Alice Walker Identity

The obsession with one's quest for identity is part of the human reality of the self-defining paradox; a universal theme. In essence, in Hawthorne's narrative, the readers are able to witness the importance of one's own definition identity through personal semiotics and the deceiving reality of not finding true self; thus making it both relational and understandable. While Young Goodman brown, may have “taken a dreary road, darkened by the gloomiest trees” (Hawthorne p.1) the universality of discovering one true self, lays within the conquest of hardship and adversity. Providing historical figures serves as intellectuals who surpass the boundaries of standardized community prospects, resulting in diverse outcomes and eye-opening perspectives.
It is the heirloom of the “handmade family quilts” (Walker p.1) being brought into the new generation that creates a temporal pragmatism or reality for a refining culture; a physicality of an object that loses its meaning. In both works the characters face a dilemma in which they are presented with a “threshold” (Hawthorne p.1) and the decision to cross it; the liberation to leave the external influences and making sense in one's own prospect. It is through adversity and acknowledgment of one's self that leads to the discovery of an authentic and unique purpose in life. The paradox that the two works create is a deceiving reality of which both are incapable of finding themselves while losing their past
In the story, Walker present two characters; Maggie and Dee. Maggie a shy timid girl as her mother describes her posture of “chin on chest, eyes on ground, feet in shuffle” (Walker p.2). Dee, on the other hand, is a progressive person who wore bright and colorful clothing that could “throw back the light of a sun” (Walker p.3). The sense of the traditions in Maggie and Dee are different, due to Dee abandonment of her traditions, while Maggie still lives within it and it inlaid within her. Through the ideas that Maggie states, "'Aunt Dee's first husband whittled the dash,' said Maggie so low you almost couldn't hear her” (Walker p.5), she has a phenomenal understanding. Maggie is a person of few words, but the way she talks indicates of her rich sense of heritage that Dee lacks. Dee views her culture as something that oppresses her, such as her name that she, “couldn't bare any longer” (Walker p.3) because she was, “named after the people who oppress [her]” (Walker p.3). Even so, she still returns to her mother seeking for a part of her that was left behind. Dee goes on saying, "I can use the churn top as a centerpiece for the alcove table...and I'll think of something artistic to do with the dasher." (Walker p.5). Though Dee seems to appreciate the tokens, she only sees them be priceless artifacts that she frames. Rather than