A review and literary assessment of the short story Everyday Use by Research Paper

A review and literary assessment of the short story Everyday Use by Alice Walker - Research Paper Example They ended up shining a light for generations of readers. The work that this paper aims to review is one of those papers that were done by one of today’s greatest writers and tells a very intriguing and provocative story in a sublet way. IT presents certain details when needed but also leaves out things in order to provoke the mind to stir and create a mental picture of the scene that the story projects. It gives snippets of information that is just enough to let the readers imagination wonder. The story’s characters are also presented in such a way that the details of their personality and persona are revealed through their conversations and back stories without losing focus of the actual story’s timeline. The story in its self is also very engaging and the reader is glued to the next word of the next phrase of the next word while looking to have it unfold before the reader’s very eyes. The reader is left to anticipate and watch as the story unfolds. For this story in particular, the issues that are played out are done in a very classy manner and that the characters in themselves are able to tell a story for and of themselves while still able to have participation to the story as a whole. This paper aims to review and analyze Alice Walker’s story. Essentially, the main time line of the story occurs in less than a day, however it does go into several flashbacks. The story is told by a mother who initially describes her life, her former relationship with one daughter and her current relationship with another daughter. You don’t get a sense of who is speaking, or what the story is about until you are a paragraph or two into the story. This maybe considered a technique to keep the reader interested in toe story as a whole. Through the initial part of the story, you get a glimpse of what life was like at the time the story was set. You also get a look at how the mother’s children view her as well as a visualization o f how they transitioned to the current life they live through the mention of a fire in their former home. The initial part of the story also sets the pace and the mood for the rest of the story since the mood was a bit toned down but slowly exposes details as the story goes on. There was not really any big revelations regarding detail in the story until the later parts when her daughter cam to visit and exposed that she changed her name. The story depicts a much simpler time and place where the main character decides on many occasions not to trouble herself with too many details and not to fuss over trivial things. It also shows a kind of family bond that may be different from what most people know, but it is strong. Most of the story telling and narrating is one sided but the main character does provide us insight on the other characters of the story like her daughters, what they say to her, what they may think of her, as well as their descriptions and reactions to certain things. If reading in the sense of looking at the activities described in the story, it may seem like a rather mundane or shallow tale but if you dive deep into what the story is telling you, or what it is describing, or when it is set or even who the characters are, then you will be surprised to find a gold mine of information and rich depth. Although the story does not explicitly say this, the story is also about issues regarding African-Americans at the time they were trying to identify themselves. Although there were no directly mentioned