In both of the short stories, “No Sweetness Here” and “Everyday Use” the conflicting views of staying true to your culture and moving forward with your success are evident through the lives of the women. Both authors offer the idea that womanhood consists of caring for your child and providing them with a life betterthan your own, while also demonstrating the idea that a woman should be able create a successful life for herself. Both authors depict that these two conflicting views come with a cost that determines a woman’s quality of life.
In “ No Sweetness Here” by Ama Ata Aidoo the life portrayed by Maami Ama represents one of a woman where all she has is her child. She demonstrates a woman that is an extremely hard worker and provides for her child. At the cost of providing her son Maami Ama stays within the horizons of what her village has to offer her. She is not a woman who is trying to expand her life to places where she can reach success. During a conversation with Chicha, Maami Ama states “ Chicha, I shall willingly submit to your canes if he gets his sums wrong “ (Aidoo 56). She will go as far as taking her sons punishments in order to keep him safe. This is a lifestyle she has chosen herself as a woman. Culturally her child’s life means more to her than her own life and will do anything at any cost to keep him safe.
Mama in “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker is a woman like Maami Ama who has chosen to work very hard in order to be a good mother. She describes herself as a “ large, big-boned woman with rough, man-working hands” (Walker 86), she is clearly not afraid of work. Mama and her daughter Maggie have chosen a life style where they are true to their ancestors and the culture that has raised them, whereas her second daughter Dee is depicted as a woman who has chose to stray away from this lifestyle in order to create a better one. The cost of losing culture and value is seen through the name change Dee has given herself. She goes from being called “Dee”, full of value and “named after [her] aunt Dicie” (Walker 88), to “Wanergo Lee-wanika Kemanjo”. While Dee has chosen the lifestyle of success at the cost of her culture, her sister Maggie demonstrates the complete opposite decision. Where she has been living with her mother and the value of their culture allowing her to understand the value of the quilts wanted so badly by Wangero, but will never be able “to make something outof [herself]” (Walker 91), according to her sister.
There is no right or wrong decision when a woman chooses a specific life to live, like the women in both of the stories. Even though both authors depict the two conflicting life styles that are achieved through certain costs, each woman chose one knowing what they were doing. Mama and Maggie both chose to live with their culture while Dee chose to leave it behind her precede success. Maami Ama chose to live for her son and leave behind her own life at the cost of losing it all in the end. Women have this freedom and it is up to them to choose how they want live at whatever cost it may be.
The Voices Of A Storm 
Jasmine, i can defiantly agree with your thesis statement, as it opened my eyes to a completely different prospective taken out of these stories. The way you back up your thesis with strong evidence by stating carring for you child and providing them with a better life then you own is very true, as it is demonstrated in both stories. Your use and placement of quotations throughout your blog post was very strategic and made the reader get a better understanding of your work. Overall i thought u did a great job, nice work.
-Joe Pelosi
I really enjoyed reading your piece. You did a great job supporting your thesis about how women work to create a better life for their children than they had. I thought this was an impressive point to pick up on, seeing as it’s not only present in the literature we are reading in class, but in many different pieces of literature as well. It’s a universally known idea that could be hard to approach, but you did it well. Another point you made that I thought was very insightful was that the women in these stories, although they seem poor and oppressed at first glance, have a certain amount of freedom that no one could take away from them, the freedom to do what ever was necessary to provide more for their child than they had. You did a great job with this piece.
–Mary Shaffer
Jasmine, I think your piece offers a unique interpretation on the depiction of womanhood and how women are treated. The oppression of women is a common theme in both of these pieces of literature, but your analysis shows something completely different, being that women have the freedom of choice in order to pursue the life they want to live. In addition to this I feel as though your response included a solid amount of analysis and opinion about what the theme of the piece could possibly be, rather than just stating occurrences throughout the piece. It was interesting how you took each characters life choices explained in the story and provided your own insight on not only the repercussions of them but the reasons behind them as well. Over all I enjoyed reading your response because it made me view both stories in a more positive light.