Everyday Use By Alice Walker Compare And Contrast

Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use” is a narrative about a family and their discovery of heritage’s importance. While reading the story after researching the author Alice Walker, readers can unearth both similar and contrasting traits between Walker and her characters Dee and Maggie. “Everyday Use’s” setting is the first aspect reflective of Alice Walker in a huge way. Alice Walker who “lived in poverty” and was “born into a world marked by racism, sexism, and poverty”(Cummings 1) has a similar setting like Dee and Maggie’s. Both Maggie and Dee lived in poverty as their mother “worked outside all day, breaking ice to get water for washing” (Walker 19). From the mother's description of getting water and working outside all day, we can infer the family

In accordance with the definition of strange which is “unfamiliar or foreign”, Mama’s use of this word introduces the notion that blacks and whites were separated. This same idea of similarities is present in the personal experiences of Dee and Maggie. Both Maggie and Alice Walker had an equally destructive incident in their childhood. Maggie was caught in a detrimental fire that resulted in “burn scars down her arms and legs” (Walker 18). Similarly, Alice Walker was blinded in her left eye as a result of a fired BB gun (Cummings 1). Each of these events are very critical and could form new obstacles both physically and mentally. Despite facing harsh obstacles, Dee still makes impressive achievements like Walker. After Dee graduates from high school and leaves home like Walker, she adopts an African name. Sam Whiskitt, author of the African American Review, comments “Walker like Dee has an African name...the name Dee is given, Wangero, is the same name Walker herself was given when she went to Africa” (444). Walker’s character Dee in like manner, adopts the same name she did. These elements in both the characters and author’s lives show that they are parallel in some