Late Night Chitlins With Momma Analysis

Williams describes how her and her family get judged on the food they like. Williams and her family were afraid to eat the foods they love because the white neighbors will make fun of them. Williams explained how she can only eat watermelon in those private moments when no one can see them enjoying watermelon because she is afraid of the neighbors In the poem, “ My mother's pieced quilts” by Teresa Palomo

While both sex and sibling behavioral issues aren’t often related to cooking, both Elaine Magarrell and Sally Croft are able to integrate these themes into their poems. In both of the poems “The Joy of Cooking”, by Elaine Magarrell, and “Home Baked Bread”, by Sally Croft, the authors use different types of imagery and figurative language in order to convey a completely different idea through the art of cooking. Both authors use rather explicit ideas and themes in their writing, and use remarkable figurative language and imagery in order to convey their themes. The poem “Home-Baked Bread” is an obvious play on words.

Jeannette took on other ways to find food, even going so far to fish food out of garbage cans. “When other girls came in and threw away their lunch bags in the garbage pails, I'd go retrieve them ... I'd return to the stall and polish off my tasty finds.” (Walls 173) Her parent’s recklessness pushes Jeannette to find food in unsanitary locations, instead of depending on others to provide her next meal for her.

Madeleine Thien’s “Simple Recipes” is not mainly about the father cooking food and his treatment towards his son, instead, the author uses food to symbolize the struggles her immigrated family experienced in Canada. While it is possible to only look at the narratives that food symbolizes, the idea is fully expressed when the father is compared with the food. The theme of food and the recipes are able to convey the overall troubles the narrator’s family encountered. Although, food is usually a fulfilling necessity in life, however, Thien uses food to illustrate the struggle, tensions, and downfall of the family. Yet, each food does represent different themes, but the food, fish, is the most intriguing because of the different environment

“They asked what I was doing cooking hot dogs by myself at the age of three. It was easy, I said. My parents never hurt me, I got the cuts and bruises from playing outside and cooking. You just put the hotdogs in the water and boil them. The pan was too heavy for me to lift when it was full of water, so I’d put a chair next to the sink.

The kids are hungry all the time. We got no clothes, torn an' ragged. If all the neighbors weren't the same, we'd be ashamed to go to meeting.” (Pg 33). Farmers are trying to reason with the landowners, their whole community is out of money and are struggling to make a living.

A mother is a person who loves and cares for their child unconditionally and will put her their needs before her own. When her child is sick, she will stay beside them no matter what. A mother is always there when someone is down and needs someone to talk to. However, in the stories, “The Rocking Horse Winner” and ‘The Yellow Wallpaper,” both authors portray the mothers, Hester and Jane, somewhat similar when describing their relationship with their child. The stories’ definition of “Mother” are described in a negative manner that not many readers can relate to such neglectful behavior.

It uses the narrative device of exaggeration to expose some of the negative elements of consumer society, making both funny and bitterly satiric. It provides an early glimpse of the witty characteristic of Atwood’s writing style proclaiming a theme that will be a central concern in all her later work-feminism. The Edible Woman is an exposure of an economically sound woman taking time to be aware of her marginalization as the ‘second sex’. Marian, the protagonist, digs deep into the social conditions of the ‘archetype’ followed by ultimately researching at the ‘individuation’.

Through her use of a changing narrative perspective, Margaret Laurence creates a contrast in character development. Laurence shows the reader the male protagonist of the story, Chris, through the eyes of a child first, then of an adolescent, and finally through an adult’s eyes. At the beginning of “Horses of the Night,” the narrator, Vanessa notices that Chris looks completely oblivious towards Vanessa’s Grandfather’s belligerence, as he is displaying “no sign of feeling anything.” This is the first sign Laurence provides about Chris escaping in order to cope with reality. Next, when Vanessa visits Shallow Creek she comes to a realization that most of the stories Chris has shared with her about the farm, only exists “in some other dimension.”

Raymond Carver’s “A Small, Good Thing,” is an essay that closely resembles contemporary life and captures the excruciating anguish of a parent’s sense of helplessness and overall isolation. Elements of empathy, compassion, and understanding entice readers into thinking about their own lives--and even their own mortality and familial relationships. From the very beginning, Carver purposely withholds the characters’ proper names. Instead he refers to them as “she” or “the baker,” etc. Doing so shows that modern life is often characterized by impersonality.

Alice Walker’s Everyday Use (rpt. in Thomas R. Arp and Greg Johnson, Perrine’s Literature Sound and Structure 11th ed [Boston: Wadsworth, 2012] 166-173) is a short story told by the mother of two daughters, Mama. The story tells the tale of the return of Mama’s oldest daughter, Dee, and the problems that Dee’s return causes for Mama and her youngest daughter, Maggie. This short story includes humor and irony, displays detailed characterization, and portrays a very effective point of view. These three literary elements contribute to this story by giving insight into the past and the true personalities of the characters, and the way the characters have changed over time.

Right after a hurricane warning was issued at the Glades, all the townsfolk gather at Tea Cake’s house and prepare for a feast. Janie cooks the meal, just like she did in Eatonville, but in this case, Tea Cake stays with her and encourages her by praising her young looks. Though Janie cooks and stays in the house, she is not rangebound like she is in Eatonville. Home cooked fresh beans along with other drinks and nibbles are served and everyone has a ebullient and mirthful evening. This meal is truly exemplary of communion because everyone, including Janie takes part in the evening, is comfortable with each other, and has a good time together.

When the argument shifts its setting by moving from the bedroom to the kitchen, Carver’s use of symbolism adds intensity to the story. Too busy with their selfishness, “In the scuffle they knocked down a flowerpot that hung behind the stove” (329). Neither parent stopped to see the broken pot, nor did any of them break focus on their fight with the child. The kitchen is usually a place where a family comes together, but here they were breaking apart at the seams.

Jamaica Kincaid’s The Autobiography of My Mother signifies a pivotal point in her writing style. Her earlier novels have some semblance of her personal life, but, in this novel, the protagonist Xuela does not share a common experience with that of the author’s life. The mother-obsessed protagonists of her earlier fiction are absent. Instead, we have a seventy year old half-Carib Dominican.

Each culture requires her to be flexible in her time to be able to do each tradition that she is expected to do. In one of her culture she has to eat on their traditional plates where she has “to put Chile in the same borscht, eat whole wheat tortillas, speak Tex-Mex with a Brooklyn accent: be stopped by la migra at the border checkpoints”(stanza 4). The poet decides to use food as a way to illustrate the difficulties of having 5 different cultures to live on or to practice. The mixing of the racial groups can have a big affect on the person who has to live in this