Three short stories

Walker's story is the tale of a mother, two sisters, and the grandmother's quilts. It is the story of what it means to be true to one's roots, in this case one's family or racial roots. One sister (along with her mother) discover the truth and goodness o the family, while the other sister is ashamed of her family roots and suffers a shallow and bitter life because of her failure to see the human soul behind an economically limited existence.

Maggie, the younger sister of Dee, and the mother of Maggie and Dee (the narrator) await the return of Dee, who has been living away from home for a long time. Maggie and the mother see Dee as a sophisticated, independent and strong woman who is not like them at all. Dee is in fact a completely self-centered person who cares about nobody but herself. She is ashamed of her roots, her true roots, her family. It is ironic to fin

. . .
of her family life and history, so does Sarty in Faulkner's story have to finally see the hateful insanity of his father in order to free himself from it. Sarty's father is a man who lives only to gnaw on the injustices life has dealt him and to plan destructive acts in order to get his revenge. The boy is swept up in his father's madness, just as the wife and daughters are terrified of it. The boy is brainwashed by his father into seeing others as enemies. Finally, however, he boy must face a choice which will give him the chance to break free. His father wants him to take part in a barn burning against a perceived enemy: Then he was moving, running. . . . This the old habit, the old blood which he had not been permitted to choose for himself, which had been bequeathed him willy nilly and which had run for so long and who new where, battening on what of outrage and savagery and lust) before it came to him. I could keep on, he thought, I could run on and on and never look back, never need to see his face again. Only I can't. I can't (Faulkner 152). The boy cannot run away to freedom at that point, but later he finds the courage to break away. Even as he runs for freedom, leaving his father behind to apparently be shot for h
. . .

Some common words found in the essay are:
Stand Ironing, Sarty Faulkner's, Maggie Dee's, Maggie Walker's, Dee Polaroid, Maggie Dee, Black Muslim, Snopes Faulkner's, NJ Prentice-Hall, Africa Maggie, walker's story, mother maggie, maggie mother, roberts henry jacobs, saddle river nj, literature ed, edgar roberts, ed edgar, stand ironing, henry jacobs upper, nj prentice-hall, upper saddle river, prentice-hall 1995, jacobs upper saddle, family shown,
Approximate Word count = 1812
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)