blog #8

Both Ezra Pound’s short story “Everyday Use” and Alice Walker’s unique poem entitled “In a Station of the Metro”; deal with the idea of finding a kind of beauty in seemingly ugly things. In Walker’s poem she is able to see the beautiful haze of faces in a metro station and the beauty of a flower against a wet bough. In Pound’s story both the mother and her youngest daughter Maggie, are able to see beauty in the simplicity of their life and their heritage. This idea of being able to find joy in things that appear to be unappealing is something that is an important concept in these poems as well as in our everyday life.

In “Everyday Use” you immediately get the sense that there is a feeling of conflict between the mother and the younger sister Maggie and the older sister Dee about the way they live and their heritage. Throughout the entire story, the narrator, the mother, has given the idea that they live a very laid back and simple life, but Dee has always hated the life, which she had been given. From the beginning, the author almost insinuated that the fire that burned down their first home was started or enjoyed by Dee herself. The mother raised money with the church to send Dee away to pursue a life that she felt was better than the one she was handed. Dee finally returns home with a new outlook. The moment she arrives at the house she pulls out her camera to take pictures of everything that she believes to be the simple ways of her still somewhat repressed family and the ways of the past she left behind, not only by going to school but by taking a stand and “making a name” for herself as an African woman. Dee has left her name behind, because she believes it to be the name that was given to her by the slaves and becomes Wangero. Dee wants to proudly display her heritage on the walls like pieces of artwork, but not be associated with the things that made her who she is. The mother on the other hand, is able to see where she came from and understands that her past in beautiful, her life may be simple but it brings her joy. Dee isn’t able to see the beauty in her past, she only wants to have it so she can present it, and say, “Look what I came from, look whom my family was.” After Dee leaves, in a fit, both Maggie and the mother sit on the porch enjoying the charming, delightful life that is there’s’. They know where they came from and where they are right now, and they are able to see the real beauty in that.

Walker’s poem “In a Station of the Metro” takes a different spin on this idea. Although, the poem is not as lengthy, in fact it contains only fourteen words, the meaning seems to be clear. Walker is able to so clearly depict this idea of seeing beauty in the midst of seemingly undesirable, ugly things. The title in “In an Station of the Metro” sets the stage for where the first line of the poem takes place. But instead of getting a sentence like “there was gum all over the floor”, she surprises the reader by describing a peaceful dream like scene. Walker writes, “The apparition of these faces in the crowd”. This image draws to mind immediately floating faces, not expression, no sound, just a silent peacefully moving mass. The next line she states, “Petals on a wet, black bough”, again she surprises us, petals are usually thought of with brightness and spring time, but she puts them with the words black and wet. Walker is able to take these images out of their ugly backdrops and show them to the reader as beautiful. She wants the reader to open their eyes and find beauty in everyday life.

Walker’s poem really rang true to me. I tutor in an area that is far from the Loyola surrounding. My sister picks me up at 3:30 and we travel for a half an hour to this elementary school, which is in a place that many of us couldn’t even imagine going to. But the ride to tutoring is just about as good as tutoring itself. It is fascinating to see how others live, and see what they find to be fun. One afternoon we were driving through one of the worse parts of our drive, and we are coming up to a light. I hear my sister utter, “yess”, in confusion of what her exclamation was for; she turns to me and says, “oh, it’s a red light, so I can look around.” I nodded in agreement. We watch as high school kids get out of school and hang out by the city bus stops, as people exit in our surprise from the local fortune teller’s like shake on the corner of the street with a neon sign glowing no matter what time of day, and as people enter and exit in mass, the liquor store. We pass the rows of broken down houses with people sitting out on the steps talking to their friends. It’s a sight that never seems to get old, and every time there is something or someone knew. It is something that is able to brighten my day either by a happy sight of a little boy playing in the run down park with his older brother, amidst all the laidback chaos, or it allows me to see the beauty in what I have been given, and the blessing in my life. Both of these poems highlighted this idea of my everyday routine, and showed the importance of looking for the beauty in everything that you do.