Abstract This paper discusses the short story "Everyday Use" written by Alice Walker. The paper then goes on to discuss the value of heirlooms, particularly the writer's experience with heirlooms and the value that she places on some of the items that belong to her family. The paper is written in the form of a narration.
From the Paper "In a sense, I am Maggie. I am the daughter who now lives down the road from my parents. I still go over there and mow their lawns with the ancient mower they have had since I was eight years old. No one asks why they don't get a new one because the answer lies in the complexity of all things that are put to everyday use. I know they really don't have the money, anyway. I think my sisters who have gone away think I am rather pathetic, hanging around Mom and Dad and driving over the same ruts in the driveway everyday. Those ruts are from two old oak trees that were cut down the year Mina went to kindergarten, my Dad explains. He says that no matter how much stone he has hauled in for the driveway, those ruts just will not go away. My sisters and I smile, sharing a moment of conspiracy. No one believes that ruts in a driveway will outlast more than thirty years of truckloads of stone, but no one says this out loud either."
Abstract This paper tells the story of a family heirloom, a ring. It describes this ring, explains its history and describes the writer's feeling towards it, both as an aesthetic object and a symbol of heritage. The writer attempts to describe what, in her opinion, the ring meant to her grandmother. This paper provides an example of an item whose emotional and symbolic value exceeds its material value by far.
From the Paper "My mother chose the object for this assignment, but when I first examined the requirements exactly the same item came to mind. It is an item that has a history within our family. However, it is important just to the women of the family and in particular to me as I am in possession of it now. The item in question is a ring that belonged to my grandmother, and from the material point of view, it is valuable but not extremely so."
Abstract The paper discusses how both poems namely, "Heirloom" and "Keine Lazarovitch" deal with the subject of parental death from the perspective of Jewish culture and faith. The paper also highlights the differences between the two poems, Layton eulogizes his mother and Klein his father. The author of the paper highlights the different tones of the two poems and cites examples to qualify these differences.
From the Paper "But although similarly, "Keine Lazarovitch" is a poem of specificity, of specific dates much like the specific Jewish references to the "Books of the Baal Shem Tov, and of his wonders," (5) Layton's poem is a poem of modern specificity and connection, about the loneliness of growing old that the poet once witnessed in his mother, that he now experiences in his own life, rather than the "Pamphlets upon the devil and his crew;
Prayers against road demons, witches, thunders;/And sundry other tomes for a good Jew," of Klein. (8-10) Layton does not take on the older voice of an older Jewish era, as does Klein. Klein's efforts to access his ultimately inaccessible father, lost to another time only come through books-but Layton's efforts come after he has lived and grown old like his mother, and can appreciate her struggle and frustration with the limits of her existence and advancing age in his own body."
