it sounds like:
1)
suck in her breath: inhale her breath
2)
Uhunnh: an exclamation of
a strong
negative response
24. You
can see me … make it:
You can see me
trying to move my body a couple of seconds
before I finally manage to push myself
up.
25. She never takes a shot …
i
ncluded:
Every time she
takes a picture she makes sure that the house
is in it. It shows how important she
thinks the house is. We are
reminded
how she used to hate the house.
26.
Meanwhile
Asalamalakim
is
going
through
motions:
Meanwhile
Dee?s
boyfrie
nd
is
trying
to
shake
hands
with
Maggie in a fancy and elaborate way.
27. Maggie?s hand is as limp as a fish
…:
Simile.
Maggie?s
hand lacks firmness and is cold though she
is sweating.
28.
There you are:
colloq.
1)
here
is
what
you
wanted.
E.g.
There
you
are!
A
8
nice cup of tea. 2) I told you so. E.g.
There you are. I knew I
was right.
29. a Model A car:
in
1909 Henry Ford mass-produced 15 million Model T
cars
and thus made automobiles popular
in the States.
In
1928
the
Model
T
was
discontinued
and
replaced
by
a
new
design
–
the
Model
A--
to
meet
the
needs
for
growing
competition in car manufacturing.
30. We got the name out of the way:
We overcame the difficulty and managed
to pronounce it at
last.
tripped over
it:
mispronounced
it, failed
to say it
correctly.
trip:
to stumble, catch one?s foot and lose one?s
balance.
Here it is used
figuratively
,
treating the name as something
like a stone that causes one to
stumble.
e.g. The fisherman tripped over a root
and fell into the river.
31. salt-lick
shelters: sheds or tents covering blocks of rock
salt
placed in a pasture for cattle to
lick
32. the greens: green
leafy vegetables eaten cooked or raw
33. She talked a blue streak over the
sweet potatoes:
blue
streak
: (colloquial) anything regarded
as like a streak of
lightning
in
speed,
vividness,
etc.
talk
a
blue
streak
:
to
talk
9