Character Analysis Paper
In the short stories, Amy Tans Two Kinds, Alice walkers Everyday use and James Baldwins Sonnys Blues, the authors show strong emotions. "Two Kinds'' is concerned with the complex relationships between mothers and daughters."Everyday Use" tells the story of a mother and her two daughters' conflicting ideas about their identities and ancestry. "Sonny's Blues" tells the story of two brothers who come to understand each other. They all shared how remarkable their lives were changed through hard times.
In Amy Tan's short story, "Two Kinds" it begins with a brief introduction to one mother's interpretation of the American dream. The Chinese mother (Suyuan) who lost her family in her native homeland now hopes to recapture part of her loss through her daughter. She believed that America is where her dreams would be fulfilled and that her daughter, Jing-mei, would be the one to realize them. Jing-mei, on the other hand, was a confused child at first. She was led to believe that she can be someone. At first, she followed her mother, but when she felt that her mother was already forcing her and stealing her youth, she told herself that it was the end. The story mainly just focuses on a clash between two individuals from two different generations and beliefs. I believe those who are parents want what is best for their children. We all strive to make our children's futures better. In some cases, when others own dreams have either been destroyed or not realized, they project their dreams and wishes on their children. The theme of the story has so much to do with Amy Tan's own experience particularly her relationship with her mother. It tells the struggles of mother and daughter to understand each other.
In the short story Everyday Use by Alice Walker, the author portrays opposing ideas about ones heritage. Through the eyes of two daughters, Dee and Maggie, who have chosen to live their lives in very different manners, the reader can choose which character to identify most with by judging what is really important in ones life. In Dees case, she goes out to make all that can of herself while leaving her past behind. She is a flat character, yet Walker uses Dees character to warn people of what might happen if they do not live properly. Dee is portrayed as a light-skinned black person who feels as though she is better than everyone else because her waist is small, her skin is light, she has a nice grade of hair, and she is somewhat educated. She believes she is too good for her family, and is in a hurry to get out of the country to a more suitable life style. In the story, she is summarized as arrogant and selfish, and through her character is allowed to be perceived as the wicked effect of an egotistical world. Maggie is not as attractive as Dee. She is thin and an awkward girl. Her mother says good looks pass her by. Furthermore, she carries herself like someone who has low self-esteem, which her mother describes as chin on chest, eyes on ground. Maggie has characteristics like her mother, she is an example that heritage in both knowledge and form passes from one generation to another. Maggie stays back with her roots and makes the most out of the surroundings that she has been placed in. Through the use of symbolism, the tangible object of a family heirloom quilt brings out these issues relating to heritage to Mama, and she is able to reasonably decide which of her daughters has a real appreciation for the quilt, and can pass it on to her. Dee and Maggie shed a new light on the actual meaning of heritage through their personality traits, lifestyle decisions, and relationships with specific family members.
James Baldwin's "Sonny's Blues" is a story of two brothers living in a segregated Harlem during the late 1950's. It is a story that tells of how each one reacts to the "blues" and how each one handles his own inner turmoil. It is a story that tells of the suffering they shared, the ideas that separate them and the music that finally brings them together. Yet the inner story, the quiet one that lies just beneath the surface, is one of the narrator's evolution from a man living in fear to a man who is finally able to embrace his pain, "to make it seem-well, like you," and in this way rise above it. The story opens with the nameless narrator's discovery of the arrest of his brother for heroin possession and distribution. From early childhood memories of the "darkness," at this point undefined but still lurking outside, to fear for his brother. He has molded himself to fit an image that he believed to be "good" in the pursuit of escaping the suffering he, and all of his people, have experienced living in an America that is anything but equal. "The feeling experienced by these charactersis called the blues, a mental and emotional state arising from recognition of limitation imposed-in the case of African-Americans-by racial barriers to opportunity." He moved his family into a new housing development trying to hide from the menace that he perceives on the streets. He has lived "a parody of the good, clean, faceless life," denying his people, his heritage, and even his brother in the attempt to bury his pain.
Conclusion, in all the short stories, they all told a story about ones life and how it changed their lives forever. The authors mainly portray how different their lives are but in the end they all have made it through something dramatic. I felt that I learned a lot from reading these stories because everyone goes through a certain struggle in their life that they later overcome!
Work Cited
www.associatedcontent.com/.../essay_on_james_baldwins_sonnys_blues.html
www.helium.com
www.enotes.com
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