2002 级本科毕业论文 第 1 页 共 26 页
淮 阴 工 学 院
毕业论文开题报告
学生姓名：
专
葛冬雪
业：
英
学 号： 10219242
语
论文题目：民族的记忆--- 从艾丽斯.沃克的《外婆日用
家当》看美国黑人文化认同
Title:
The Memory of the Nation--- a
Reflection
on
the
African-Americans’
Identification
Use
指导教师：
from
Cultural
Everyday
for Grandmama
朱 炜
２００６ 年 ４ 月 １５ 日
2002 级本科毕业论文 第 2 页 共 26 页
开题报告填写要求
1．开题报告（含“文献综述”）作为毕业论文答辩委员
会对学生答辩资格审查的依据材料之一。此报告应在指导教师
指导下用英文撰写，不少于 1000 单词，由学生在毕业论文工
作前期内完成，经指导教师签署意见及所在专业审查后生效；
2．开题报告内容必须按统一设计的电子文档标准格式打
印，禁止打印在其它纸上后剪贴，完成后应及时交给指导教师
签署意见；
3． “文献综述”应按论文的格式成文，并直接打印在本
开题报告第一栏目内，文献综述的参考文献应不少于 10 篇（不
包括辞典、手册）；
4．开题报告内“主要参考文献”的列举，应按照国际标
准 MLA 要求书写，按先英文后中文排序，但英文书名用斜体
析出，不必用下划线析出；另外还须注明文献类型代号。
5．封面及签字处有关年月日等日期，一律按照“2002 年
4 月 2 日”格式填写。
2002 级本科毕业论文 第 3 页 共 26 页
毕 业 论 文 开 题 报 告
1．结合毕业论文课题情况，根据所查阅的文献资料，用英文撰写 1000
字以上的文献综述 (包括目前该课题在国内外的研究状况、发展趋势以及
对本人研究课题的启发) ：
Since American black people were sold as slaves to the North American continent in the
early 17th century, they have lived and developed in American for hundreds of years and their
developing history was full of hardship, blood and tears. Black literature has recorded all of it
and at the same time has been deeply banded by the American society and history. In
American society, black people is down to the lowest social status and most seriously
discriminated. The American Dream never belongs to the Negro because the American society
makes him poor in his material life, and his spiritual pursuit cannot be realized without the
material guarantee. It holds back the development of American black literature. The
combination of the American ancestor’s culture and American culture underwent a long
period. Black literature had been oral literature from 1620s to the late 19th century; later, the
written literature gradually appeared. In the works of American black writers, they actively
explore the problem of the outset of American Negro to find a better solution in improving the
relationship between blacks and whites, blacks and blacks with various literary forms.
After World War I, the life condition of the American black people was improved and
they wanted more in spirit. In New York, 1920s saw Harlem Renaissance, which was the
important turning point in the history of American black literature entered into the
contemporary age since Langston Hughes and Richard Wright. After World War II, when the
Civil Rights Movement sprang up, the American black people issues gradually became the
focus of the whole society and blacks strengthened their consciousness of nationality. In the
struggle for social status, rights and dignity, American black people not only looked back to
history, but also looked forward to the future. At the same time, American black literature
took on a new look and was in a booming period, forming an essential part of the American
literature. Having gone through the change of the world pattern after two world wars and the
turbulence of American society, the black writers were concerned much more about the living
condition and destiny of the American Negro. From Uncle Tom’s Cabin in the Civil War, the
black literature reflecting the situation of American Negro reached its peak after World War II
2002 级本科毕业论文 第 4 页 共 26 页
and became the very important components in American “multi-culture”. Based on the study
of the American black people, I am attracted by the attitude of them toward inheriting their
cultural heritage.
American black people are faced with problem of dual cultural selection after they were
forced into American. On the underclass and decided to form themselves white culture so as
to shift the inferior social status, but the mainstream culture rejects them. On the other hand,
owning to the impact and suppression from the mainstream culture , their own ethnic culture
can only exist as an American subculture, and also because of American black people lagging
and conversation, it’s quite difficult for them to get an idea spirit homeland. American
Negroes awkwardly live in the crack between the two cultures under the dual cultural crash
Alice Walker, one of American black people, in the political context of protesting the
mainstream culture and emphasizing the difference and “intercross”, puts the stiff cultural
selection into the reflective core of her novels, at the same time, she consciously drives the
renovation and reconstruction of black culture while presenting the hardship of American
Negroes cultural selection and seeking a better cultural environment for them.
Everyday Use as the famous short novel of Alice Walker was created in 1973 when the
national awareness of American black people was on the upsurge. For them, America was
characterized as a multination country, was not a melting pot, but a salad bowl to indicate that
though it was composed of several nations, yet the compositions of each nation was extremely
clear to distinguish. To distinguish the salient features of the Negroes, they did studies on the
choices of languages, dresses and names, which were revealed in Everyday use. Centering on
the contradictions concerning how to express and inherit the quilt passed down by the
ancestors, the novel expresses an important theme that the value of inheriting cultural
traditions is to understand them thoroughly and profoundly not to confine to the appearance
and the form, from which we can realize the author criticized the formalism of the national
movement.
The Bluest Eye of Toni Morrison was the first reference book I’ve consulted. As the sole
black woman winner of the Nobel Prize for literature the history has ever produced, Toni
Morrison is the most shinning star leading the new tide of American Negroes literature in the
2002 级本科毕业论文 第 5 页 共 26 页
1970s. Her works are deeply rooted in history, legends and in the reality of them. The three
terms---black, women, and America suggest her literary contexts, in which she is closely
concerned about the life of the black and their fate under the conflicts of the double cultures,
concerned with their life explores their inner experience, especially the black women’s soul.
Her virgin novel The Bluest Eye is the right classic in this aspect. The theme of this novel is
about the loss of black self.
The second reference book is Quilt and Heritage of Liu Ying. In this article, the author
analyzed that in Everyday Use Alice Walker successfully describes the conflicts between the
traditional mother and the modern daughter. The plot evolves around how to understand and
inherit such cultural heritage as quilts, by means of which, Walker reveals a very important
theme, the best way to inherit one’s cultural heritage is to understand, memorize or even put it
into everyday use rather than simply own it and use it as ornament.
By analyzing Alice Walker’s Everyday Use in historical and cultural context my paper
points out that Alice Walker, by using symbolism and through the description of mother’s
epiphany, discusses two mistakes in American Negroes’ cultural identification: timidly
escaping from the painful history and blind root-seeking in African culture.
2002 级本科毕业论文 第 6 页 共 26 页
References
[1] Danielle Chris, The Life and Times of Alice Walker[J/OL]. Walking paper
[Oct. 2001]. 25 Feb. 2006.< http//:www.members,tripod.com>.
[2] Toni Morrison.《最蓝的眼睛》[M]. 北京: 世界文学出版社, 1982. 25-67.
[3] 吴其尧. 《日常用品》[M]. 湖北: 春林出版社, 2000. 158-220.
[4] 刘英. 《被子与遗产》[M]. 南京: 长江文学出版社, 2000. 96-104.
[5] 陈午晴. 《海外华人文化认同的社会心里分析》[M]. 上海: 社会科学出版社, 2001. 211-253.
[6] 王宁.《全球后殖民语境下的身份问题》[M]. 北京: 北京人民文学出版社, 1998. 103-126.
[7] 张鑫友.《高级英语》[M]. 湖北: 湖北人民出版社, 2000. 187-196.
2002 级本科毕业论文 第 7 页 共 26 页
毕 业 论 文 开 题 报 告
２．本课题的研究思路（包括要研究或解决的问题和拟采用的研究方
法、手段（途径）及进度安排等）：
The paper makes a preliminary study on Everyday Use of Grandmama to show the
two mistakes in African-Americans’ cultural identification: timidly escaping from the
painful history and blind root-seeking in African culture. This paper will adopt the
qualitative approach by integrating some important theories and giving much evidence
to support the point put forward.
Schedule:
1. Feb.15--- Mar.4:
Finding Secondary Resources
1) Prewriting ---- Developing a Preliminary Bibliography
2) Prewriting ---- Shaping the Preliminary Outline
3) Prewriting ---- Taking notes
4) Prewriting ---- Writing Precis and Paraphrases
2. Mar.5 --- Mar.11:
Writing the Paper Proposal
3. Mar.12 --- Apr.25:
Drafting the Paper
1) Writing --- Creating the Final Plan
2) Writing --- Developing the First Draft
4. Apr.26 --- May20
Revising the Paper
1) Polishing the Content
2) Preparing the Final Documentation Notes
3) Preparing the Final Bibliography
5. May21 --- May 30
Preparing the Final Copy
1) Formatting the Final Draft
2) Proofreading ---- Checking the Details
6. June1 --- June 8
Paper-printing
2002 级本科毕业论文 第 8 页 共 26 页
毕 业 论 文 开 题 报 告
指导教师意见：
1．对“文献综述”的评语：(中文)
该生能 1 认真阅读原著，查阅大量的资料，了解美国黑人生活的社会背景和
民族意识，对其论文中即将展开的如何继承传统文化的讨论具有一定的参考
价值；该生能够积极思考，但仍需进一步理清思路,整合有关材料。
2．对本课题的研究思路、深度、广度及工作量的意见和对论文结果的
预测：（中文）
该生课题的研究思路正确，有一定的创新，工作量适中，在深度和广度上符
合毕业设计的要求。预计毕业论文的框架设计合理，有一定的参考价值。
指导教师：
年
月
日
月
日
所在专业审查意见：
负责人：
年
2002 级本科毕业论文 第 9 页 共 26 页
淮 阴 工 学 院
毕 业
论
葛冬雪
作
者：
学
系
别：
外语系
专
业：
英
题
目：
号：
文
10219242
语
民族的记忆——从艾丽斯.沃克的《外婆
日用家当》看美国黑人文化认同
Title: The Memory of
a
the
Reflection
on
African-Americans’
Identification
Use
for
the
Cultural
from Everyday
Grandmama
指导者：
朱炜
副教授
评阅者：
徐晓梅
副教授
2006 年 6 月
Nation---
淮
安
2002 级本科毕业论文 第 10 页 共 26 页
毕业论文中文摘要
美国著名黑人女作家艾利斯·沃克, 在《外婆的日用家当》中成功塑造了代表
传统文化的母亲和代表现代风格的女儿的形象,围绕如何理解和继承祖传被子展
开情节。 本文结合美国 60 年代后期 70 年代早期的历史文化背景,分析《外婆的
日用家当》并指出:艾利斯·沃克运用象征手法,通过对母亲与两个女儿关系的转
变即母亲的顿悟的描述,试图指出当时黑人文化认同中的两个误区:怯懦逃避伤痛
文化,盲目寻根非洲文化。本论文试图说明当所谓的现代文明慢慢渗透的时候，民
族的记忆不仅是美国黑人而且是世界其他的少数民族的一个挑战性的任务。
关键词
文化身份
文化认同
伤痛文化
非洲文化
黑人权力运动
毕业论文外文摘要
Title
The Memory of the Nation--- a Reflection on the
African-Americans’ Cultural Identification from Everyday Use
for Grandmama
Abstract
In Everyday Use for Grandmama, Alice Walker, a famous African American
writer, successfully describes the conflicts between the traditional mother and the
modern daughter. The plot centers on how to understand and inherit such cultural
heritage as quilts. By analyzing Alice Walker’s Everyday Use for Grandmama
against historical and cultural context, this thesis points out that Alice Walker, by
using symbolism and through the description of mother’s insight, discusses two
mistakes in African-Americans’ cultural identification: timidly escaping from the
painful history and blind root-seeking in African culture. The paper attempts to
indicate that the memory of the nation is a challenging task not only for the black
in America but also for the other minorities in the world, especially when they are
being invaded by so called modern civilization.
Keywords
identity
identification
Black Rights Movement
painful history
African culture
2002 级本科毕业论文 第 1 页 共 26 页
Contents
1
Introduction……………………………………………………………..1
2
Review of Everyday Use for Grandmama…………………………….... 3
2.1
The theme of the story…………………………………………………..3
2.2
The contrast between “Mother” and Dee”……………………… ……3
2.3
The contrast between “Maggie” and “Wangero”………………………..5
3
Symbolism……….……………………………………………………...7
3.1
D e f i n i t i o n o f s y mb o l i s m … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … . . 7
3.2
The quilts……………………………………………………………….7
3.3
Mother and two daughters……………………………………………...7
4
The Memory of the Nation……………………………………………..9
4.1
“Identity” and “Identification”…..……………………………………..9
4.2
M o t h e r ’s i n s i g h t … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … 9
4.3
Maggie and Wangero’s attitude to the black culture……………………….10
Conclusion……………………………………………………………….....12
Acknowledgements………………………………………………………...13
References………………………………………………………………….14
2002 级本科毕业论文 第 2 页 共 26 页
1
Introduction
Alice Walker (1944-), poet, novelist and essayist, was born into a poor family in
Eatonton, Georgia. Her parents made a living by growing cotton. When she went to Sarah
Lawrence College in the early 60’s, the civil rights movement was in full swing. She was
actively involved in the movement and upon graduation worked in Mississippi, center of the
civil rights activities. After experiencing the political movement and as a caseworker for the
New York City welfare department, she became a teacher of creative writing and black
literature, lecturing at Jackson State College, Tougaloo College, Wellesley, Yale and
University of California at Berkeley. Her writing career began with the publication of a
volume of poetry in 1968, which was furrowed by a number of novels, short stories, critical
essays and more poetry. Now she is regarded as one of the most prominent writers in
American literature and a most forceful representative of women’s literature and black
literature.
Alice Walker is an outstanding Afri-American woman writer who is called the defender
of the black race and black women. Countering the reality that suffers of racial discrimination
and sexual discrimination to black women, she is working hard for survival whole throughout
her life and made persistent efforts for this.
Her works include The Third Life of Grange Copeland (1970), Meridian (1976), a
biography of Langston Hughes (1973), a volume of poetry Revolutionary Petunias and Other
Poems (1973), a collection of short stories in Love and Trouble: Stories of Black Women
(1973) and a recent novel The Temple of My Familiar (1989). Her most significant novel is
The Color Purple, published in 1982, which won all the three major book awards in
America—The Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle
Award. The novel was an instant bestseller and made into an equally successful movie in
1985, directed by Steven Spielberg.
Alice Walker is at her best when portraying people living in the rural areas where
the
writer was born and grew up. As a black writer, Walker is particularly interested in
examining the relationships among the blacks themselves.
Everyday Use for Grandmama (1973) is included in the Norton Anthology of Short
Fiction, 2nd Edition, 1981. Everyday Use for Grandmama, one of the best-written short
2002 级本科毕业论文 第 3 页 共 26 页
stories by Alice Walker, describes three women. The mother is a working woman without
much education, but not without intelligence or perception. The two daughters form a sharp
contrast in every conceivable way: appearance, character, personal experiences, etc. The story
reaches its climax at the moment when Dee, the elder daughter, wants the old quilts only to
be 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-grandparents and stitched by
Grandma’s hand, are clearly a symbol of the cultural heritage of the black people. Their
different feelings about the quilts reveal their different attitudes towards their heritage as
blacks.
The quilt is a main object in the story. The quilts themselves, as art, are inseparable from
the culture they arouse from. The history of these quilts is a history of the family. The
narrator says, “In both of them were scraps. And one teeny faded blue piece…that was from
Great Grandpa Ezra’s uniform that he wore in the Civil War.” So these quilts, which had
become an heirloom, not only represent the family, but also are an integral part of the family.
Walker is saying that true art not only represents its culture. But is an inseparable part of the
culture.
The two sister’s value concerning the quilts represents the two main approaches to art
appreciation in our society. Art can be valued for financial and aesthetic reasons, or it can be
valued for personal and emotional reasons. When the narrator snatches the quilts from Dee
and gives them to Maggie, Walker is saying that the second set of values is the correct one.
Art, in order to be kept alive, must be put to “Everyday Use”—literally in the case of the
quilts, figuratively in the case of conventional art.
Alice Walker is using the quilts, and the fate of those quilts, to make the point that can
only have meaning if it remains connected to the culture it sprang from. Her story itself is a
good example: Walker didn’t write it to be observed under a glass case, judged aesthetically,
and sold to the highest bidder; she meant it to be questioned, to be explored, to be
debated—in short, to be put to “Everyday Use”.
2002 级本科毕业论文 第 4 页 共 26 页
2
2.1
Review of Everyday Use for Grandmama
The theme of the story
Everyday Use for Grandmama was created in 1973 when the national awareness of
Afri-Americans was on the upsurge. For them, America was characterized as a multination
country, was not a melting pot, but a salad bowl. To indicate that though it was composed of
several nations, yet the compositions of each nation were extremely clear to distinguish. To
distinguish the salient features of the Blacks, they did studies on their choices of languages,
dresses and names, which were revealed in Everyday use. Centering on the contradictions
concerning how to express and inherit the quit passed down by the ancestors, the novel
expresses an important theme that the value of inheriting cultural traditions is to understand
them thoroughly and profoundly not to confine to the appearance and the form, from which
we can realize the author criticizes the formalism of the national movement.
2.2
The contrast between “Mother” and “Dee”
On the beginning of the story, mother and her younger daughter Maggie sit in the yard
waiting for Dee, who is her elder daughter. On this moment mother reminds those days living
together with Dee. In Dee’s mind, mother is not perfect. In her imagination mother should be
one hundred pounds lighter, and the skin must be more exquisite. Yet in reality, mother is a
bid-boned woman with rough man-working hands, and she wear flannel nightgowns to bed
and overalls during the day. She can kill and clean a hog as mercilessly as a man. From the
description, we could easily conclude that mother is a strong and diligent working woman,
but not the style her daughter Dee appreciates.
Besides, in Everyday Use for Grandmama author doesn’t plan to represent the conflict
between blacks and whites but the family contradiction provokes by the difference
identifications on their own culture. The main plot of the story is on what happened between
mother and daughter. Dee changes all, even her name. Mother’s antipathy on the name could
be seen in the dialogue below.
“Well” I say, “Dee”
“No, mama,” she says, “Not ‘Dee’, Wangero Leewanikakemanjol”
“What happened to ‘Dee’?” I wanted to know.
“She’s dead,” Wangero said. “I couldn’t bear it any longer, being named after the
people who oppress me.”
“You know as well as me you was named after your aunt Dicie,” I said. Dicie is my
2002 级本科毕业论文 第 5 页 共 26 页
sister, she named Dee. We called her “Big Dee” after Dee was born.
“But who was she named after?” asked Wangero.
“Her mother,” I said, and saw Wangero was getting tired. “That’s about as far as I can
trace it,” I said. Though, in fact, I probably could have carried it back beyond the branches.
“Well” said Asalamalakim, “there you are.”
“Uhnnnnnh, ” I heard Maggie say.
“There I was not, ” I said, “before ‘Dicie’ cropped up in our family, so why should I try
to trace it that far back?”
Here, “the people who oppress me” refer to the white people. Dee believes neither the
name of Grandma Dee nor Aunt Dee is of the African style; on the contrary they are closer to
the names of white people. So she decides to abolish it and let the name more African.
Mother doesn’t understand why she did so. Only is she sure that Dee turns traitor to the
family. Mother becomes unhappy upon Dee’s first step into the yard. When the son-in-law
interrupts by saying “There you are!” Mother fights back with “There I was not, before Dicie
cropped in our family.” Mother sticks to the traditional name while Dee gets rid of it.
Besides the new name, the daughter Dee makes pigtails and imitates Africans by
wearing earrings and bracelets, even loose and dazzling national clothes instead of western
style skirt. What’s more surprised is that she comes back with her boyfriend, greets her sister
in African words and takes pictures of her mother, sister, the yard, houses and even the cow.
At lunchtime, she shows her great interests on the churn and quilts and other things in the
family. Altogether, it seems that she is looking for the “root”. All her appearance conveys her
strong love for African culture to mother. Mother should be pleased, yet on the contrary
mother is furious. She doesn’t like her new name, her clothes and her hairstyle, which looks
like “the wool on a sheep”. Later, on hearing Dee would hang the quilts on the wall as a piece
of ornament. Mother can’t bear snatching the quilts and dumps them into Maggie’s lap. In
Mother’s eye, the quilts are made of pieces of dresses Grandma used to wear. They’re the
family heirloom and the symbol of black culture. Only treating them as everyday use could
show the real remembrance. Influenced by the fashion, Dee has a different attitude towards
the traditional culture. That’s to say, Mother and Dee show sharp contrast on the identification
of Afri-American culture.
Also Mother’s view on this daughter is conflicting. On one hand, she is the proud of this
high –educated daughter, but on the other hand she is worried with her following the whites’
culture. This kind of misunderstanding is based on the different experience of the two
2002 级本科毕业论文 第 6 页 共 26 页
generations. Dee goes out to study and is absorbed in the whites’ culture while Mother and
Maggie stay on the farm all the time, which shuts them from the wonderful world outside.
Dee worships the whites’ culture and attempts to let mother and Maggie accept it; as the
mother says “She washed us in a river of make-believe, burned us with a lot of knowledge
was didn’t necessarily need to know”. Mother couldn’t catch the meaning of what she says
for the lack of education. “I never had an education myself. After the second grade the school
was closed down. Don’t ask me why, in 1927 colored asked fewer questions than we do now.”
On these words, we learn that Afri-Americans are seriously deprived from being educated.
Mother’s understanding on the whites is limited on her own experience. The whites scare her
utterly. She says, “Who can even imagine me looking a strange white man in the eye? It
seems to me I have talked to them always with one foot raised in plight, with my head turned
in whichever way is farthest from them.” Therefore, Dee pursues the whites’ culture, which
inevitably arouses mother’s misunderstanding and dislike. There hides the racial
contradiction under the surface of the conflict between mother and daughter
2.3
The contrast between Maggie and Wangero
Maggie is a delicate, self-abased, ugly, and clumsy girl with burned scar on her arms and
legs, as described as follows.
“Have you ever seen a lame animal, perhaps a dog run over by some careless person
rich enough to own a car, sidle up to some one who is ignorant enough to be kind of him?
That is the way my Maggie walks”.
Wangero is beautiful, confident, capable and modern. Her complexion is lighter than
Maggie with nicer hair and a fuller figure. When facing strange white men she would always
look them in the eye. Hesitation and timidity is no part of her nature. But Maggie is shy and
self-abased as described in the article.
“Meanwhile Asalamalakim is going through motions with Maggie’s hand. Maggie’s
hand is as limp as a fish and probably as cold, despite the sweat, and she keeps trying to pull
it back.”
Even when she shakes hands with her brother-in-law, she is so nervous let alone the
time when she meets the strange white men. Moreover Maggie and Wangero have different
attitude toward the quilts. Here is the dialogue between Mother and Wangero.
“Maggie can’t appreciate these quilts!” She said. “She’d probably be backward enough
to put them to everyday use.”
“I recon she would,” I said, “God knows I been saving ‘em foe long enough with no
2002 级本科毕业论文 第 7 页 共 26 页
body using ‘em. I hope she will!” I didn’t want to bring up now I had offered Dee (Wangero)
a quilt when she went away to college. Then she had told me they were old-fashioned, put of
style.
“But they’re priceless!” She was saying now, furiously, for she has a temper. “Maggie
would put them on bed and in five years they’d be in rags. Less than that!”
“She can always make some more.” I said, “Maggie knows how to quilt.”
Dee (Wangero) looked at me with hatred, “You will not understand. The point is these
quilts, these quilts!”
“Well,” I said, stumped. “What would you do with them?”
“Hung them,” She said. As if that was the only thing you could do with quilts.
Wangero covets the quilts for their financial and aesthetic value. “But they’re priceless!”
She exclaims when she learns that her mother has already promised them to Maggie.
Wangero argues that Maggie is “backward enough to put them to everyday use.” Indeed, this
is what Maggie views the quilts. She values them, for they mean to her an individual. This
becomes clear when she says, “I can ‘member Grandma Dee without the quilts.” In fact her
connection with the quilts is personal and emotional rather than financial and aesthetic. She
also knows that the quilts are an active process, and will keep alive through continuous
renewal. So Mother points out, “Maggie knows how to quilt.”
2002 级本科毕业论文 第 8 页 共 26 页
3
3.1
Symbolism
Definition of symbolism
The word symbol derives from the Greek verb symballein “to throw together,” and its
noun form symbolon “mark”, “emblem”, “token” or “sign”. It is an object, animate or
inanimate, which represents or stands for something else. In stories, a symbol is usually a
person, object, place, action, group, artwork or situation. It has its own identity, and may
function at an ordinary level of reality. Often there is a close relationship between the symbol
and the things it stands for, but they may also have no apparent connection. Furthermore,
symbols often extend beyond their immediate identity and point toward additional levels of
meaning. However, symbolism is the use of symbols to which is ascribed a pre—eminent
function in the efforts to distil a private mood or to evoke the subtle affinities which are held
to exist between the material and spiritual worlds. Symbolism stresses the priority of
suggestion and evocation over direct description and explicit analogy. It is considered to be
one of the basic features of modernism. Many symbols like a flag are universally accepted,
and are therefore cultural or universal. They embody ideas and emotions that writers and
readers share as heirs of the same historical and cultural tradition. When using these symbols,
a writer assumes that readers already know what the symbol represents.
3.2
The quilts
The quilts themselves, as art, are inseparable from the culture they arose from. The
history of these quilts is a history of the family. “In both of them were scraps. And one teeny
faded blue piece…that was from Great Grandpa Ezra’s uniform that he wore in the Civil
War.” So these quilts, which have become an heirloom, not only represent the family, but also
are an integral part of the family. As Walker says that true art not only represents its culture, is
an inseparable part of the culture, the old quilts, made from pieces of clothes worn by grandand great-grand-parents and stitched by Grandma’s hand, are clearly a symbol of the cultural
heritage of the black people. Maggie and Wangero’s different feelings about the quilts reveal
their different attitudes towards their heritage as blacks.
3.3
Mother and two daughters
In
the story, Mother is a typical black woman who is strong, diligent, poor, lack of
2002 级本科毕业论文 第 9 页 共 26 页
self-confidence and education, stands for the ordinary Afri-Americans. Her younger daughter
Maggie, who is a delicate, self-abased, ugly, clumsy girl with burned scar on her arms and
legs, symbolizes the painful Afri-American culture. The fire disaster which burns her stands
for the racial oppression, as mentioned in the article, “Have you ever seen a lame animal,
perhaps a dog run over by some careless person rich enough to own a car, sidle up to some
one who is ignorant enough to be kind of him? That is the way my Maggie walks.” However,
Dee is the symbol of the Black Rights Movement, which is reflected on her words, clothes
and the way she behaves. The Black Rights Movement took place in early 1960s to late1970s.
It was when the story was created. Moreover, the Black Power Movement is typically
characterized of abandoning American culture and root-seeking in African culture. Yet, most
of the followers jumped into the stream blindly, Dee is one of them.
Dee is naive and indifferent with Afri-Americans traditional culture from her blindness.
She uses her original name no longer and greets her mother in African words, which means
her avoidence of American culture. However, her African clothes, name and words are the
reflection of blind root-seeking in African culture. As Helga Hoel believes, Dee’s African
name is the mis-spelling of the name from several tribes of eastern Africa. Besides, her
clothes are of the western African style. Dee doesn’t understand the real African culture and
has no intention to pursue “her culture”. Her root-seeking in African culture is changing for a
misspelling African name, speaking one or two African words and putting on the traditional
African clothes. Obviously, her behavior is fully blind and superficial.
2002 级本科毕业论文 第 10 页 共 26 页
4
4.1
The Memory of the Nation
“Identity” and “Identification”
The story took place in late 1960s to early 1970s. During this period, arise the Black
Rights Movement characterized in emphasizing black awareness, rights and culture.
Overemphasizing these undermined American traditional culture. When Black Rights
Movement began, the author took active part in democratic movement and focused much
attention on black rights, status and identification of black culture. Under the particular
situation and the peculiar mood, Walker created this novel, not to confining her discussion to
the alternatives--valuing the quilts should be put into everyday use or just hanging it only for
appreciation. She focuses on the culture identification crisis stricken by the Black Rights
Movement. What is Afri-American culture? How can they face the embarrassing painful
history under the slavery, racial segregation and discrimination? What do their “root” Black
culture, separated by the time; space and racial oppression stand for? How could they arouse
their memory of the nation? The key of understanding black culture identification crisis exits
in distinguishing two relevant yet different words “identity” and “identification”.
“Identity” is a word on the static state, yet “identification” is dynamic showing the
forming and accepting process of an identity, which is composed of two parts—African
culture and American culture. The Afri-American culture identification crisis is easy to
understand “identity” and “identification”. The culture identity of Afri-Americans has its
peculiar complexity. It contains the forgottened black culture together with the painful history
caused by the racial oppression. As to the painful history, most Afri-American can’t face it.
Because of the space, they have no understanding or identification toward black culture.
Wangero’s blindly root-seeking for black culture is a very part of the black culture
identification crisis. Mother, Wangero and Maggie are black and they all have the culture
identity, but Wangero doesn’t have the correct culture identification. She can’t understand
what the memory of the nation is. The process of seeking for the root of Afri-Americans and
also the root of Afri-Americans is also the process of arousing the memory of the nation.
4.2
Mother’s insight
From the symbolic meaning of mother we know that mother is a typical black woman
who is strong, diligent, poor, lack of self-confidence and education. She stands for the
ordinary Afri-Americans. She knows her culture identity as an Afri-American. Yet her culture
identification is not on the correct way at the beginning. At the beginning of the story, the
2002 级本科毕业论文 第 11 页 共 26 页
mother admires and attempts to accept Dee, but at the same time she has many worries. And
toward Maggie’s ugliness and weakness, she is indifferent and ashamed. But in the end she
stands with Maggie.
“When I looked at her like that something hit me in the top of my head and ran down to
the soles of my feet. Just like when I’m in church and the spirit of God touched and I get
happy and shout. I did something I had never had done before: hugged Maggie to me, then
dragged her on into the room, snatched the quilts out of Miss Wangero’s hands and dumped
them into Maggie’s lap. Maggie just sat there on my bed with her mouth open.”
Here, Alice Walker attempts to point out two misunderstandings in the identification of
black culture—escaping from the painful history and root—seeking in African culture.
The mother’s identification toward black culture is not complete until the end of the
story. Her escaping and helplessness of the painful history is reflected in the relation between
her and her younger daughter Maggie.
The mother sees her pain yet never attempts to comfort or encourage her; she even
feels ashamed of her. It symbolized her knowing of the painful culture but she can’t face or
calm the pain. In the mother’s eye, Maggie has no merit. On the contrary she shows us the
negative aspect of Maggie. When Maggie asks: “How do I look, Mama?” Mother says
nothing but “Come out into the yard.” Maggie attempts to make a dash for the house because
of nervousness when Dee arrives, Mother just stays Maggie with her hands without any
behavior or words to calm or encourage. Before Mother’s insight, she never hugs Maggie and
never supports Maggie when conflicts arose between Maggie and Dee. In brief, mother and
daughter fall into dire strait of neither being together nor apart, just like most Afri-Americans,
who could never forget or neglect their painful history and also never face it. Mother
(ordinary Afri-Americans) could do nothing but to wait Dee (the Black Rights Movement) to
help her. As unfolded at the beginning, the mother is waiting for Dee. By creating this article,
Alice Walker challenged the blind root-seeking in the Black Rights Movement. It makes us
profoundly reflect on inheriting the racial culture and recalling the memory of our nation.
4.3
Maggie and Wangero’s different attitude to the black culture
The quilts as the symbol of the memory of the nation stand for black culture. The quilts
themselves, as art are inseparable from the culture they arose from. The history of these quilts
is a history of the family. The author said, “In both of them were scraps. And one teeny faded
blue piece…that was from Great Grandpa Ezra’s uniform that he wore in the Civil War.” So
these quilts, which have become an heirloom, not only represented the family, but are an
2002 级本科毕业论文 第 12 页 共 26 页
integral part of the family. True art not only represents its culture, but is an inseparable part of
the culture. The old quilts made from pieces of clothes worn by grand- and great grand
parents and stitched by Grandma’s hand, are clearly a symbol of the cultural heritage of the
black people. Maggie and Wangero’s different feelings about the quilts reveal their different
attitudes towards their heritage as blacks. Wangero covets the quilts for their financial and
aesthetic value. “But they’re priceless!” She exclaims when she learns that her mother has
already promised them to Maggie. Wangero argues that Maggie is “backward enough to put
them to everyday use.” Indeed, this is what Maggie views the quilts. She values them, for
they mean to her as an individual. This becomes clear when she says, “I can ‘member
Grandma Dee without the quilts,” implying that her connection with the quilts is personal
and emotional rather than financial and aesthetic. She also knows that the quilts are an active
process and will keep alive through continuous renewal. So the mother pointed out, “Maggie
knows how to quilt.”
2002 级本科毕业论文 第 13 页 共 26 页
Conclusion
Afri-Americans have lived and developed in American for hundreds of years and their
developing history was full of hardship, blood and tears since they were sold as slaves to the
North American continent in the early 17th century. The black literature has recorded all of it
and at the same time has been deeply influenced by the American society and history. The
works of American black writers, actively explore the problem of the outset of
Afri-Americans to find a better solution in improving the relationship between blacks and
whites, blacks and blacks with various literary forms.
After World War I, the living conditions of the Afri-Americans were improved and they
wanted more in spirit. After World War II, when the Civil Rights Movement sprang up, the
Afri-American issues gradually became the focus of the whole society and the black gained
their consciousness of nationality.
The old quilts in the novel made from pieces of clothes worn by grand- and
great-grandparents and stitched by Grandma’s hand, are clearly a symbol of the cultural
heritage of the black people. The mother and two daughters’ different feelings about the quilts
reveal their different attitudes towards their heritage as blacks. Dee’s identification toward
black culture is superficial; Maggie and mother strongly defend the black culture. In fact,
some demands and propagandas in the Black Rights Movement are to be criticized.
Mother’s insight and the contradiction between mother and daughter reflect two mistakes in
African-Americans’ cultural identification: timidly escaping from the painful history and blind
root-seeking in African culture. The memory of nation is a challenging task not only for the black in
America but also for the other minorities in the world, especially when they are being invaded by so called
modern civilization.
2002 级本科毕业论文 第 14 页 共 26 页
Acknowledgements
I own my greatest indebtedness to my supervisor, Associate Professor Zhu Wei, who
has spent much time and energy in reading and commenting on earlier drafts of my thesis.
Without her constant encouragement, staunch support and invaluable guidance and
suggestions, my thesis could not have appeared in the present form.
I would also like to express my appreciation to Associate Professor XuXiaomei and
other teachers who have taught me in the last three years. Here I am grateful to all friends
who have helped me in writing this thesis.
2002 级本科毕业论文 第 15 页 共 26 页
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