ESSAY CEMETERY

Themes and remarks ·         Efficiency, resourcefulness and self-reliance “In real life I am a large, big.boned woman with rough, man.working hands. In the winter I wear flannel nightgowns to bed and overalls dur.ing the day. I can kill and clean a hog as mercilessly as a man. My fat keeps me hot in zero weather. I can work outside all day, breaking ice to get water for washing; I can eat pork liver cooked over the open fire minutes after it comes steaming from the hog.” ·         Mother ashamed in the context of her daughter “One winter I knocked a bull calf straight in the brain between the eyes with a sledge hammer and had the meat hung up to chill before nightfall. But of course all this does not show on television. I am the way my daughter would want me to be: a hundred pounds lighter, my skin like an uncooked barley pancake. My hair glistens in the hot bright lights. Johnny Carson has much to do to...

Dee is coming to visit. The narrator, her mother, and Dee's sister Maggie have prepared the house for her. Maggie was burned badly when their house burned down and has low self esteem, especially compared to Dee. Dee is lighter skinned, and very self-confident and not intimidated by whites. The narrator feels ashamed of herself when compared with Dee. The narrator too has low self confidence that stems from her lack of education and from comparisons with confident Dee. Dee never had friends, just adoring followers. Dee brings her boyfriend to see Maggie and her mother. They are both excessively compensating for white oppression by changing their names to African ones. Nuances in Dee's behavior show that she is ashamed of her simple roots. They come off as very uppity. Her mother senses this and when Dee demands two quilts pieced by her aunt and grandmother, her mother does not want to give them. Dee appreciates their artistic value, but not their emotional valu...