Conflict, Irony, and Symbolism in Alice Walker’s “Everyday...

Conflict, Irony, and Symbolism in Alice Walker’s â€Å"Everyday Use† In the short story Everyday Use, by Alice Walker, tension between characters is evident. When Dee arrives home to visit Mama and Maggie, readers can see the differences in personality between the three characters. Dee has changed her name to Wangero to get closer to her so-called â€Å"culture† and is collecting many objects of her past that she did not want before. On her mother’s savings for her, Dee is able to go to college and therefore is more educated. However, she uses this new knowledge to look down on Maggie and Mama. One of the many objects of her past that Dee asks for is a quilt passed down to the females of the next generation. Instead, Mama wants Maggie to have†¦show more content†¦As Mama says, You know as well as me you was named after your aunt Dicie. Dicie is my sister. She named you Dee. This is a little ironic. Even the mysterious boy she brings home, Hakim-a-barber, has converts to Islamic ways but chooses only to accept certain doctrines o f the religion when he refuses to eat collard greens and pork. As he says, I accept some of their doctrines, but farming and raising cattle is not my style.† The irony is that it might not be a style, but how Mama and Maggie have to live. They would not think of this as a style. Finally, the story in its entirety is symbolism itself. The quilts are the main sources of symbolism are the quilts, in how each piece of the quilt tells about the life of each member of a different generation of the family. With Dee’s new attitude, how would she use the quilts? Hang them†, she says. Like the quilts had little to no meaning to her at all. ‘Dee says that Maggie cannot understand her heritage and cannot appreciate these quilts. Magnanimously, Maggie agrees that Dee can have them so as not to start a conflict. She says, I can member Grandma Dee without the quilts.† This shows that Maggie is more appreciative of her true heritage than Dee is. Dee believes â€Å"getting in touch with your roots† is a new style of some sort. Dee doesn’t consider that the very aunt who gave her, her name is the one who made the quilts by hand. She only wants it to have as art. Another thing is how Dee discards her nameShow MoreRelatedSymbolic Refere nces in Everyday Use by Alice Walker1848 Words   |  8 PagesSymbolism is the taking of an object big or small, and giving it something to stand for. It could be your everyday math symbols for addition, subtraction, division, and etc. Although math symbols are perfect examples of symbolism, there’s also objects that can be more than what they are. For example animals, Lions are known to be symbolized as strength, aggression, and assertiveness. Birds like doves are symbolized as love and peace. Colors are also held symbolically, for instance the color blackRead MoreConflict of Characters in Alice Walkers Everyday Use722 Words   |  3 Pages In Alice Walkers Everyday Use† she creates a conflict between characters. Walker describes a family as they anxiously await the arrival of, Dee, the older sister of the family. When Dee (Wangero) comes home to visit Mrs. Johnson and Maggie, right away the readers see the differences in the family by how they talk, act, and dress. Dee has changed her name to an African name and is collecting the objects and materials of her past. Dee thinks that since she is in college she knows mores then theRead MoreEveryday Use By Alice Walker1111 Words   |  5 PagesIn some stories, characters can face conflicts in their 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 conversational and authentic. Alice Walker’s short story, Everyday Use is stylistic, ironic and narrates profound interpretation of unique views and approaches to African-AmericanRead MoreThe Meaning Of Heritage In The Color Purple By Alice Walker771 Words   |  4 PagesGeorgia, Alice Walker grew up as the youngest sibling in a poor family. As a Civil Rights activist, Walker fought for the equality of all African-Am ericans. She is best known for her novel The Color Purple which was published in 1982. In 1973, she released the story collection In Love and Trouble which included the short story â€Å"Everyday Use.† Alice Walker’s â€Å"Everyday Use† displays the theme of the meaning of heritage through irony and symbolism. Walker uses irony, which results in conflict, to displayRead MoreAnalysis Of Silko s Yellow Woman And Walker s Everyday Use2041 Words   |  9 Pagesprove that Silko’s Yellow Woman and Walker’s Everyday Use are inherently drawn to traditions of the past. First, I will show how identity is a common factor in both stories and plays such a large role in connecting the main characters and their past traditions. Second, I will illustrate how both stories are linked to symbolism, which will give proof to my claim that they are inherently drawn to their past traditions. Finally, I will show that the use of irony plays a part in both stories and is anotherRead MoreCritical Analysis Of Alice Walker s Everyday Use2414 Words   |  10 PagesTulsi Rizal Prof. Mary Huffer Eng122 24 April 2016 Critical Analysis of Alice Walker’s â€Å"Everyday Use† Alice Walker, most revered African American writer of the present time was born on 9th February 1944 in Eatonton, Georgia. She started her career as a social worker/activist, followed by teaching and and being a writer. She has won many awards for her fantastic social and literary works. Everyday use† was published in 1973, when African Americans were struggling to revive their original African cultureRead MoreCharacter Analysis Of Alice Walker, Flannery O Connor, And Raymond Carver1831 Words   |  8 Pagesfamily as a central theme are Alice Walker, Flannery O’Connor, and Raymond Carver. A commonality between all three stories is the emphasize on the role of women within the family unit. All three short stories use different elements such as characterization, conflict, plot, symbolism and tone, but while Alice Walker and Raymond Carver present â€Å"normal† family relationships, Flannery O’Connor presents a family relationship with â€Å"abnormal† behaviors. Alice Walker tried to use aspects of real life and incorporate

Views on Baz Luhrman’s Adaptation of Romeo and Juliet Free Essays

Capulet my name is anonymous. My topic for the IOP is based on the film ‘Romeo and Juliet by B Luhrmann . I am going to impersonate William Shakespeare with a monologue where I shall speak aloud my views on Baz Luhrman’s adaptation of my text. We will write a custom essay sample on Views on Baz Luhrman’s Adaptation of Romeo and Juliet or any similar topic only for you Order Now When I wrote this book I was attracting a crowd with very orthodoxed thnking . the idea of two young lovers going against the society merely for lust was intolerable! hence in my book they died 4 days into their courtship. Death was their punishment for going against the knomes of the society. my book was a one with a serious message put forth to the reader. Where as the movie which was adapted frm my text seems to be moulded inorder to attract an audience with a very openmindset mindset who prefer entertainment over moral values. It had a many humourous scenes ,mercutio dressing up like a girl and dancing at the capulets party,which the modern crowd would enjoy more. The main objective of the this movie was to make money,which was done by mocking at my well known novel of romeo and Juliet.. adapting their movie from my book must have been a huge advantage for them as tthey wouldn’t have needed any script or a new story which has the risk of being disliked by the audience. hey just changed the costumes and situations into modern day ones which will obviously entertain the audience as they picture romeo as a young teenager in the days of old and not wearing a suit and smoking a cigarette on the beach.. the movie has a many differnces compared to the book in order to make the film more entertaining. in my book Juliet was 14 years ol d but in the movie Juliet doesn’t appear to be 14 at all. the movie makers changed this aspect of the book in their movie in order to make the scenes expressing lust more entertaining for the crowd. But the reason I had Juliet to be so young in the book was to highlight fact that her actions were all justified by the fact that she was immature. The costumes of the actors in the movie were very western and commonly worn by the people of the new times. in my book they were meant to be dress the way the people did during the time of the book being published. instead of wearing the olden day clothes characters like benvolio were wearing hawaian shirts and romeo was dressed in a suit smoking a cigarette on the beach . scenes like this weren’t common to see in days when I wrote the book. Instead of actually swords the charactes threatened each other with shinning pistols with the word â€Å"sword† carved on them. this aspect of the movie killed the seriousness as in the opening scene the capulets pointed a pistol at the montagues and ordered him to raise his â€Å"sword†. How will two people have a dramatic fight holding two pistols against each other? In my book this scene was supposed to be a dramatic fight . The royal prince was replaced by a police official to make the movie more relative to the modern world. The reason my book had a royal prince was to highlight he fact that these two lovers were going against the will of the highest authority. the movie portrayed the same situation but the police official replacing the prince is another example which I saw where barz luhrman has presented a change in the film for it to be resembling a modern life situation. In two offices of the capulets and the montagues were shown in the film as tall skyscrapers where as my book was geographically set in Verona which is supposed to be a small and silent town. During the time when I wrote this book ,writers and producers would only produce works which gave some hints to make the viewers or readers to ponder over certain real life situations. but I guess times have changed and so has the mindset and the taste of the audience. they seem to enjoy mockeries instead of eye openers I feel barz luhrman has not been faithful to my text while depicting it as a mmovie because the movie simply mocks at the text i f I had an option to create a film depicting my text it would have been very different not changing any scenes for it to be enjoyed by the modern crowd. How to cite Views on Baz Luhrman’s Adaptation of Romeo and Juliet, Papers

Job Involvement free essay sample

The Effect of Job Involvement on Correctional Staff Eric G. Lambert The driving force of corrections is the staff of correctional facilities. It is important to understand how the work environment shapes the attitudes of correctional staff; yet, the effect of job involvement on correctional employees has received little, if any, attention. Most of the research to date has focused on job stress and job satisfaction among correctional staff. Only recently has there been research on other important work attitudes, such as job involvement. Job involvement may have important effects on salient work outcomes. Therefore, there is a need to explore how job involvement may influence correctional staff job stress, job satisfaction, organizational commitment, life satisfaction, turnover intentions, family-on-work conflict, and work-on-family conflict. By using data acquired from a survey of staff of a state-run correctional facility in the Midwest, the researcher examined the effects of job involvement on correctional staff job stress, job satisfaction, organizational commitment, life satisfaction, turnover intentions, family-on-work conflict, and work-on-family conflict. After controlling for gender, age, tenure, position, educational level, race, and supervisory status, the researcher conducted a multivariate analysis, which indicated that job involvement had a statistically significant positive relationship with job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and both forms of work-family conflict. Job involvement was observed to have non-significant direct effects on correctional staff job stress, life satisfaction, and turnover intentions. Work in corrections is often a hard, demanding job that usually holds little prestige in society, but it also can be a rewarding experience. â€Å"Few other organizations are charged with the central task of supervising and securing an unwilling and potentially violent population† (Armstrong Griffin, 2004, p. 577). Armstrong and Griffin further contend that â€Å"correctional institutions are unique work environments in both context and purpose† (2004, p. 577). Further, corrections occupies an important place in the criminal justice system as well as in society (Goodstein MacKenzie, 1989). Due to the importance of corrections in society and the criminal justice system, a growing body of research involves correctional officers. This research is required to understand how correctional staff influence the organization and, in turn, how the correctional organization affects the workers. Correctional staff are the heart and soul of any correctional organization. Staff are responsible for myriad tasks and responsibilities that ensure that the organization meets its goals of providing a safe, humane, and secure environment. Correctional organizations succeed (or fail) based on their employees. Archambeault and Archambeault point out that â€Å"correctional workers represent the single most important resource available to any correctional agency or institution in attempting to accomplish its mission, goals, and objectives† (1982: xxii). Correctional staff are the driving force of any correctional organization. The correctional staff literature to date has focused mainly on the effects of work environment on the attitudes and behaviors of correctional staff, particularly on the antecedents of job stress, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment. While many studies have focused on antecedents of work factors involving correctional staff, not all possible antecedents have been examined. The concept of job involvement has received very little attention in the correctional literature. This oversight is salient. Job involvement has been 1 theorized to be the force that helps shape many employee and organizational outcomes. Diefendorff, Brown, Kamin, and Lord argue that job involvement is â€Å"a key factor influencing important individual and organizational outcomes† (2002, 93). Furthermore, Brown contends that â€Å"increasing job involvement can enhance organizational effectiveness and productivity by engaging employees more completely in their work and making work a more meaningful and fulfilling experience† (1996, 235). Outside the field of corrections, job involvement is theorized to be an antecedent of job stress, job satisfaction, organizational commitment, life satisfaction, turnover intentions, and work-family conflict (Brown, 1996). Nevertheless, due to a lack of empirical exploration in the correctional literature, there is a question of what, if any, effects job involvement has on correctional staff job stress, job satisfaction, organizational commitment, life satisfaction, turnover intentions, and work-family conflict. This preliminary study examines an empirical void in the correctional literature: the effects of job involvement on correctional staff. Specifically, it examines the effect of job involvement by means of a multivariate analysis, while controlling for the personal characteristics of gender, age, tenure, position, educational level, race, and supervisory status, on correctional staff job stress, job satisfaction, organizational commitment, life satisfaction, turnover intentions, and work-family conflict. Literature Review Job involvement is the degree of importance an individual assigns the job in his or her life (i. e. , central life interest) (Dubin, 1956; Elloy, Everett, Flynn, 1995; Kanungo, 1982a, 1982b; Paullay, Alliger, StoneRomero, 1994). It is the psychological identification a person has with his or her job (Blau Boal, 1987; Brown Leigh, 1996; DeCarufel Schaan, 1990; Kanungo, 1982a, 1982b; and Lawler Hall, 1970). An individual with a high degree of job involvement would place the job at the center of his/her life=s interests. The well-known phrase ‘I live, eat, and breathe my job’ would describe someone whose job involvement is very high. . . . Persons with low job involvement would place something other than their jobs (e. g. , family, hobbies) at the center of their lives† (DeCarufel Schaan, 1990, 86). The opposite of job involvement is job alienation (Kanungo, 1979, 1982a). Job involvement is a distinct concept that differs from the concept of work ethic (Kanungo, 1982a, 1982b), which refers to the belief that work is important, and people should engage in work to better themselves (DeCarufel Schaan, 1990). Job involvement is also a distinct concept from job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Job involvement is the importance of the person’s job/work in his or her life, and job satisfaction is the degree of satisfaction an employee obtains from his or her job (Kanungo, 1982b). â€Å"[D]istinctions between emotional state of liking one=s job (job satisfaction) and the cognitive belief state of physiological identification with one’s job (job involvement) have been advanced for some time† (Brooke, Russell, Price, 1988, 139). Furthermore, organizational commitment is a bond with the organization, while job involvement is an attachment to the specific job (Kanungo, 1982a). Moreover, by using factor analytic procedures, Brooke et al. demonstrated empirically that job involvement, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment are indeed separate, distinct concepts. Job involvement is a critical factor in shaping worker outcomes (Diefendorff et al. , 2002; Lawler, 1986); for example, Hackman and Lawler (1971) theorize that job involvement is a salient factor in shaping the 2 otivation of individual workers. Yet, little research has been conducted on the effects of job involvement among criminal justice workers. Most of the criminal justice research on job involvement has been limited to the police. A study of police psychologists found no statistically significant correlation between job involvement and job satisfaction (Bergen, Aceto, Chadziewicz, 1992). A study of Canadian police officers observed that j ob involvement correlated positively with both job satisfaction and organizational commitment (DeCarufel Schaan, 1990). A study of Midwestern police officers observed that job involvement correlated significantly with organizational commitment and turnover intentions (McElroy, Morrow, Wardlow, 1999). In a study of Southern police officers, Lord (1996) reported a relationship between job involvement and the stressors of role conflict and role ambiguity. A study of Midwestern police officers found that supervisory initiation of structure in the workplace correlated positively with the level of self-reported job involvement (Brief, Aldag, Wallden, 1976). Another study of Midwestern police officers reported that job involvement decreased during the eight months after academy training (Hazer Alvares, 1981). A study of New Zealand police officers found no difference in level of job involvement between male and female respondents (Love Singer, 1988). Little, if any, published research exists on the effects of job involvement among correctional staff. Job stress is generally defined in the correctional literature as a worker’s feelings of job-related difficulty, tension, anxiety, and distress (Cullen, Link, Wolfe, Frank, 1985; Grossi, Keil, Vito, 1996). The researcher predicted that job involvement has a negative effect on job stress: those who are not involved do not look forward to their jobs; they work in jobs they care little about. Further, employees alienated from the job find it frustrating to attend work, day after day, which ultimately leads to increased job stress. Conversely, people who identify psychologically with their jobs may look forward to work. Locke defines job satisfaction as â€Å"a pleasurable or positive emotional state resulting from the appraisal of one=s job or job experiences† (1976, 1300). Job satisfaction is an affective response by a worker concerning his or her particular job, and it results from an overall comparison of actual outcomes with outcomes the worker needs, wants, or desires (Cranny, Smith, Stone, 1992). Job satisfaction is the degree to which an individual likes his or her job (Spector, 1996). The researcher hypothesized that job involvement has a positive relationship with job satisfaction among correctional employees: people who are involved in work find it stimulating, which makes the job more satisfying. Organizational commitment is loyalty to the organization, identification with the organization and its core values (i. e. , pride in the organization and internalization of the goals of the organization), and a desire for involvement in the organization (Mowday, Porter, Steers, 1982; Mowday, Steers, Porter, 1979). A global concept, organizational commitment is much more than just a bond to the job or a work group. It is a commitment to the whole employing organization (Lambert, Barton, Hogan, 1999). The researcher postulated that job involvement has a positive effect on organizational commitment: people who are not involved with their jobs are probably more likely to blame the organization for having a job they care little about, which means less likelihood of commitment to the organization. Conversely, people who are involved should form a greater bond with the organization from which the job originates. Life satisfaction is the cognitive appraisal of the overall degree of satisfaction a person has with his or her life (Donovan Halpern, 2002; Hart, 1999); it is a person’s overall assessment of the quality of his or her life. The importance of work in a person’s life might affect a person’s overall satisfaction with life. 3 Therefore, the researcher predicted that job involvement has a positive relationship with correctional staff life satisfaction. Work is an important part of most peoples’ lives and occupies a significant proportion of their waking day. Besides consuming a considerable amount of time, a person’s job often shapes his or her identity (Lambert, Hogan, Paoline, Baker, 2005). According to Terkel (1974), a job for many people provides â€Å"daily meaning as well as daily bread† (p. xi). If correctional staff have high job involvement, they should report greater satisfaction with life because they think they have purpose. Correctional workers who have low job involvement should report lower life satisfaction because they have a job they have little interest in doing. Turnover intentions are the cognitive process of thinking, planning, and desiring to leave a job (Mobley, Griffeth, Hand, Meglino, 1979). Turnover intentions generally occur before actual turnover; moreover, turnover intentions are generally the best predictor of voluntary turnover (Steel Ovalle, 1984). According to Fishbein and Ajzen, â€Å"The best single predictor of an individual=s behavior will be a measure of his intention to perform that behavior† (1975, p. 369). The author hypothesized that job involvement is inversely linked with turnover intentions among correctional employees; people with high job involvement have little reason to leave the job. Conversely, correctional workers who are alienated from their jobs may, over time, develop a strong desire to leave their jobs. Work-family conflict is â€Å"a form of inter-role conflict in which the role pressures from the work and family domains are mutually incompatible in some respect. That is, participation in the work (family) role is made more difficult by participation in the family (work) role† (Greenhaus Beutell, 1985, p. 77). Work-family conflict can be divided into two primary dimensions. One dimension occurs when family or social matters cause conflict at work. This type of work-family conflict is called family-on-work conflict. The second dimension of work-family conflict occurs when work matters affect family or social life, and this dimension is called work-on-family conflict (Netermeyer, Boles, McMurrian, 1996). Job involvement could be related to family-on-work conflict. Workers with low job involvement might not care when home issues cause distractions at work; however, employees who are highly involved with work may have greater family-onwork conflict. Job involvement could also be linked with work-on-family conflict. Brown argues that â€Å"high levels of job involvement could possibly lead to trading off family commitments in favor of job commitments† (1996, p. 239). Individuals too occupied with their jobs may experience problems at home when family members or friends push them to pend less time focused on the job. Thus, the researcher postulated that job involvement has a statistically significant positive correlation with both family-on-work conflict and workon-family conflict among correctional employees. Methods Respondents The researcher administered a questionnaire to the staff at a Midwestern state correctional institution that houses mainly medium to maximum security adu lt male inmates younger than aged 26 years. Staff were informed the survey was voluntary and their responses would be anonymous. Of the 400 surveys issued, a total of 272 useable surveys were returned, which is a response rate of 68%. Respondents represented all areas of the correctional facility, such as correctional officers, case managers, medical staff, industry staff, and food service workers. The respondents also represented various administrative levels of the correctional facility, from line staff to supervisors and managers. The respondents appeared to be 4 representative of the staff at the prison. Among the total prison staff, approximately 77% were male, 86% were White, and 53% were correctional officers. Among the respondents, about 76% were male, 81% were White, and 50% were correctional officers. Variables Control Variables. The personal characteristics of gender, age, tenure, position, educational level, race, and supervisory status were selected as control variables. Gender was measured as a dichotomous variable (0 = female and 1 = male); 76% of the respondents were male. Age was measured in continuous years and had a mean of 42. 55 years, with a standard deviation of 8. 32. Tenure at the correctional facility was measured in continuous years and had a mean of 9. 4 years, with a standard deviation of 6. 82. Position was measured according to whether the respondent worked in custody (coded as 1) or not (coded as 0); 50% were correctional officers. For this study, educational level represented whether a respondent had earned a college degree (1) or not (0); 41% of the respondents had earned some type of college degree (i. e. , associate’s, bachelor’s, master’s, or professional). Race was measured as a dichotomous variable (0 = Nonwhite and 1 = White); 81% of the respondents marked White. Finally, a variable representing whether the espondent was a supervisor of other workers (1) or not (0) was created; 24% of the respondents indicated they were supervisors. Job Involvement. Job involvement was measured by using the response to three items (â€Å"I live, eat, and breathe my job,† â€Å"The most important things that happen to me in my life usually occur at work,† and â€Å"The major satisfaction in my life comes from work†). The items were adopted from Lawler and Hall (1970). Those surveyed responded to the three items by using a five-point Likert type of scale ranging from strongly disagree to agree, and the responses were summed together to form a job involvement index. Dependent Variables. Job stress was measured by using five items (e. g. , â€Å"During the past 6 months, how often have you experienced a feeling of being emotionally drained at the end of the workday† and â€Å"During the past 6 months, how often have you experienced a feeling of worry that the job is hardening you emotionally†) from the Prison Social Climate Survey of the Federal Bureau of Prisons (Wright Saylor, 1992). The response options for the job stress items were rarely occurs, seldom occurs, occurs somewhat, usually occurs, and occurs frequently. Job satisfaction was measured by using five items (e. g. , â€Å"Most days I am enthusiastic about my job† and â€Å"I find real enjoyment in my job†) from Brayfield and Rothe (1951). Respondents answered the job satisfaction items by using a five-point Likert type of scale ranging from strongly disagree to agree. Nine items from Mowday et al. (1982) were used to measure organizational commitment (e. g. , â€Å"I really care about the fate of this prison,† â€Å"I feel little loyalty to this prison† (reverse coded), and â€Å"I find that my values and the prison=s values are very similar†).