the lesson

This short story had some very similiar characteristics of a movie called "Dangerous Minds." Michelle Pheifer plays the role of a teacher who is the only white one in the school, she works in a classroom with all hoodlums and finds a way to turn them around. I know this story was about young kids but it is still of the same idea. The main idea of this story was that not everything was learned in the classroom, by the trip the teacher took with these kids to FAO Schwartz, she tries to teach them that being yourself and working hard can take you to where you want to be, regardless of what other people think or what people expect of you. In the story the girl Mercedes and Sylvia are total opposites, Mercedes knowing that she wants to succeed, and be able to provide for a family. We can only help ourselves, and if we have it in us to succeed, and "go against the grain" anybody can make it.

everyday use

This story was interesting because you see what one quilt can represent. The representation of culture and heritage lies in this quilt also based on the characters ideas of what culture and heritage actually are. Any view can differ of something depending on any person and their way of thinking. For instance, Dee is the beautiful one with the personality and her sister Maggie is boring and shy, and they both have different outlooks on the same thing. Sometimes people that start from the same background like Dee and her family, go on to a higher education and forget where they came from. Others are stuck in the past and need to update their lives, which is the case in this story with the mother and Maggie.