Pulitzer Prize winner. Book turned into a Broadway masterpiece. Many successful stories written, and currently still developing fame. Alice Walker, an author of many talents, writes pieces traditionally about topics like sexism, racism, isolation, and more. She’s a substantially talented author who writes deep meaningful stories, has an exceptional writing voice, and wrote two short stories that catch many people’s eyes, called “The Flowers” and “Everyday Use.” These two stories, though they are written by the same person, clash in many ways. However, when they’re not clashing, they’re fitting together like two pieces of yarn woven together into the fought over quilts in “Everyday Use.” The virtuous but gradually dark tone, external conflict,
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The plot structures are fairly normal, other than in “Flowers” the climax has no build-up and is basically just a drop into the conflict. This is pretty similar to “Everyday Use,” but it’s more like a steeper escalator than an elevator. Also, in “Flowers,” there is no resolution. It ends on a cliffhanger, which is left up to interpretation. But in “Everyday Use” they solve their problems. “She [Dee] put on some sunglasses that hid everything above the tip of her nose and her chin. Maggie smiled, maybe at the sunglasses. But a real smile, not scared. After we watched the car dust settle, I asked Maggie to bring me a dip of snuff. And then the two of us sat there just enjoying, until it was time to go in the house and go to bed.” (“Everyday Use”) Everything works out okay in the end. Quite the contrary for “Flowers,” though. Alice Walker is a genius when it comes to cliffhangers. She’s an expert at hooks. She knows about writing stories that weave together and relate. She knows how to omit necessary things without missing them. She’s got down how to tackle controversial topics. She knows how to make the audience feel things. She was able to connect these two stories without even knowing she was! That is talent, and something that anyone should be recognized
The plot structures are fairly normal, other than in “Flowers” the climax has no build-up and is basically just a drop into the conflict. This is pretty similar to “Everyday Use,” but it’s more like a steeper escalator than an elevator. Also, in “Flowers,” there is no resolution. It ends on a cliffhanger, which is left up to interpretation. But in “Everyday Use” they solve their problems. “She [Dee] put on some sunglasses that hid everything above the tip of her nose and her chin. Maggie smiled, maybe at the sunglasses. But a real smile, not scared. After we watched the car dust settle, I asked Maggie to bring me a dip of snuff. And then the two of us sat there just enjoying, until it was time to go in the house and go to bed.” (“Everyday Use”) Everything works out okay in the end. Quite the contrary for “Flowers,” though. Alice Walker is a genius when it comes to cliffhangers. She’s an expert at hooks. She knows about writing stories that weave together and relate. She knows how to omit necessary things without missing them. She’s got down how to tackle controversial topics. She knows how to make the audience feel things. She was able to connect these two stories without even knowing she was! That is talent, and something that anyone should be recognized