高级英语Unit-4--Everyday-use-知识点梳理

Unit 4 Everyday use for your grandmammaWhat is a plot?If an author writes, "The king died and then the queen died," there is no plot for a story. But by writing, "The king died and then the queen died of grief," the writer has provided a plot line for a story.A plot is a causal sequence of events, the "why" for the things that happen in the story. The plot draws the reader into the character's lives and helps the reader understand the choices that the characters make.The Structure of a plot1.Exposition - introduction of themain characters and setting2.Rising Action - one (or more)characters in crisis3.Climax - point of highest emotion;turning point4.Falling Action - resolution ofcharacter’s crisis5.Denouement (outcome) - “untyingof plot treads”; resolutionNarration NarratorFirst-person narration; third-person narrationNarrator ≠ authorThe titleThe meaning of the title requires the reader to read deeper within the short story. The phrase “Everyday Use” brings about the question whether or not heritage should be preserved and displayed or integrated into everyday life. “Everyday Use” pertains not only to the quilt, but more so to people's culture and heritage and how they choose to honor it.The themeThe main theme in the story concerns the characters’ connections to their ancestral roots.Dee Johnson believes that she is affirming her African heritage by changing her name, her mannerisms, and her appearance, even though her family has lived in the United States for several generations.The themeMaggie and Mrs. Johnson are confused and intimi dated by her new image as “Wangero”. Their own connections to their heritage rest on their memories of their mothers and grandmothers; they prefer to remember them for who they were as individuals, not as members of a particular race.Because of their differing viewpoints, they place different values on some old quilts and other objects in the home.The backgroundBy the 1960s, following the success of civil rights leaders like Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X, some African Americans began to take pride in their heritage as a way of gaining their esteem, forging a group identity, and creating a platform for greater political power.Known as “black pride” or Black Nationalism, these ideas encouraged many young African Americans to learn about their cul tural ancestry, grow their hair into “Afros”, dress in traditional African clothing, and reject their “slave names”. Cultural nationalismCultural nationalism was founded on the belief that blacks and whites have separate values, histories, intellectual traditions and lifestyles and therefore that in reality, there are two separate Americas.Cultural nationalism was often expressed a as a conceptual and aesthetic return to the motherland (rarely an actual return), a recognition of the African roots that blacks in America had begun to forget as a result of slavery, biased education and stereotyped representations in the mass media.In his article, "Black Cultural Nationalism," Ron Karenga, one of the strongest voices in favor of cultural nationalism,writes,"Let our art remind us of our distaste for the enemy, our love for each other, and our commitment to the revolutionary struggle that will be fought with the rhythmic reality of a permanent revolution"Cultural nationalism on a visual level was expressed in the same way, by the wearing of brightly colored African clothing, such as dashikis, and the adaptation of the Afro hair style, both symbolic representations of the important relationship between Blacks in America and their African roots.Mama (Ms Johnson)The narrator of the story.She is a middle-aged or older African-American woman living with her younger daughter, Maggie.Although poor, she is strong and independent, and takes great pride in her way of life.She is over weight, and built more like a man than a woman. She has strong hands that are worn from a lifetime of work.MaggieDee’s sister who was badly burned by a fire when she was young.She has low self-confidence and becomes uncomfortable when Dee is around.Maggie contrasts Dee by showing a special regard for her immediate family.DeeMrs. Johnson’s older daughter.She is attractive, sophisticated, and well-educated.She is also very selfish, bold, and overly confident.When she returns home, she insists her family calls her Wangero because she wants to be a bigger part of her culture. The only reason she wants this is because it’s suddenly the new trend.the historical presentThe historical present (sometimes dramatic present) refers to the employment of the present tense when narrating past events. it is used in fiction, for “hot news” (as in headlines), and in everyday conversation. In conversation, it is particularly common with “verbs of communication” such as tell, write, and say (and in colloquial uses, go).The historical present has the effect of making past events more vivid.P1: the yard that Maggie and I made so clean and wavywavy: having regular curvesA wavy line has a series of regular curves along it.Here in the text the word describes the marks in wavy patterns on the clay ground left by the broom.P1: It is like an extended living room.Extended: enlargedP1: When the hard clay is swept cleanA fine-grained, firm earthy material that is plastic when wet and hardens when heated, consisting primarily of hydrated silicates of aluminum and widely used in making bricks, tiles, and pottery.粘土，泥土P1: the fine sand around the edges lined with tiny, irregular groovesFine: thin, in small particlesGroove nouna long narrow cut in the surface of sth hard:Cut a groove 3 cm from the top of the piece of wood.沟、槽P1: sit and look up into the elm tree榆树P2: homely and ashamed of the burn scarsNot handsome or beautiful: plain, unattractive. (Never say a woman or a girl is ugly. Say she is plain or homely.)Of a plain and unsophisticated nature: artless, unadorned, unpolished. (homely furniture)Of or relating to the family or household: domestic, household. (homely skills)P2: eying her sister with a mixture of envy and aweLook at and watch don’t suggest the feelings of the person who looks.To eye means to look carefully, suspiciously, or thoughtfully, with fear, doubt, envy, desire, etc.P2: eying her sister with a mixture of envy and awenoun [U] feelings of respect and slight fear; feelings of being very impressed by sth/sb:awe and respectHe speaks of her with awe.be / stand in awe of sb/sth to admire sb/sth and be slightly frightened of them/it:While Diana was in awe of her grandfather, she adored her grandmotheramazement, wonderP2: She thinks her sister has held life always in the palm of one hand, that "no" is a word the world never learned to say to her.The world has satisfied her sister’s every desire.Her sister has a firm control of life.P3: the child who has "made it" is confrontedTo have made it: if you make it, you are successful in achieving sth. Difficult, or in surviving through a very difficult period.I believe I have the talent to make it.You are brave and courageous. You can make it.P3: the child who has "made it" is confronted1 (of problems or a difficult situation) to appear and need to be dealt with by sb: the economic problems confronting the country3 to face sb so that they cannot avoid seeing and hearing you, especially in an unfriendly or dangerous situation: This was the first time he had confronted an armed robber.P3: her own mother and father, tottering in weakly from backstage.1. [usually +adv. / prep.] to walk or move with weak unsteady steps, especially because you are drunk or ill/sick; stagger: She managed to totter back to her seat.2 to be weak and seem likely to fall: the tottering walls of the castleoutLoud enough so as to be heard. 大声讲！没人能把你怎么样。