What is the tone of Walker’s story? By what means does the author communicate it?
What will be an ideal response?
- “Everyday Use” is a comic story with serious undertones. Narrated by the mother, whose wry good sense contrasts vividly with her older daughter’s pretensions, the story highlights not only a generation gap, but also a contrast between two sharply different attitudes toward the ideas of heritage and family.
“Ream it out again” (par. 41), says Mama, as she tries to learn her eldest daughter’s new name. Throughout the story, she keeps—probably with tongue in cheek— calling her eldest daughter several variations of Dee or Wangero, a name she obviously finds ridiculous.
Another poignant yet funny moment occurs after Dee’s arrival with a man and Mama notes, “they didn’t tell me, and I didn’t ask, whether Wangero (Dee) had really gone and married him” (par. 44). This “short, stocky man” with “hair all over his head a foot long and hanging from his chin like a kinky mule tail” has a name “twice as long and three times as hard” as her daughter’s moniker Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo. After Mama keeps tripping over his name, he tells her “to just call him Hakim-a-barber.” She “wanted to ask him was he a barber, but [she] didn’t really think he was, so [she] didn’t ask” (par. 42). This kind of dry humor pervades the story, making it a pleasure to read.
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For each italicized word, circle the letter of the correct definition. Pious means
a. withdrawn b. religious c. lively
PASO 2. Preguntas personales.Imagine you are taking a trip to Cancun, Mexico in the summer. Use your imagination to answer the questions. ? ¿En qué fecha sales para Cancún? ?
What will be an ideal response?
Where does Berry live?
a. On the Mississippi River b. On the Kentucky River c. On Lake Erie d. In New York
Answer the following statement(s) true (T) or false (F)
1. This built-in resilience returns nature to exactly the way it was. 2. We should plan and build for a known threat level rather than trying to exceed the threat. 3. No one questions the value and importance of rescuing and cleaning oiled birds. 4. According to Ron Kendall, most oiled birds live a long time after being cleansed and freed. 5. Berry believes that most of our waste problems can be attributed to the flimsiness and unrepairability of labor-savers and gadgets.