高英课件ADE-7-everyday_use_for_your_grandma分享资料

1、1Unit Seven Everyday Use for Everyday Use for your grandmamayour grandmamaAlice WalkerAlice Walker2Important and Difficult points The comprehension of the whole story The understanding of certain expressions The appreciation of the writing technique Colloquial, slangy or black English Cultural diffe

2、rence between nationalities in the US3 4Introductory questions 1 Why is this author famous in the U.S.? What are her major contributions? 2. How many main characters are included in this story? Can you say something about the character of each figure? Mama- Wangero (Dee)- Maggie- 3. What is the main

3、 plot of this story? And what is reflected in it?5Theme of the story Everyday use, a story addresses itself to the dilemma of African Americans who, in striving to escape prejudice and poverty, risk a terrible deracination根除根除 , a sundering分离分离 from all that has sustained and defined them. 6 The sto

4、ry praises the simplicity and practicality of Maggie and her mother, along with their allegiance to their specific family identity and folk heritage as well as their refusal to change at the whim of an outside world that doesnt really have much to do with them.7Title explanationTitle explanation Thr

5、ough the title of her short story, Alice Walker conceptually expresses her wariness of the Black Power Movement. During the mid-1960s, young black African Americans proclaimed they would no longer be oppressed by their current lifestyle and began to celebrate African culture by exploiting it for exo

6、tic names and ethnic appeal. 8 However, by discarding their southern United States roots, they adopt a culture that does not belong to them, thus abandoning the unique and defining aspects of their own culture. 9 Through a familys interactions, Alice Walker conveys that the purest and most sincere w

7、ay to celebrate ones heritage is by treating it not as a topic of study but rather as a way of life.10The importance of names, objects, and their implications of societal changes are manifested in the title, “Everyday Use.” 11 The title presents the reader with the central conflict of the story: as

8、a society evolves in sophistication should they honor their heritage by placing their cultural relics on a shelf to be admired, or, rather honor their culture by putting these objects to everyday use.12 This conflict is evident through the mothers decision to give the _to Maggie as well as Dees deci

9、sion change her name to Wangero.wquilts 13 Dees familys lifestyle is both simplistic and practical. Their way of life is sparse due to their low socio-economic status, and thus they see no need for the frivolous aspects of life such as shopping trips or dinner in town. The relics of their lifestyle

10、were valued for the usefulness and independence they allowed the family to have. 14 For example, when the mother tells Dee that she will not giver her the quilts made by Grandma Dee, Dee responds that Maggie “would be backwards enough to put them to everyday use.” (Walker, 335) The mother responds,

11、I reckon she would, God knows I been saving em for long enough with nobody using em. I hope she will!” (Walker, 335)15 This quote demonstrates that Maggie and her mother value items for their usefulness. By contrast, Dee wanted to hang these quilts on her wall because they had been made en-vogue by

12、the Black Power Movement, demonstrating that she does not understand her culture and its core values of simplicity and practicality.16a short story -character, action, conflicts, climax and denouement deinu:m: It is written in 1973 and is i n c l u d e d i n t h e N o r t o n Anthology of Short Fict

13、ion. Its one of the best-written short stories by Alice Walker, describing three women. 17 The mother is a working woman without much education, but not without intelligence or perception. She is the bread winner of the family and, more than that, she is indeed a creator and defender of her culture.

14、18 She works hard to send Dee to college and prepare for the younger daughters wedding. she feels sorry for Dees getting afar from her culture, while she is also proud for her achievements. She lives a humble life, but she never complains and is content, tolerant with the condition.19Can you match t

15、he descriptions of character with the figures in this story? She has a simple, unsophisticated view of heritage, and shows disdain轻蔑 for the materialistic connection to her heritage. She at first seems shallow in many aspects. Then she becomes a more complex character, however, as the story unfolds.

16、 Blessed with both brains and good looks, she emerges as someone who is still struggling with her identity and heritage. 20 She is timid, passive, introverted, unconfident, submissive, clumsy, poor-tasted girl, tolerant and can swallow any insult. she is proud of her abilities and accomplishments in

17、 the white peoples society. She is stout, big, fat, hard-working, unrefined, and she is bread-winner and protector of the family. 21Pre-reading Questions(brain storm) 1. What do you know about the black culture? (ask yourself wh- questions) 2.What is the situation of the black culture in the white w

18、orld? 3.What can you predict about the story by reading the title? 4. Do you know any novels or stories by any Afro-American writers? Have you read any?221. Alice Walker and her Literary Creations Novelist; poet;biographer; editor; civil rights warrior (?) Alice Walker was born on February 9, 1944 i

19、n Eatonton, Georgia. Her parents were poor sharecroppers(佃农佃农). As the eighth and youngest child in the family, she grew up in the midst of violent racism, which combined with her familys poverty left a permanent impression on her writing. 23 Main Literary Creations 1970: The Third Life of Grange Co

20、peland 1976: Meridian 1973: Biography of Langston Hughes 1973: Love and Trouble : Stories of Black women 1982: The Color Purple 1989: The Temple of My Familiar 24 This book, easily her most popular novel, won her the Pulitzer Prize in 1983 and the American Book Award, despite that critics again accu

21、sed her of portraying black men too harshly. The Color Purple was soon made into a motion picture, produced by Quincy Jones and directed by Steven Spielberg. A remarkable feature of Alice Walkers writing is the way it draws on elements of her life and incorporates them flawlessly into her novels. He

22、r character can be seen in The Color Purple via the character of Celie, who suffers from a lack of beauty yet still manages to grow stronger in spite of that.252.American Blacks and its Culture Today American blacks seem to enjoy freedom in the Melting Pot ,but American blacks still hold their own d

23、istinctive features in many social ways-in its history, religion, music, art and literature. 26 Religion: they believe mostly African religions and they worship their own God and establish their own community churches. Their God is different from the image in white peoples mind. It is not a tall, wh

24、ite man, but those totem（图腾）（图腾）in African religions. 27 Music: The songs of black slaves is the origin of Black American literature. Oral tradition came first in the form of songs , ballads and spirituals, in short, folk literature in its various manifestation.28 Literature: Many great Afro-America

25、n writers are worth mentioning especially the Harlem Renaissances.哈莱姆文艺复兴哈莱姆文艺复兴 Black people have been oppressed so hard that they can no longer stand and they dont want to toil in fetters any more: they want “to go”, which is another way of saying “freedom” and “emancipation”. This is the essentia

26、l spirit running through Black American literature. 29American quilts (patchwork)3031 Mrs. Johnson decides that Maggies practical approach to heritage is better than Dees superficial, impersonal concept of heritage32 Symbolic meaning of the quilts The quilts that Wangero covets link her generation t

27、o prior generations, and thus they represent the larger African American past. The quilts contain scraps of dresses worn by the grandmother and even the great-grandmother, as well as a piece of the uniform worn by the great-grandfather who served in the Union Army in the War between the states. The

28、visitor rightly recognizes the quilts as part of a fragile heritage33The title presents the reader with the central conflict of the story: As a society evolves in sophistication，should they honor their heritage by placing their cultural relics on a shelf to be admired, or, rather honor their culture

29、 by putting these objects to everyday use. Through a familys interactions, Alice Walker conveys that the purest and most sincere way to celebrate ones heritage is by treating it not as a topic of study but rather as a way of life. This conflict is evident through the mothers decision to give the qui

30、lts to Maggie as well as Dees decision to change her name to Wangero.34The character of Dee The elder daughter, Dee, is deeply influenced by the white peoples culture though from a black family. She is, in the core, as ambitious and aggressive as a white person. Several years of college education en

31、titled her to look down upon her hometown from the standing point of city civilization. She hates almost all that she was born with: the poor old house, her plain-looking, stout mother, her lame sister, and a lot else. 35She is not a single-sided person, though. However materialistic she is, she kno

32、ws that she cannot change her color. Thus she sometimes tries to find her identity from what she thinks is still worth appreciation of the black culture. For example, the old bench, the churn, the dasher, and the two quilts. She deems those things aesthetic symbolic of the black culture. Dee wanted

33、to hang these quilts on her wall because they had been made en-vogue by the Black Power Movement, demonstrating that she does not understand her culture and its core values of simplicity and practicality.36 She is charming, plump and dominant. She is confident, strong-willed, lucky, aggressive, and

34、determined. she learns the black heritage and keeps it in mind, though she does not have much confidence. She is ashamed of having a black working mother and living in the old house. She can be seen to represent a materialistic, complex, and modern way of life where culture and heritage are to be va

35、lued only for aesthetic appeal.37Her change of name Background knowledge: During the black power movement in the mid-1960s, young black African Americans proclaimed they would no longer be oppressed by their current lifestyle and began to celebrate African culture by exploiting it for exotic names a

36、nd ethnic appeal. There was an increased tendency of African Americans to exchange their Anglo-Saxon names for traditional African names in order to separate themselves from a culture that represent the oppression of their ancestors by slavery 38 Dee wanted to change her name to “Wangero”, thinking

37、that “Dee” is a name from the white people. She doesnt know that she is named after her aunt and even further, her great-grand mother. The mother wanted her to remember the tradition and history of the family by the name, but she actually knows nothing about the origin of the name. 39 Dees name coul

38、d be traced through her familys lineage back to the Civil War. However, Dee overlooks this crucial element when she proclaims she has taken the name of Wangero: a name that she thinks better reflects her roots and culture.Ironically, the accurate African spelling of the name Wangero is “Wanjiru . 40

39、 Thus, it was not Walkers intent to portray Wangero as an educated member of the Black Power Movement, but rather as an individual who exploits the movement merely for its growing popularity and aesthetic appeal. Thus, the name Dee, like the quilt, becomes symbolic of the practicality and simplicity

40、 of her culture. By placing her name on a shelf, she mocks the core values of her southern heritage that discourage the extravagant aspects of life, and rather values those aspects that hold merit on a daily basis. 41 The two daughters form a sharp contrast in every conceivable way: appearance, char

41、acter, personal experiences, etc.Dee and Maggie live very different lives not merely in terms of their material circumstances but in terms of the framework of values with which they approach life. The story reaches its climax at the moment when Dee, the elder daughter, wants the old quilts only to b

42、e 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 Grandmas hand, are clearly a symbol of the cultural heritage of the black people. Their different feelings about the

43、 quilts reveal their different attitudes towards their heritage as blacks.42 the image of Mama Mrs. Johnson introduces herself as “a large, big-boned woman with rough, man-working hands.” (Walker 2368) She narrates the story from her point of view. Supposing that the story is set in 1970, she can be

44、 assumed to be about 50 years old. Although her education ends with the close-down of her school after the second grade in 1927 (cf. Walker 2369), although she cannot read and tells the reader that she lacks “a quick tongue” (Walker 2368), the author has given her articulate strength:43 But apart fr

45、om physical strength, she also shows mental toughness: she went to the people of her church and raised money to send her gifted daughter to a school in Augusta (cf. Walker 2369). And she can clearly distinguish between dream and reality. This contributes to the good-hearted down-to-earth image the r

46、eader gets of her. 44Structure AnalysisPart 1 (1-2) General introduction Preparation made to receive Dee hinting the relationship between Mother and Dee is alienated; the relationship between the two sisters is unfriendly and tense.Part 2 (3-16) Description of Mother and two sisters (3 - 4) what Mot

47、her expected to be (5 - 6) what Mother actually was (7-12) Description of the two sisters (13-16) More about Mother and DeePart 3 (17-81) Dees visit (17-23) Dee and her boyfriends arrival (24-25) Dees new name (26-28) about Dees boyfriend (29- 81) Dee wanted the everyday use Part 4 (82)Mother and Ma

48、ggie felt relieved to see Dee leave45Study of paragraph 1. New words and expressions: wavy,fine, groove The language of this paragraph is natural and seems effortless. However, with her superb craft of telling stories, the narrator has implied to readers almost everything that they need to move furt

49、her into the story.46 When and where do you figure the story is set? (It may not be possible to specify exactly where, but you ought to try to come up with some reasonably specific sense of where and when we are to imagine the action of the story taking place. ) Who is the narrator? (Is she a voice

50、that does not belong to any of the characters? ) What can you infer about their living condition from the description in this paragraph ? Through the way the narrator cleans the yard, what can be seen of her character? What does the yard mean to them? Does the person they expect come often?4748parag

51、raph 2. What adjectives are used to describe Maggie? What can you tell about Maggies character from this description? W h y d o e s M a g g i e admire her elder sister? What do you suppose h a s h a p p e n e d t o Maggie?49 What are the major and evident difference between the two sisters? How do y

52、ou understand “hold life always in the palm of one hand” and “no is a word the world never learned to say to her”?50 Do you think that despite her docile nature, Maggie still maintains her role as the protagonist of the story? 51 F r o m t h e s t u d y o f t h e f i r s t t w o paragraphs, we can c

53、onclude a lot of things: the living conditions of the mother and Maggie, the character of the mother, what the yard means to them, the character of Maggie and her sister (the visitor) and their feeling towards the visitor. Describe the above points in your own words.52 From what a point of view does

54、 the mother remark on the TV program? How can you see that? Why are the mother and father often “tottering weakly” ? According to mama, what might also happen when a successful child is confronted by her parents on a TV program? Through the tone of description of the narration, can you tell the atti

55、tude of the narrator toward this type of TV program? What character of the narrator is reflected through this paragraph?paragraph 353 1. made it 2. totter The old lady tottered down the stairs. 3. curse 4. how she would not have made it without their help (subjunctive mood)54Paragraph 4The talk-show

56、 icon-Johnny Carsonmaster conversationalist n. 肖像, 偶像, 象征, 图符55 limousine563. Johnny Carson, who hosted NBCs Tonight Show from 1962 to 1992 and was responsible for launching the careers of many stars, died Sunday, Jan. 23, 2005 of emphysema.肺气肿肺气肿 57 President George H.W. Bush awarded Carson the Med

57、al of Freedom on December 11, 1992, and the following year he was awarded the Kennedy Center Honors Lifetime Achievement Award. 58 Under Carson, The Tonight Show earned 42 Emmy nominations and won seven trophies. Carson picked up a Golden Globe nomination in 1975. Carson was inducted into the Televi

58、sion Hall of Fame in 1987. An estimated 50 million people watched his final broadcast in 1992. And so it has come to this. I am one of the lucky people in the world. I found something that I always wanted to do and I have enjoyed every single minute of it, Carson said to close his final show. I bid

59、you a very heartfelt goodnight.59 Usher, embrace, pin, tacky, The narrator says that she dreams a dream about Dee meeting her on the stage surrounded with people. What does this dream indicate of the mother? What does the last sentence mean by “even though she has told me once that she thinks orchid

60、s are tacky flowers”?60paragraph 5 What is the function of the phrase “in real life”? What kind of woman is mama actually? What does “But of course all this does not show on television” mean?wBy the description of what the daughter wants her mother to be, what do we know the person of Dee?wHow to un