My scarred hands are trembling as I tuck my blouse into my skirt. My sister will be here any minute. The sister that has always held life in the palm of one hand. The sister that has never heard the word "no" from anyone. The sister who hated me. Maybe she doesn’t anymore, now that she doesn’t have to look at me every day. Mama finally raised enough money, with the help of the church, to send her to Augusta school. After that, Dee became more scarce but even less tolerable. Once she learned to read, she would read to us all the time. I’m still not sure that all of what she read to us was true, though. That would be just like Dee. Never admitting to being wrong so she’d make something up. Well, I can read now too! I read to Mama sometimes. I still stumble a little, but at least I’m honest. I know I’m not really bright but I’m a little brighter than most people give me credit for. I don’t mind. I don’t need to be really smart, pretty, or rich. Unlike Dee. Dee has always wanted nice things. She has a way of convincing Mama to buy her things even if we can’t afford it. Like that yellow organdy dress she wore to her high school graduation and those black pumps to match a green suit she'd made herself. She’s had a style of her own since age sixteen. This is what I’m thinking as I look at myself in the mirror. I wish the sleeves on this blouse were long enough to hide my arms a little better. It’s hot today, though, so I’ll have to show a little charred skin. I take a deep breath and peek out the door. "How do I look, Mama?" "Come out into the yard," she says. I shuffle out with my eyes on the hard clay ground that Mama and I spent all yesterday cleaning. A car stops in front of our house and I know i... ... middle of paper ... ...o call me by it if you don't want to," says Wangero. "Why shouldn't I?" asks Mama. "If that's what you want us to call you, we'll call you." "I know it might sound awkward at first," says Wangero. "I'll get used to it," she says. "Ream it out again." Once Mama gets the hang of pronouncing Dee's new name, she attempts "Asalamalakim." After tripping over it a few times he tells her to just call him Hakim-a-barber. I think that he hasn’t been to a barber in a long time. "You must belong to those beef cattle peoples down the road," Mama says. They say "Asalamalakim" when they meet you, too, but they don't shake hands. Too busy, I guess. Hakim-a-barber says, "I accept some of their doctrines, but farming and raising cattle is not my style." Works Cited Walker, Alice, and Barbara Christian. Everyday Use. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers UP, 1994. Print.
The main Character in the short story “I Stand Here Ironing” by Alice Walker explains in the beginning of the story that she has 2 children and one is coming to visit her from school in Augusta. Mama had decided to send Dee off to school in Augusta after their house caught on fire and she was now coming home to visit Mama and her younger sister Maggie. Mama says “Maggie will be nervous until after her sister goes: she will stand hopelessly in the corners, homely and ashamed of the burn scars down her arms and legs, eying her sister with a mixture of envy and awe”(Walker 155). Maggie was in the house when it caught fire, her mother had to drag her out but Dee and been out first so her does not have
The protagonist, Mama, shows two distinct traits throughout the story. She possesses a hard working demeanor and rugged features, leading to her insecurities shown throughout the story. She raised two children without the assistance of a man in her life, forcing her to take on both roles, and further transforming her into a coarse, tough, and burly woman. Mama portrays this through her own account of herself, saying “[i]n real life I am a large, big-boned woman with rough, man-working hands. In the winter I wear flannel nightgowns to bed and overalls during the day. I can kill and clean a hog as mercilessly as a man”(Walker 1312). It is very difficult for Mama to raise her kids on her own, but she does whatever
Before even truly greeting her mother and sister, Dee takes photo after photo, artfully framing every shot with both her mother and the house that she loathes, but never allowing herself to be in the picture. This was D...
When we meet our narrator, the mother of Maggie and Dee, she is waiting in the yard with Maggie for Dee to visit. The mother takes simple pleasure in such a pleasant place where, "anyone can come back and look up at the elm tree and wait for the breezes that never come inside the house." (Walker 383) This is her basic attitude, the simple everyday pleasures that have nothing to do with great ideas, cultural heritage or family or racial histories. She later reveals to us that she is even more the rough rural woman since she, "can kill and clean a hog as mercilessly as a man." (Walker 383) Hardly a woman one would expect to have much patience with hanging historical quilts on a wall. Daughter Maggie is very much the opposite of her older sister, Dee. Maggie is portrayed as knowing "she is not bright." (Walker 384)
Dee was coming home to visit her mother and sister for the first time since she left for school, but when she arrived the differences was noticeable. When she first arrived she has on “A dress so loud that it hurts my eyes, there are yellow and oranges enough to through back the light of the sun” (Walker). Dee also brought along one of her friends name Hakim-a-barber, while visiting Dee seen some different items from the past that she would like to take back home with her. She wanted to take with her a churn top that her Uncle Buddy whittled out of a tree and a dasher also but wanted to use them as decoration at her place and not for use so she
Mrs. Johnson, the mother, is described as, “a large, big-boned woman with rough, man-working hands” (6). She tells some of her capabilities including, “I can kill and clean a hog as mercilessly as a man. . .I can work outside all day, breaking ice to get water for washing; I can eat pork liver cooked over the open fire minutes after it comes steaming from the hog” (6). This description informs readers that Mrs. Johnson has learned all the ways and traditions of her ancestors and knows how to survive from day to day. She and Maggie’s lives in the small home represent a simple, unsophisticated way of life. Dee, on the other hand is described as, “[light-skinned], with nicer hair and a fuller figure” who “wanted nice things” and “had a style of her own” (7). The clothes Dee wears and the phrases she uses to greet her mother and sister show that she has no real understanding of her background and where she comes from. This shows Dee to be materialistic, complex, and lead a life where heritage is looked upon as a trend and not for what it really represents.
When Dee returns and announces that she would be using a new name in order to reflect her African heritage her Mom becomes annoyed and starts to find her attitude ridiculous. After Dee tells her Mom that she no longer goes by Dee, Mom replies, “What happened to ‘Dee’?”(488). The fact the Mom asks about these changes exemplifies this annoyance she has with Dee. When Dee explains she changed her name because she’s oppressed her Mom shows that she finds the attitude ridiculous by pointing out it is a family tradition spanning more than 4 generations. When Dee starts asking to have the items that her Mom and Maggie need for everyday use with the intent to appreciate it as art, it only furthers how much she irritates her Mom. Dee had been offered one of the quilts before she went to college Dee thought they were, “old-fashioned, out of style.”(490). It’s after Maggie agrees to give Dee the quilts that her Mom realizes that she has always given Dee everything she wanted even at Maggie’s expense. Mother had an epiphany about how to handle the situation, shown when she says, “Something hit me on top of the head”, “just like when I’m in church and the spirit of God touches me”(492). Dee’s attitude had annoyed the Mom so much she had this realization. For once the Mom decides to stand up against
The saying never judge a book by its cover is brought to mind when I read this story. "Everyday Use" has three main characters; Mama, Maggie, and Dee. The only things we know about these characters are through Mama's eyes. Mama is telling the story, so everything we read is from what she says. It is hard for us to know the true personalities of the characters because we learn of them through one characters point of view. It is also easy to misunderstand the characters because of the information the story reveals.
Mama is a powerful, strong witted person. She has a lot of control in this play and dominates as a woman character. This is unusual because this is usually a male’s position in life. She is a woman, “who has adjusted to many things in life and overcome many more, her face is full of strength”. In this play she is illustrated as taking over for the head of the family and controls the lives of everyone in her house. Rules are followed to Mama’s extent. She controls what is said and done in her house. After Walter yells, “WILL SOMEBODY PLEASE LISTEN TO ME TODAY!” (70). Mama responds in a strong tone of voice saying, “I don’t ‘low no yellin’ in this house, Walter Lee, a...
Walker creates Dee as a selfish, unfeeling individual, who has an incredible zest for knowledge. She emphasizes her character as distinct from that of Maggie Johnson her younger sister. ”She used to read to us without pity, forcing words, lies, other folk's habits, whole lives upon us two; sitting trapped and ignorant underneath her words" (7), because of this her mother, Mrs. Johnson sends her to school in Augusta after she and the church raises the money. Dee thinks she is better than the rest, she wants to leave her family and heritage behind because she feels like they aren’t as sophisticated as she is. She tries to force "other folkways habits" on Mrs. Johnson and Maggie. In the story, you see how mama narrates that she pressed them with the serious way she reads, only to shove them away at the moment they seemed about to understand(10). Dee acts superior to her mom and Maggie and also treats them like dimwits because of their illiteracy. I think its best that one is intolerant of ignorance but understanding of illiteracy because they are different. In the story, Mrs. Johnson and Maggie are not portrayed as ignorant people, but illiterates who though do not have the kind or experience Dee has. Mrs. Johnson and Maggie are capable of forming cognitive opinions quite as ...
While reading this there were some animosity toward Dee because of what type of character she was. The animosity was caused by the numerous comments and actions that occurred in the story. She was very selfish, uneducated, and very unappreciative of where she came from. Dee carried herself in a very ridiculous way. Among Dee’s family she is the object of jealousy, awe, and agitation, meanwhile she searches for her purpose and sense of self. Dee and her judgmental nature has an effect on Mama and Maggie, her younger sister. Although she across as being arrogant and insensitive, Mama sees he strive to know more and do more. Dee also portray as being a condensing type person because no matter where Mama and Maggie lived she still kept her commitment to come and visit. When Dee comes to visit she tells Maggie and Mama that she has changed her because Dee had died when she left for college. Dee changed her name to Wangoero, which come across as being an attention seeking ploy who still keeps the selfishness of Dee. With Dee changing her name to Wangoero she wants to reclaim her heritage and honor
Regretfully, though readers can see how Mama has had a difficult time in being a single mother and raising two daughters, Dee, the oldest daughter, refuses to acknowledge this. For she instead hold the misconception that heritage is simply material or rather artificial and does not lie in ones heart. However, from Mama’s narrations, readers are aware that this cultural tradition does lie within ones heart, especially those of Mama’s and Maggie’s, and that it is the pure foundation over any external definition.
The character of Dee has many facets. She is blessed with good looks and a strong desire to succeed, but her blind and self-serving desire for success does hamper how she perceives her past and her heritage. By hiding "everything above the tip of her nose and her chin" (415), she deftly manages to disguise herself from anyone who might discover true ancestry. She refuses to accept her past as it really happened. She wants to be able to create the images to her liking. The past is something that cannot be recreated to suit our new ideas, however: It is a part of us that cannot be changed.
The story makes clear that Dee is equally confused about the nature of her inheritance both from her immediate family and from the larger black tradition. Dee struggles to move beyond the limited world of her youth, and it shines through by her materialistic attitude and hardship she gives her family. Given the self centeredness and aesthetic appeal she gives, Dee still has a lot of learning to do, and still has to understand herself and will do so from the future experiences in her life.
Mama is a very quiet character in the beginning of the story. The book starts off when papa throws a missal at Jaja for not attending the Communion. The missal papa throws causes Mama’s favorite figurines to fall and break. Mama quietly observes the scene and she cleans it up. Out of respect for Eugene, she has nothing to say even though the figurines were something she favors and cares about. Adichie writes, “She stared at the figurin...