Comparative esaay comparing three stories. Everyday Use,Rose for Essay

Comparative esaay comparing three stories. Everyday Use,Rose for Emily,Dead Mans Path. How each story shows progression - Essay Example In â€Å"A Rose for Emily†, the Grierson house stands as a testament to a different era that has withstood the test of time. First, it stood as a monument, a breathing, living symbol of the Griersons’ wealth and power in their town. The looming structure sheltered Emily’s ancestors, her father and aunt, and lastly, herself. After her father’s death, it became a shield with which she drove away others from her, and she hid behind her shield so well that nobody had access to what was going on inside the house. And yet, as time passed, the house also became her prison. She was chained to the comfort and protection that her family’s house provided. Her faithful manservant became her only contact to the outside world, and even he was not fully aware of the developments in the town. Emily did not even know that the mayor who spared her family from taxes has been gone for a decade. It is this kind of sameness within her cocoon that made her retreat from th e world so effective. The house also contained her secrets, and hid them well. Nobody has ever set foot inside the house for so long, and this has added to that air of mystery that it embodied. Even when Emily opened her house to children who came to learn china painting, she did not reveal to them all of the hidden nooks and crannies of her abode. The house remained formidable, a stalwart witness to the passing of time. In the end, however, time was the only thing that remained, and upon Emily Grierson’s death, the house had to be opened up to enquiring neighbors. It was then that they finally discovered the secrets that the house harbored for a long time, and in a way, this became Emily’s posthumous salvation, for in the very end, they understood that she too experienced love for a man, and that she too, whom they previously thought was above them, was very human and was not after all alien to the willful demands of passionate love. The house then became a symbol of Emily’s emancipation and liberation, and of how, when it finally opened up to the outside world, it had withstood the progression of time. A similar symbol of liberation can be found in â€Å"Everyday Use.† The quilt, which was handed down from generation to generation, represented Maggie and Dee’s family heritage and identity, and the richness of their family’s history. The significance of the title lies in the way that the quilt brought out the fundamental differences between Maggie and Dee. Each saw the quilt quite differently: Dee thought that the quilt was good to hang in the wall and to be preserved, given that she has learned, through her progression to being cultured and educated, that the quilt must be handled with care. Maggie – and her mother – on the other hand saw the quilt as a source of comfort and connection to their older generations, and as such, must be kept closer to heart and be used daily for the very purpose that it wa s intended. The way they viewed the quilt represented the fundamental difference between their characters. The conversation revolving around Dee’s name change also revealed the kind of relationship that Dee had with her family. It can be inferred that Dee was not aware that she was not named after white people, but rather, that her name was a derivative from their ancestors. It was this kind of not-knowing, of ignorance of their family