Everyday Use By Alice Walker - 1948 Words

Everyone defines and identifies themselves in different ways. Whether it’s by our names, our religion, or our sexuality, we all have something different that make us unique and that we identify ourselves as. In Alice Walker’s short story â€Å"Everyday Use,† an African American woman tells the story of her daughter Dee’s long awaited visit. Upon her arrival the mother and her other daughter, Maggie, discover some drastic changes in Dee: she has changed her name to Wangero, she also arrived with a mysterious man who calls himself Asalamalakim, and has adopted an African style of dress in order to depict what she sees as her heritage. During the course of her visit, Dee tries to take several items, important to her family’s heritage. â€Å"Everyday†¦show more content†¦Wangero decides during some point in her time away, that she no longer wants to be Dee. She is now Wangero. She takes on this persona, this identity, by changing her name, int eracting with people who have the same beliefs as her and live within her discourse, and by changing her clothing. Although Dee is the name she has lived with most of her life, she easily switches her name to Wangero to represent the new identity she has made for herself. She just as easily switches her clothing style, as well as the group of people she associates with. This switch is also something that Mama will come to accept, she says to Dee â€Å"‘if that’s what you want us to call you, we’ll call you.’† This also shows how easily identity is able to be changed. Mama has known Dee as Dee for all of her life, however when her identity is switched to Wangero, she easily accepts this and calls her by her new name. Heritage was a central characteristic Walker uses to establish identity in her story. Mama and Maggie have a much different idea of what heritage is compared to Dee. Dee changes her name to Wangero because she believes that she â€Å"‘couldn’t bear any longer being named after the people who oppress me’† which to her, also meant was oppressing her African heritage. However, she has little idea about Africa and has no real connection there, except for the ancestors that lived there long ago. Mama and Maggie however, see heritage much differently. To them,Show MoreRelatedEveryday Use By Alice Walker852 Words   |  4 Pagescomes or belongs to one by reason of birth. In â€Å"Everyday Use†, by Alice Walker, the theme of the story can be considered as the meaning of heritage or even the power of education. Alice Walker uses many symbols and motifs such as the following: quilts, education, knowledge, Asalamalakim, and the renaming of Dee. In the story, A frican heritage and knowledge takes a major role. The African heritage plays a major role in the story, â€Å"Everyday Use†. Alice Walker emphasizes the meaning of heritage by havingRead MoreEveryday Use By Alice Walker1372 Words   |  6 PagesEverday Use† research paper In â€Å"everyday Use,† Alice Walker tells a narrative of a mother’s frustrating relationship together with her two daughters. At this facet, â€Å",Everyday Use†, tells that how a mom little by little refuses the cursory values of her older, successful daughter at the aspect of the useful values of her younger, much less lucky daughter. On a deeper outlook, Alice Walker takes on the theme of heritage and its norms as it applies to African-Americans. Everday Use, is set insideRead MoreEveryday Use By Alice Walker1102 Words   |  5 Pagespoem â€Å"Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers† can be read similar to Alice Walker s short story Everyday Use† both are compared by the women’s ways of showing their strengths and how they identify their values, expressions and strength. Advertised in the general outlines of the plot, both literary themes talks of a quest for freedom, the characters identity and self-expression. Adrienne Rich â€Å"Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers† Alice Walker â€Å"Everyday Use† Comparison Paper Analyzing the two types of literatureRead MoreEveryday Use By Alice Walker1372 Words   |  6 Pagessociety as a whole, but more specifically in the African American Community. Alice Walker gives slight insight into   what being forced   to assimilate is like. She says in her short story Everyday Use: She will stand hopelessly in corners homely and ashamed of the burn scars down her arms and legs eyeing her sister with a mixture of envy and awe. Statements such as these are a regular occurrence in her works. Walker often speaks on the ever so disheartening topic of cultural assimilation and theRead MoreEveryday Use By Alice Walker996 Words   |  4 PagesIn the short story â€Å"Everyday Use† by Alice Walker, the author describes different ideas about one’s heritage. Culture and heritage is at the main point of the story â€Å"Everyday Use† by Alice Walker as symbolized by the quilt. The bond that Mother and Maggie share is brought by their common talent to make works of art like quilts. Dee does not have similar capacity because she does not appreciate manual labor nor believes in her heritage. The idea of pride in culture, heritage, and family is the mainRead MoreEveryday Use By Alice Walker1721 Words   |  7 PagesIn her short story â€Å"Everyday Use,† Alice Walker summarizes the representation of the beauty, the conflicts and struggles within African-American culture. â€Å"Everyday Use† focuses mainly between members of the Johnson family, consisting of a mother and her two daughters. One of the daughters Maggie, who was injured in a house fire and has living a shy life clinging to her mother for security. Her older sister is Dee, who grew up with a grace and natural beauty. â€Å"Dee is lighter than Maggie, with nicerRead MoreEveryday Use By Alice Walker1655 Words   |  7 PagesIn â€Å"everyday Use,† Alice Walker tells a narrative of a mother’s frustrating relationship together with her two dau ghters. At this facet, â€Å",Everyday Use†, tells that how a mom little by little refuses the cursory values of her older, successful daughter at the aspect of the useful values of her younger, much less lucky daughter. On a deeper outlook, Alice Walker takes on the theme of heritage and its norms as it applies to African-Americans. Everday Use, is set inside the late ,60s or mid ,70sRead MoreEveryday Use By Alice Walker1735 Words   |  7 Pages â€Å"Everyday Use† by Alice Walker and â€Å"Brownies† by ZZ Packer are two different short stories with different lessons but both talk about the topic of race. Both stories talks about the time in the 20th century when slavery just ended but racism are still active between African Americans and Caucasians. Walker described a story about a single African American mother who is waiting for her daughter to arrive from college. Packer described a story about these African American fourth graders who are inRead MoreEveryday Use By Alice Walker1111 Words   |  5 Pagestheir culture. Alice Walker highlights and distinguishes the dissimilarities and clichà © of country African American women with the actualities that make up their lives. Characterized by short, compound sentences, with long adjectives and use of literary elements, her style is eloquent co nversational and authentic. Alice Walker’s short story, Everyday Use is stylistic, ironic and narrates profound interpretation of unique views and approaches to African-American culture. Walker’s use of characterizationRead MoreEveryday Use By Alice Walker1725 Words   |  7 Pages17 April 2017 Everything is Not What it Seems Sometimes people forget that heritage has to do with truly understanding their past. Many often misrepresent it, especially the younger generations who just accept its presence. Alice Walker’s short story, â€Å"Everyday Use,† revolves around an African American family that consists of three women, who are very different from each other. The story begins with Maggie and Mama waiting in the yard for Dee, the main character, to visit from Augusta. Dee is

Klippel-Fiel Syndrome Free Essays

Klippel–Feil syndrome is a very rare disease. It was reported for the first time in 1912 by Maurice Klippel and Andre Feil. It has been characterized by the fusion of any 2 of the 7 cervical vertebrae. We will write a custom essay sample on Klippel-Fiel Syndrome or any similar topic only for you Order Now The syndrome occurs in a heterogeneous group of patients unified only by the presence of a defect in the formation or segmentation of the spine. Klippel–Feil syndrome can be identified by shortness of the neck. Those with the syndrome have a very low hairline and the ability of the neck to move is limited or none. Some symptoms include: ?Scoliosis, which is a side-to-side curve of the spine, which is abnormal. The spine sometimes appears as a â€Å"C† or an â€Å"S†. ?Spina bifida is when the spinal canal and the back bone do not close completely during birth. ?Cleft Palate, which is a hole in the roof of the mouth ?Respiratory problems ?Heart malformations ?Short stature The actual prevalence of Klippel-Feil syndrome is unknown due to the fact that there was no study done to determine the true prevalence. Although the actual occurrence for the KFS syndrome is unknown, it is estimated to occur 1 in 42,000 newborns worldwide. In addition, females seem to be affected slightly more often than males Treatment for Klippel–Feil syndrome is symptomatic and may include surgery to relieve cervical or craniocervical instability and constriction of the spinal cord, and to correct scoliosis. The heterogeneity of this syndrome has made it difficult to outline the diagnosis as well as the prognosis classes for this disease. Because of this, it has complicated the exact explanation of the genetic etiology of the syndrome. The prognosis for most individuals is good if the disorder is treated early on and appropriately. Activities that can injure the neck should be avoided, as it may contribute to further damage. Other diseases associated with the syndrome can be fatal if not treated, or if found too late to be treatable. Although, surgery is an option it’s not highly recommended. My sister suffers from this disorder; therefore I see it every day. Surgery was given to my mother as an option but there were far worse side effects to the aftermath of the surgery than just living with the disorder for the rest of her life. She didn’t choose to have surgery because either it would have paralyzed her or could have possibly killed her. The disorder has affected her by not allowing her to use her neck at all, which makes it very difficult for her to do the things that we can. How to cite Klippel-Fiel Syndrome, Essay examples

Postulated In Domain Of Sleep Deprivation †Myassignmenthelp.Com

Question: Discuss About The Postulated In Domain Of Sleep Deprivation? Answer: Introducation There are several hypothesis postulated in order to ascertain the affect of sleep deprivation on the degree of mental alertness. This essay discusses on the two most important hypothesis postulated in the domain of sleep deprivation and tries to finds the significance of those two hypotheses under the light of the six different research papers conducted under the similar domain. Sustained Attention Performance During Sleep Deprivation: Evidence of State Instability According to the hypothesis postulated by Doran, Dongen, Dinges, sleep deprivation in humans did not eradicate the strength to deliver neurobehavioral functions but on contrary it creates a imbalance in the state to alertness of the sleep deprived individual, preventing him or her in maintain stable pr alert performance for more than a minute. Sleep deprivation has significant affect on the performance variability and it is expressed as intermittent lapsing. This sleep deprivation affects the causes a state if instability along with as escalating homeostatic drive for sleep, uncontrolled initiation of sleep and strong resistance to prevent sleep by using compensatory effort. This state of instability affects the neurobehavioral performance. This imbalance in the neurobehavioral performance causes moment to moment divergence from attention with is associated with the homeostatic drive for sleep and circadian promotion of wakefulness. The Psychomotor Vigilance Test (PVT) Using done via implementing 88 hours of sleep deprivation was conducted in order to prove this hypothesis. The obtained results showed that the controlled group who was allowed to take 2 hours of NAP after every 12 hours (88 hours total) performed better in the PVT. Moreover, the results also showed that the performance variability of those who were kept awake for more than 18 hours at a stretch, declines rapidly accompanied with lack of motivation (Doran et al., 2001). However, the hypothesis claims that the state of instability does not eliminate the sustained neurobehavioral responses. It only hampers or decelerates specific neurobehavioral functions like alertness, problem solving skills, psychomotor skills while promoting false responding. A sleep deprived person is able to perform short term task with alertness but when the difficulty and the duration of the task increases then the sleep deprived persons faces problems and this problem increases with the tenure of the sleep deprivation (Doran et al., 2001). Prefrontal Neuropsychological Effects of Sleep Deprivation in Young Adultsa Model for Healthy Aging The prefrontal complex is the portion of the brain which is mainly responsible for a variety of different complex behaviors which includes planning as well as contributes to personal development. This is located in the front of the frontal lobe of the brain. Authors have found integral link between a people will to live along with their personality development and that of the functions of prefrontal cortex. They also contribute to decision making and moderating social behaviour. However, authors have developed a hypothesis which states that sleep deprivation in young adults results in impairment of the prefrontal cortex which is very similar to that of the preferential impairment that occurs in old age people during the time of their healthy aging. Authors are of the opinion that young people who suffer from sleep deprivation results in changes of the prefrontal complex in a pattern which is very similar to the modification that occur naturally in the prefrontal region of the brain i n the old people. Therefore they have put forward a hypothesis that of they conduct research models by taking sleep deprived patients of the younger cohort, they would be able to study the normal process of aging of the brain of the old which would be beneficial for invention of new facts (Harrison, Horne Rothwell, 2000). Comparison of both the hypothesis: Both the hypothesis reflects two different arenas of research. The first hypothesis mainly determines the activity of the prefrontal cortex in the sleep deprived young people. This hypothesis mainly talk about choosing the model of alterations occurring in the brain of sleep deprived young individuals which according to the authors are comparable to the alteration that take place during healthy aging of the old people. On the other hypothesize, authors mainly stressed on the performance level of individuals working in asleep deprived condition. In this hypothesis , authors state that long sleep deprived individuals are seen o provide forced compensatory effort which help them to accomplish short time tasks but they fail to provide concentration and attention when they are asked to complete in long sustained task which requires continuous attention. If the individuals are provided naps in between, the lapses frequency reduces resulting in better concentration. Otherwise the individual s who are sleep deprived will have frequent sleep attacks as well as lapses which will ultimately result the individual to go into uncontrollable sleep which eliminate wakefulness itself in the individual. A number of studies have been conducted so far in order to ascertain the basis of these two above-mentioned hypotheses. The current essay sheds light on how these two above-mentioned hypotheses hold true or deviated in the actual case scenarios. The comparison or the relatedness of these hypotheses is done via analysing 6 research papers which are framed 'specifically to ascertain the significance of these two hypotheses. Increasing Task Difficulty Facilitates the Cerebral Compensatory Response to Total Sleep Deprivation this study was conducted by Sean and this group of researchers in the year of 2004. Their aim of the study is to analyse the affect of task difficulty on the cerebral compensatory response of total sleep deprived people. Here the participants where were asked to perform the modified version of the Baddeleys Logical reasoning task while their are monitored via the magnetic resonance imagining. They were monitored twice, once after the normal tenure of sleep and once after 35 long hours of total sleep deprivation. The task was also simultaneously modified in order to parametrically manipulate the level of task difficulty. The participants were young (age mean: 27.6 +/- 6.1 years). The results showed that the degree of task difficulty facilitates the cerebral compensatory response during the tenure of total sleep deprivation. This compensatory response was found to express in new in new regions of the brain that otherwise has no relation with the task demand under the normal/well rested condition. Moreover, stronger compensatory responses are generated in the regions of the brain which are significantly related with the process of undergoing the task during well rested condition (Drummond et al., 2004). This study works in sync with the hypothesis 1 (sustained action performance), which states that a sleep deprived person is able to perform short term task with alertness via generating compensatory response in the brain (Doran et al., 2001). The paper Lapsing during Sleep Deprivation Is Associated with Distributed Changes in Brain Activation has been authored by researchers Chee et al., in the year 2008. Twenty four right handled male and female patients were allocated for the experiment out of which 17 subjects were ultimately incorporated to the experiential setting. They visited the laboratory three times each time with predefined activities. After the conducting of the activities and tests taken by researchers it was found that sleep depression resulted in slower as well as less accurate and more variable performance and also affected different task related activity performance. Lapses were also found to be associated with reduction of virtual and cortical activities in SD patients. The researchers performed functional magnetic resonance imaging during visual as well as selective attention task and mainly noticed the correct responses in a trial by trail pattern and then modelled the effects of the response. When com parison are done between sleep deprived individuals and individuals taking normal night sleep, it was found that lapses differ as the previous had reduced ability of the frontal and parietal region to raise activation to respond to the lapses, resulted in reduction of activation of visual sensory cortex and reduced thalamic activation during lapses in comparison to elevated activation in non lapse period (Chee et al., 2008). This theory has inculcate the mixing of both the hypothesis as the authors have used the prefrontal characteristic changes in sleep deprived patients like the first hypothesis and showed their effect on the brain function and normal activity level of the participants in regular tasks like the second hypothesis. Chee and Choo conducted experiments and published their work through the Functional Imaging of Working Memory after 24 Hr of Total Sleep Deprivation which was published in the year 2004. The authors had mainly incorporated 14 participants who were young and were right handed. The main motive of the study was to analyze the neurobehavioral effects after 24 hour of sleep in those young adults. Before conducting magnetic resonance imaging, they were allowed to go through two tests (LTS and PLUS) one with testing maintenance in four blocks and the other in manipulation and maintenance in three blocks. Response time after sleep deprivation in both the tasks was slower. An interesting observation was found here. Different patterns of changes occurred in the different portion of the parietal frontal portions of the brain which result in cognitive impairment of the brain regions after sleep deprivation. However, increased prefrontal and thalamic activation helps the participants to undertak e compensatory adaptation. All the finding of the papers help the researchers to come to a conclusion that more complex tasks are well done by sleep deprived individuals than simple tasks. This is based on the first hypothesis as researchers have mainly discussed about the brain regions related functional modifications and have also stated that this model matches with occurrences of changes of the elder adults (Chee Choo, 2004). Drummond et al. had published a paper Sleep deprivation-induced reduction in cortical functional response to serial subtraction in the year 1999. They had the main aim of studying the effects of sleep deprivation on the different functional alteration in the brain and thereby to study these changes. For these, they had taken thirteen normal healthy subjects after taking their written consents. They were made to perform 4 different tasks twice a day and at the same time fMRI scans were done once after a normal night sleep and one after a sleep deprived sleep. Arithmetic tasks were mainly conducted. The authors wanted to know that whether the prefrontal cortex and parietal lobe had any alterations due to the affects of SD. It was seen that in comparison to that after the normal night sleep, activities of the mentioned regions of the brain decreased after sleep deprivation especially in the PFC (Drummond et al., 1999). The work aligns with the first hypothesis as the main discussion re mains concerned with the effects on the different parts of the brain and their related functional decrease or functional loss. The study, The Neural Basis of Psychomotor Vigilance Test was conducted Drummond with the group of researchers in the year of 2005. The aim of the study is to identify the regions of the brains that promote fastest and slowest reaction times during the Psychomotor Vigilance Test (PVT). The study was conducted under well-rested conditions and is particularly directed towards the specific regions of the brain, which deliver extremely poor performance during the tenure of sleep deprivation. The study was conducted with 20 right handed healthy adults (age mean: 27.4 +/- 6.7 years) who were made to undergo two PVTs and while they are giving PVT, their brains were analysed under magnetic resonance imaging. These two PVT tests were performed after every 12 hours (after waking up from a normal night sleep) and after 36 hours of total sleep deprivation. The results obtained showed that optimal performance of the brain during the PVT test depends on the activation of both sustained attention s ystem and motor system. The poor performance following the PVT, recorded after the total sleep deprivation is the result of the poor attention. However, in order to make up the poor performance, brain at times elicit compensatory response to that particular positions of the brain that are responsible for fast and attentive performance. These findings are in accordance with the hypothesis 1 (sustained action performance) which states that the poor performance of the individuals in the PVT after TSD is a result of the decrease in the mental alertness or poor attention. The brain fails to stay alert after prolong hours of sleep deprivation and hence provides poor result in the PVT (Doran et al., 2001). The aim of the study, Neural basis of alertness and cognitive performance impairments during sleepiness. I. Effects of 24 h of sleep deprivation on waking human regional brain activity, conducted by Thomas et al., in the year of 2000 was to analyse the significance of the hypothesis which states that the negative effects of the sleep deprivation on alertness and cognitive performance is a result of the decrease in the activity of the brain, mainly in the sub cortical region and prefrontal cortex. In order to conduct the study, Thomas et al., performed Positron Emission Tomography (PET) over 17 normal subjects who were sleep deprived for 85 hours. They used Fluorine 2-deoxyglucose (FDG) is a marker to detect the cerebral metabolic rate of the glucose (CMRglu) and simultaneous neuronal synaptic activity. 2 scans per subject was done per 24 hours intervals. The study showed short term sleep deprivation results in global decrease in the brain activity with significant decrease in the glo bal CMRglu. This study works in sync with both the hypotheses. It proved the influence of prefrontal cortex on neuropsychological effects of the sleep deprivation and also indicated that how sleep deprivation cast a negative impact on the cognitive performance and alertness (Doran et al., 2001; Harrison, Horne Rothwell, 2000). Thus from the above discussion it can be concluded that the sleep deprivation has a prominent affect on the degree of alertness of the brain and is mostly concerned with the prefrontal cortex of the brain. Reference List Chee, M. W., Choo, W. C. (2004). Functional imaging of working memory after 24 hr of total sleep deprivation.Journal of Neuroscience,24(19), 4560-4567. Chee, M. W., Tan, J. C., Zheng, H., Parimal, S., Weissman, D. H., Zagorodnov, V., Dinges, D. F. (2008). Lapsing during sleep deprivation is associated with distributed changes in brain activation.Journal of Neuroscience,28(21), 5519-5528. Doran, S. M., Van Dongen, H. P. A., Dinges, D. F. (2001). Sustained attention performance during sleep deprivation: evidence of state instability.Archives italiennes de biologie,139(3), 253-267. Drummond, S. P., Brown, G. G., Salamat, J. S., Gillin, J. C. (2004). Increasing task difficulty facilitates the cerebral compensatory response to total sleep deprivation.Sleep,27(3), 445-451. Drummond, S. P., Brown, G. G., Stricker, J. L., Buxton, R. B., Wong, E. C., Gillin, J. C. (1999). Sleep deprivation?induced reduction in cortical functional response to serial subtraction.Neuroreport,10(18), 3745-3748. Harrison, Y., Horne, J. A., Rothwell, A. (2000). Prefrontal neuropsychological effects of sleep deprivation in young adults--a model for healthy aging?.Sleep,23(8), 1067-1073. Sean P. A. Drummond, Amanda Bischoff-Grethe, David F. Dinges, Liat Ayalon, Sara C. Mednick, M. J., Meloy. (2005). The Neural Basis of Psychomotor Vigilance Test. Sleep, 28(9), 1059-68. Thomas, M., Sing, H., Belenky, G., Holcomb, H., Mayberg, H., Dannals, R., ... Welsh, A. (2000). Neural basis of alertness and cognitive performance impairments during sleepiness. I. Effects of 24 h of sleep deprivation on waking human regional brain activity.Journal of sleep research,9(4), 335-352.