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Section A
¡°Family heritage¡± is a term that is used without much value in the present world today. It is a common misconception for some people to think that the importance of heritage never seems to affect the decisions we make in our everyday lives. Instead, family heritage is one of the very few things that is passed down and preserved throughout the countless number of generations. Both of the short stories ¡°A Celebration of Grandfathers¡± and ¡°Everyday Use¡± share a powerful experience dealing with the preciousness in preserving one¡¯s family heritage. In the memoir of ¡°A Celebration of Grandfathers¡±, the author expresses his appreciation, respect, adoration, and praise for his grandfather and other elders. Within the writing, the author stipulates the value of family heritage as he makes a statement that all elderly people have much to teach and share with this new generation. The author believes that the ideals of the older generation will help us to live a generous nurturing life that his grandfather led. The grandfather teaches both the author and the readers to face the reality of aging, overcome obstacles through strength and patience, to be a participant rather than a bystander in the world, to be patient and strong, and most of all to cherish family and the earth.
In the instance of the story ¡°Everyday Use¡±, conflict plays a major role in proving the value of family heritage. A family consisting of a mother and two daughters, named Maggie and Dee, are involved in a serious argument soon after a rare reunion. After arriving home wearing African-American inspired clothing, she suddenly gains an interest in old traditional items around the house such as quilts. Before long, she demands for her mother the two special family quilts so that she may be able to display them as ¡°art¡± objects. On the other hand, Maggie explains that she would treat the quilts for ¡°Everyday Use¡± instead. Seeing this, the mother realizes that Maggie values the items of family heritage more than Dee and decides to give the quilts to Maggie in the end.
In brief, family heritage should always be reconsidered before making a decision. One should also learn to appreciate, learn, and apply the old generation values in present world today. By preserving family heritage, we can gain better knowledge of and respect for our older generation.
Section B
In the present world, cruelty, violence, segregation, and total oppression are just various types of the immoralities that exist today. Everyday, innocent people are faced with impossible situations, hardships and even death that they don¡¯t deserve. Supported by the short stories ¡°From Night¡± and ¡°The Artillery Man¡¯s Vision¡±, two examples of major cruelties will be explained.
Referring to the short story ¡°From Night¡±, the Jewish Holocaust can obviously be considered as one of the major cruelties that existed in the past. The ¡°workers¡± of the concentration camps are forced to toil against their own free will while daily food is given in limited rations just enough for the workers to support themselves. Nonetheless this was not the only cruelty that existed during the Jewish Holocaust. The utmost inhuman cruelty that existed within the concentration camps was the ¡°selections¡±. Every so often a selection takes place that separates the well-bodied workers from the weak and thin workers. And without hesitation, the elite military units that serve as Hitler¡¯s personal guard and as special security force, also known as the ¡°SS¡± transport the workers to be exterminated in gas chambers or by other means.
In the short story ¡°The Artillery Man¡¯s Vision,¡± the writer, Walt Whitman, recalls a war scene from many years back. Within this work of poetry, the brutality and excitement of war is expressed from an artillery man¡¯s view. The suffocating smoke, the young determined soldiers¡¯ painful cries, the sound of shrieking and exploding bombs hitting their targets, and the color of dying red fills the artillery man¡¯s mind.
In all, no matter how severe the cruelty is, an effort to end and tear down these immortalities should be made by each and every person whether they are affected by this problem or not. A simple manner of approaching an end to this problem should not be the increase of strict penalty or punishment to those who disobey what is morally right, but to understand these ¡°criminals¡± and spend time to become aware of their situation. A straightforward exercise that can be done by the school is whenever a student does something against the rules, ¡°detentions¡± or ¡°demerit points¡± shouldn¡¯t be given out. But instead, a sort of a student to student/teacher conference should take place to change and discuss the problem so that it wouldn¡¯t happen again. Avoiding cruel treatments to others will bring humanity a step closer in achieving world peace.
Section C
In many short stories like ¡°Getting a Job¡± and ¡°Everyday Use¡±, mothers play an important role concerning on the decisions the main characters make in the story. For most cases, the main characters depend, respect, and apply the mother¡¯s words on every action they take. Both mothers in the two short stories support their daughters on their difficulties and somewhat tries to comfort and ease their pain. In the short story of ¡°Getting a Job¡±, the main character, Marguerite, is encouraged by her mother never to give up in her attempt to get a job as a conductorette. She says ¡°Life is going to give you just what you put in it. Put your whole heart in everything you do, and pray, then you can wait.¡± The mother continues to support and help out her daughter by preparing food and money for the trip, giving caring advice, and by picking her up every day as if she had already received the job as a conductorette. Because of the mother¡¯s simple act of love, Marguerite grows to be further strengthened and confident in her struggle to get the job.
Comparatively, the story ¡°Everyday Use¡± centers on a mother of two precious daughters. From the beginning of the story, the mother recalls a dream in which her daughter Dee and herself are brought together on a TV program and emotionally embrace each other in love with tears in their eyes. The mother continues to display great affection and care for her daughters during their rare reunion as they enjoy dinner together. However, a measurable difference between the two mothers from the two stories is that the mother from ¡°Everyday Use¡± favored Maggie over Dee during their argument over the old traditional quilts. Similarly, whenever my sister and I end up in a fight, my mother is forced to separate the both of us, punish the one that is at fault and tend to the other. Even though I know that my mother unconditionally loves both of us equally, nothing stops my mother from teaching either one of us a lesson of what is right from wrong. In conclusion, despite the few evident differences between the two mothers, they both carry the main characteristics of a caring mother.
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