Which two of these excerpts from “everyday use” by alice walker most clearly explore socioeconomic status?

a) i never had an education myself. after second grade the school was closed down. don't ask my why: in 1927 colored asked fewer questions than they do now. sometimes maggie reads to me. she stumbles along good-naturedly but can't see well. she knows she is not bright. like good looks and money, quickness passes her by.

b) when she was courting jimmy t she didn't have much time to pay to us, but turned all her faultfinding power on him. he flew to marry a cheap city girl from a family of ignorant flashy people. she hardly had time to recompose herself.

c) it is hard to see them clearly through the strong sun. but even the first glimpse of leg out of the car tells me it is dee. her feet were always neat-looking, as if god himself had shaped them with a certain style. from the other side of the car comes a short, stocky man.

d) dee next. a dress down to the ground, in this hot weather. a dress so loud it hurts my eyes. there are yellows and oranges enough to throw back the light of the sun. i feel my whole face warming from the heat waves it throws out. earrings gold, too, and hanging down to her shoulders. bracelets dangling and making noises when she moves her arm up to shake the folds of the dress out of her armpits.

e) we sat down to eat and right away he said he didn't eat collards and pork was unclean. wangero, though, went on through the chitins and corn bread, the greens and everything else. she talked a blue streak over the sweet potatoes. everything delighted her.
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The correct answers are excerpt A " I never had an education myself. After second grade the school was closed down. Don't ask my why: in 1927 colored asked fewer questions than they do now..." and excerpt B " When she was courting Jimmy T she didn't have much time to pay to us, but turned all her faultfinding power on him..."

Explanation:

"Everyday Use" is a short story by the American writer Alice Walker, in this story, the main characters are an Afro-American woman and her two daughters Dee and Maggie, who have different perspectives about heritage and Afro-American culture. But besides, exploring heritage this story explores other issues or aspects related to the Afro-Americans, this includes the socioeconomic status.

This can be seen in excerpt A "I never had an education myself. After second grade the school was closed down. Don't ask my why...", because in this excerpt the mother explains she did not have an education "I never had an education myself" and despite her daughter, Maggie knows how to read she is not smart or have money "She knows she is not bright. Like good looks and money, quickness passes her by", which is directly connected to the socioeconomic status of both women.

Similarly in excerpt B "When she was courting Jimmy T she didn't have much time to pay to us" the mother explains one of her daughters were courting with a boy of the town, but the boy decided to marry a girl from the city who seems to be or at least pretends to be from a higher socioeconomic status "He flew to marry a cheap city girl from a family of ignorant flashy people" which shows the differences between different socioeconomic status.

what: when quoting a source, use the author’s words verbatim, or word-for-word. this means you shouldn’t change any grammar, punctuation, spelling, etc. put quotations around the words to tell your reader where the quote begins and where it ends.

you also need to acknowledge the author. for example, if using mla format for your research paper, you should have in-text citations with the author’s name and page number listed at the end of each quote.

when: use quotations to provide concrete examples to support your claims. using direct quotations is a great way to build your credibility on the subject. it’s also a good idea to quote your source when the author states things in a powerful way. if you think he or she said it best, then use the exact words to share the ideas.

example: in the short story “a jury of her peers”, mrs. hale compares mrs. wright to her caged bird, saying “she—come to think of it, she was kind of like a bird herself. real sweet and pretty, but kind of timid and—fluttery. how—she—did—change” (glaspell).

paraphrasing

what: paraphrasing differs from quoting because you restate the passage in your own words. since you don’t use the author’s words, you don’t need to use quotation marks. however, you still need to acknowledge the author for his or her ideas.

when paraphrasing a text, you should communicate the full meaning of the text; don’t change the meaning. it can be a condensed version of the text, or it could end up being longer than the source it’s paraphrasing.

when: you use paraphrasing when you take notes, or explain a chart or diagram to someone. paraphrasing highlight the important parts of a larger text. it also allows you to simplify the ideas for your readers.

example:

original: “it was no ordinary thing that called her away–it was probably further from ordinary than anything that had ever happened in dickson county. but what her eye took in was that her kitchen was in no shape for leaving: her bread all ready for mixing, half the flour sifted and half unsifted” (glaspell).

paraphrase: as mrs. hales walks around mrs. wright’s home, she notices that the kitchen is in disarray as if she was in the middle of baking bread (glaspell).