The Analysis of the Symbolic Meaning in Everyday Usedoc.docx

The Analysis of the Symbolic Meaning in Everyday Usedoc.docx

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TheAnalysisoftheSymbolicMeaninginEverydayUsedoc

THEANALYSISOFTHESYMBOLICMEANINGIN

EVERYDAYUSE

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AliceWalkerisoneoftheprominentAmericanwritersinblackwomanliterature.Sheisgreatlyinfluencedbywomenfeminism,sheregardsstrivingforracialequalityandwomenliberationasherlifelongcareer.MostofherworksareabouttheblackhistoryandtheculturalhistoryofblacksinthesouthofAmerica,reflectingtheirstruggleforequalrightsandcompleteselfhood.HernovelEverydayUseisarepresentativenoveltoreflectthetraditionalAfricanculturesurvivalconditionsundertheinfluenceofthemainstreamculture.IthasgreatimportancetotheAfrican-American'scultureandhistory,andithasgreatvaluetotoday’sculturalresearchaswell.

Thispaperismainlydividedintothreebigparts.Firstly,theintroductionmakesageneralanalyzeaboutthemeaningandthebenefitofthesymbolism.Secondly,thebodyiscomposedofthreesmallparts.Thefirstpartexploresthesymbolicmeaningfromthefeministliteratureandtheperformanceinthepassage;Thesecondpartexploresthesymbolicmeaningfromtheblackfemaleliteratureandtheperformanceinthepassage;Thethirdpartexploresthesymbolicmeaningfrommother,MaggieandDee’scharacter.Lastly,theconclusionmakesasummaryofthispaper.

Keywords:

AliceWalkerEverydayUsesymbolicmeaning

论文摘要

艾丽斯·沃克（1944—）是美国黑人文学中的一位杰出作家，她深受女权主义影响，把争取种族平等和妇女解放作为终生的事业。

她的文学作品大部分关注黑人历史尤其是美国南部黑人的文化史，反映了深受白人和黑人男性双重压迫的黑人妇女追求平等权力和个性完整的斗争。

她的小说《日用家当》是一篇反映主流文化影响下的传统非洲文化的生存状况的作品，对于研究非裔美国人的文化和历史具有重要意义，对于现今的文化研究也具有重要价值。

本文主要分为三个大部分。

首先，引言部分，简述什么是象征手法以及在文章中运用象征的好处。

其次，正文部分，主要从房子的象征意义、被子的象征意义和人物的象征意义来阐述象征意义的使用。

第一部分，通过阐述女性主义文学中房子的象征意义以及文章中的具体表现来具体解释房子的象征意义。

第二部分，通过阐述黑人女性文学中被子的深刻意义以及文章中的具体表现来具体解释被子的象征意义。

第三部分，通过文章中三个主要人物，母亲、迪伊以及麦姬每个人的具体分析来解释本文中人物性格的象征意义。

最后，结束部分，对全文进行总结。

关键词：

艾丽斯·沃克；日用家当；象征意义

Contents

Ⅰ.Introduction……………………………………………………….………1

Ⅱ.Thesymbolicmeaningofthehouse………………………………....……1

Ⅲ.Thesymbolicmeaningofthequilt………………………………….…….2

Ⅳ.Thesymbolicmeaningofthecharacters…………………………….……3

A.Mother-Thesymbolofthetraditionalblackwomen……………….….3

B.Dee-ThesymboloftheBlackCultureMovement……………………..4

C.Maggie-ThesymboloftheAfrican-American'sPainCulture…………5

Ⅴ.Conclusion………………………………………………………………...6

Bibliography………………………………………………………………….7

TheAnalysisoftheSymbolicMeaninginEverydayUse

Ⅰ.Introduction

Symbolismisoneoftheimportantliterarytechniquesofexpressioninthetwentiethcentury.Itusesconcretethingstoexpresssomeabstractconceptsorthoughtsandfeelings.Manyliteraryworksliketousethesymbolicmeaningtoexpresstheirdeepmeaning.Ifwecanunderstandthesymbolismwell,thenwecanunderstandtheworksmore.Theuseofthesymbolicmeaningintheworkswillmaketheworksmorevivid,profoundandinteresting.Now,let’sanalyzethesymbolicmeaningofthehouse,thequiltandthecharactersinEverydayUsetogether.

Ⅱ.Thesymbolicmeaningofthehouse

Thefeministliteraturehasalwayspaymuchattentiontothesymbolismuseofthe"House",andtheauthorAliceWalkerusethissymbolismintheEverydayUseaswell.InWalker'sopinion,thehouseisthecarrierofthehome,itisthesymbolofthehome,too.Onlyapersonwhohasahousewillhehasarealhome,becausethereisonlythehousecangiveapersonthesenseofdependence,thesenseofbelongingandthesenseofsecurity.Atthesametime,ahouseisnotonlyasymbolismofakindoffreelivingspace,butakindoffreespiritspaceaswell.Ifawomanwhohasherownhouse,thatmeansthiswomanwillhastheeconomicbaseandthematerialsecurityforsettlement,soshewillbeabletohaveaskytoshowherthought,toshowherability,toshowhervalueandheregowithoutanytrammels.

InWalker'sarticle,theyhaveeverlivedinanoldhousewhichhasbeendestroyedbecauseofabigfire.ThisfirenotonlymakesmotherandMaggielosttheiremotionalhome,itleavesMaggiethepsychologicalscarsforeverevenmore.Eventhoughthenewhouseisdifferentfromtheoldone,allkindsoftheeverydayuseinthenewhousecanstillmakemotherandMaggieconnectcloselywiththeiroldhouseandtheirdeadrelatives,thesethingswillletthemfeelthewarmthofthefamilyandthepowerofthelove.Inaword,thehouseisaplacewhereisabletogivethemthesettledlife,tomakethemawayfromthepain,toletthemhappy.Therefore,that'swhythemotherfullofappreciationandemphasisthecomfortable,cleanandtidyoftheyardwhenshedescribedthehouse.ThehouseisnotonlyjustasimplehouseformotherandMaggie.

Ⅲ.Thesymbolicmeaningofthequilt

Intheblackfemaleliterature,the"quilt"isnotonlyjustalifenecessitywhichprovidespeopleforwarmandcomfortable,itstillhastheprofoundsignificanceandconnotation.Firstofall,thequiltistheproductionofthewomen'scommonlabor,itembodiestheblackwomen'stalent,therichimaginationandthecreativity;Secondly,thequiltplaysanimportantroleinthehistory,itjustlikesatiewhichlinksthefamilyhistoryfromgenerationtogeneration,itisthesymbolofthefamilyheritage;Finally,sewingquiltsisnotonlyanormalactivityinblackwomen'sdailylife,butalsoitisameanwayforblackwomentoreleasetheiremotionsandexplorefortheirownspiritspace.Sothequiltisnotonlyjustasimplequiltfortheblackwomen.

InWalker'sarticle,shetriestoconnectthewomenandblackculturetogetherinordertoshowthegreatimportanceoftheblackwomenintheculturalinheritanceandcreativity.Ononehand,shethinkstheblackwomentrytoreleasetheirownemotionsandexploretheirownspiritspaceinthetraditionalculture;Ontheotherhand,shethinkswhentheblackwomentrytofindanewwayforthemselves,theyshouldtrytofindthedevelopmentoftheirownculture,ratherthantobetraytheirownculture.Aswesee,MaggieandDeehavequitedifferentattitudestothequilt,fromwhichwecanfindtheirdifferentattitudestothetraditionalcultureandtheblackheritage,too.Forthisreason,themotherfinallychoosestopassthefamilyquilttoMaggie,whocontinuestopreachtheblackculture,butnottoDee,whogetsfarawayfromtheirowntraditionandculturemoreandmore.

Ⅳ.Thesymbolicmeaningofthecharacters

A.Mother-Thesymbolofthetraditionalblackwomen

Justasthenoveldescribed,themotherisalarge,big-bonedwomanwithrough,man-workinghands.Inthewinter,shewearflannelnightgownstobedandoverallsduringtheday.Shecankillandcleanahogasmercilesslyasaman.Herfatkeepsherhotinzeroweather.Shecanworkoutsideallday,breakingicetogetwaterforwashing;Shecaneatporklivercookedovertheopenfireminutesafteritcomessteamingfromthehog...Insuchdescription,wecanseeavividimageofatrueandtypicalAmericanblacklaborwoman.

Wecanfindthatthemotherisnotonlysatisfiedwithherownlifecondition,butalsoproudofherrealnature.Eventhoughsheisnottheoneherdaughterwouldwanthertobeandshedoesn'thaveanythingspecial,butherlifeandherlaborskillsarehandeddownfromtheancestors.Theseskillsmadeherastrongbodyandtheindependentpersonality.Herlifeisrealandtranquil.Sheispleasedforherblacklineage,sheispleasedforhersimplelife,too.Infact,thismeansthatshehasaccepttheblackhumanitycharacteristics,thesocialstatusandthenationalenvironmentoftheblackafterlongyears.Inaword,shehasfinallyfoundherlifepositionandshehasrealizedtheblackfemaleindependentego.Inthedeepsense,asablackwomen'smother,shehasshownhergreatloveoftheblacknation,theloveoftheblackcultureandtheloveoftheblacklife.Therefore,wecanseethemotheristhetypicalsymbolofthetraditionalblackwomen.

B.Dee-ThesymboloftheBlackCultureMovement

TheBlackCultureMovementwascarryingoutin1960s.Undersuchbackground,theAfrican-Americanstrytheirbesttousethenewwordstodefinetheiridentities.Manyblacksstarttheirjourneystofindtheirorigins,butatthesametime,theydenytheAfrican-American'sPainCulturewhichteemwiththesufferingandtheinjustice.Theyonlypayattentiontotheexternalformsoftheculture,andtheydon'treallyunderstandtherichconnotationofthecultureandtheheritage.

JustliketheDeeinWalker’sarticle,shetriesherbesttocreateanAfrican'sappearanceandimagethroughherclothesandhairstyle,whichemergesherdecorativenature,butshehasacceptedthewhitecultureandconsciousnessinessence.Althoughwecanseehernationalculturalrootsfromheryellowskirt（yellowisthecolorwhichAfricanwomenlikemost）andthetraditionaldecorationsofAfrican,wecanreadmorewhiteculturefromherwordsandbehaviors.SowecanconsiderDeeisthetypicalblackwomen'srepresentativewhohasacceptedthewhitecultureeducation,hermentationhasgotfarawayfromherownnation,shehaslosthertrueblackegobecauseofthewelleducationshehaslearned.SheisnotonlyignorancetotheAfricancultureheritage,butignorancetotheAmericancultureheritageaswell.Therefore,wecanseetheDeeisthetypicalsymboloftheBlackCultureMovement.

C.Maggie-ThesymboloftheAfrican-American'sPainCulture

InAmerican,becauseoftheraceslavesystem,theAfrican-Americanssufferunimaginablepainnotonlytheirbodiesbutalsotheirhearts.Infrontofthewhite,theblackwomenappearverydocileandobedient,theyneitherdaretofacethewhite,norclaimtheirreasonableandproperrequirements.InWalke