Analysis of "Everyday Use" and "Bullet in the Brain"
Everyday Use: Influencing the Reader's Attitude
Artists have different ways of influencing the manner in which the audience judges characters in artistic work. The Short story by Alice Walker titled Everyday Use gives the encounter of a family living in simple traditional life. Dee, her mother, and younger sister Maggie experience conflicts due to a different understanding of culture and traditions. Dee tries to have the old quilts promised to Maggie by their mother. Bullet in the Brain is a story by Tobia Wolf about a man by the name Anders shot by bank robbers while queuing in a bank. He criticizes the world around him openly without caring about the dangers he is exposing himself to by insulting the robbers. The two stories reveal the techniques the authors' use in influencing the reader's attitude towards the protagonists thus judging their attitudes instead of allowing the characters to develop throughout the narration.
The Role of Culture in "Everyday Use"
The story Everyday Use culture and the role it plays in shaping people's lives, attitudes, and behaviors. The story has been received with mixed views especially on the way it portrays the culture and its importance. The author narrates the story through the mother's point of view to divert the opinion of the reader to the expectation of the author. For instance, one may be influenced to think that Maggie is a cultured young woman while her sister is a rebellious character going against the community traditions and norms.
Contrasting Perspectives in "Everyday Use"
In his essay, It takes Two to Read Alice Walker's Everyday Use Mathew Mullins argues that Walker's perspective of cultural reclamation is not fair. In the story, Dee is disliked because she does not identify with her traditional culture especially the use of quilts thus; the author creates a negative image of the character. A reader is likely to dislike Dee in favor of her sister Maggie for going against her mother's ideas of retaining cultural traditions. Walker frames Dee's actions in a manner that reveals the former as an irresponsible girl who only values herself. However, this may not be the case since every person can choose to lean on traditional norms or defy them. The text antagonizes the reader to have a negative attitude towards the protagonist mainly by using the first-person narration through Mrs. Johnson who is also a character in the story. Dee's mother contributes a lot to the perception of the readers about the story thus, Walker uses the first person narration rhetorically to convince instead of leaving the reader to make own judgment. If the author used Dee or her sister as the narrators, it could have changed the perspective of interpretation. The story tends to actively prevent one from identifying with Dee and judge her harshly. Dee is associated with materialism and modern ways of life where culture is not essential as depicted in her decision to change her name.
Reader Interpretation in "Bullet in the Brain"
Whitsitt, Sam In his article, In spite of it all: a reading of Alice Walker's everyday use, it is quite clear that Walker focuses on American women and the role of culture in their lives. The story opens with Maggie and her mother waiting for Dee symbolizing some form of redemption. According to Whitsitt, "Her return seems less a return than passing by..." (6). This statement reviews a change of culture contrary to the expectations of her mother and sister. To Whitsitt, the story tells about the fashionable aesthetic distance between families in the North and South. He feels that Walker's way of writing compels the reader to pay more attention to Dee and her new character. Dee represents Walker thus; she uses the story to help in spreading her word as well as processing experiences in her own family and childhood. The life and struggles of black women are quite evident in the story as they search for identities. Quilting is one of the trends of preserving heritage and a tradition adopted by the family and is supposed to be passed from one generation to the next. Whitsitt does not dispute Walker's way of narration since it allows the reader to make interpretations on the themes addressed. Dee and Maggie are contrasted in their way of expressing culture as well as the value of their traditions.
Judgment and Manipulation in "Bullet in the Brain"
The story Bullet in the Brain by Tobias Wolff is about a man by the name Anders who is shot in the head during a bank robbery and dies. According to Bruh, in is essay Great script, eh?": Medialities, Metafiction, and Non-meaning in Tobias Wolff's "Bullet in the Brain the story is about on a cynical critic whose character causes unpredicted death via a robber's bullet. The protagonist is presented as unsympathetic especially to the woman in front of him. Bruh feels that the author's presentation of Anders makes the reader view him as a nuisance and deserving the shot. Wolf shifts blame from the robbers to Anders making him guilty of causing his death. All the attention of the reader is turned to the protagonist who criticizes the robbers, as he would do to a book or movie. The author makes the main character unlikeable instead of leaving it up to the reader to make judgment thus seems manipulative. The character is murdered and not allowed to evolve as the story develops. Therefore, the story is selective and biased towards an innocent character who tries to criticize criminal act. From the readers point of view it is clear that Anders is right to condemn the criminal act and the inefficiency n the bank yet the author kills him and blames him for his fate. As the story continues, one wonders why the main character is not given a chance to defend his rights to quality service from the government and the bank management.
Rhetorical Strategies in "Bullet in the Brain"
Poot, Luke Terlaak in "Narratology, In, and Out of Order. Narrative Sequence in Contemporary Narratology" argues that Bullet in the Brain has features are inclined to the authors' relationship with the audience. He argues that the writer influences the reader "by way of typically sensitive readings of Tobias Wolff's Bullet in the Brain and... subordinated to the implied author's relationship with the audience" (Poot 2). The quote reveals that the author utilizes rhetorical perspectives in the narrative progression to influence the audience on the protagonist's character. Thus, the short story starts in a satirical tone with a man that mocks everything he comes across: the bank, the robbers, and women in the queue making the reader dislike him too early. When the man is killed the tone of the story shifts as the reader is made to follow the bullet inside the brain of the victim. The author is manipulative since he does not allow readers to make own conclusions and rhetorically leads them to judge the man. The author keeps the reader guessing on the message in the story from the start. The narration starts with the name of the protagonist, Anders thus one wonders whether it is his first or surname. The ambiguity of the title makes the reader suspicious of this character and creates some distance. The story is in the third person thus dissociates the readers from the actual the protagonist and his actions. The narrator has also distanced himself from the character and influences readers to do so as well.
Influencing Reader Opinion in Both Stories
The two stories are written in a manner that influences the reader to support the narrator's point of view on the protagonist. Instead of leaving the audience to make an independent decision about the character in the text, the authors make the main characters the victims as the story begins. The tale Everyday Use Dee is portrayed as the bad girl in the family for going against the culture and traditions. Readers view her as rebellious, disrespectful, self-centered, and materialistic as the story unfolds. In the short story Bullet in the Brain, the protagonist is also painted negatively as the story beginnings thus the reader forms an opinion about the character depending on the authors view. Thus, the two stories have common characteristics of influencing the audience towards disliking the protagonists instead of allowing them to develop as the story progresses. Judging of Dee and Anders is from the authors' perspective of portraying them as irresponsible and guilty in their various situations.
Works Cited
Bruhn, Jørgen. "Great script, eh?”: Medialities, Metafiction, and Non-meaning in Tobias Wolff’s “Bullet in the Brain. 2016. The Intermediality of Narrative Literature. 83-101. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1057/978-1-137-57841-9_5
Mullins, Matthew. “Antagonized by the Text or, it Takes Two to Read Alice Walker’s ‘Everyday Use.’” The Comparatist, vol. 37, 2013, pp. 37–53. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/26237330.
Poot, Luke Terlaak. "Narratology, In, and Out of Order. Narrative Sequence in Contemporary Narratology. Columbus, OH. 2016." Diegesis 5.2 (2016). https://www.diegesis.uni-wuppertal.de/index.php/diegesis/article/view/237/328
Whitsitt, Sam. "In spite of it all: a reading of Alice Walker's" everyday use"." African American Review 34.3 (2000): 443-459.
