A Mother's Choice
In her short story "Everyday Use", author Alice Walker introduces us to a Mother awaiting the visit of her daughter, Dee, who has left her rural upbringing to go away to college. Although we are not told an exact location, the descriptions provided by Miss Walker lead us to believe that the story is set in the very poorest section of the south. Momma narrates this story, and describes to us in her own simple way the dynamics of the family and the conflicts that arise with Dee's homecoming. Momma tells us she is uneducated; "I never had an education. After second grade, the school was closed." She further describes her rough, rural lifestyle. "I can work outside all day, breaking ice to get water for washing...One winter I knocked a bull calf straight in the brain between the eyes with a sledge hammer and had the meat hung up to chill before nightfall." Although seemingly simple and backward, Momma clearly describes the differences between her two daughters, the conflict that comes about with Dee's homecoming and the choices she is forced to make between her two girls.
Maggie and Dee are two sisters that are as different as night and day. When Momma talks of Maggie, it is with a sad and gentle reflection of this daughter's lot in life. "Have you ever seen a lame animal, perhaps a dog run over by some careless person rich enough to be kind to him? That is the way my Maggie walks." Momma tells us, however that Dee, "She would always look anyone in the eye. Hesitation was no part of her nature. " Where Dee is pretty and bright, Maggie is scarred and slow. Momma seems more content being in Maggie's presence, having more in common with her than with her daughter Dee. She and Maggie tend the house together, ...
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...py and shout." The daughter who has the deeper family values, who understands the true nature of heritage will be getting the quilts. Although Dee tells momma "You just don't understand ... your heritage." it is she who does not understand the significance of what she holds in her hand.
By making Momma the narrator, Alice Walker has given us a simple but clear viewpoint. Listening to Momma's voice, we can better understand the background that makes two daughters so opposite. Momma helps us comprehend the confusion and conflict that Dee's arrival back home brings, and how everyone reacts. Through momma's narration, we can follow her thought process as she wrestles with the decision of who should get the quilts. Without Momma, the reader would not feel as intricately involved in the story or identify with the emotions Alice Walker incorporates in "Everyday Use."
Throughout “Everyday Use” mama compares the two sisters very often. For instance, “Dee is lighter than Maggie, with nicer hair and a fuller figure. She is a woman now” (744) Mama is saying Dee is much more attractive than Maggie and how she has the figure of a grown woman, it also shows that Dee is more cherished and appreciated because she is light skin. In the slavery days, Dee would have been an in-house slave while Maggie would have been an outside slave which is based on their physical appearance. Mama also showed bias when she said “Dee feet were always neat looking like God himself shaped them with a certain style.” (745). Mama put Dee on a high pedal stool while she always brought down Maggie, like when she said “she isn’t bright . . . good looks. . . passed her by”. Mama has shown bias between the two sisters since the very beginning of “Everyday Use” comparing the two physical traits. Mama was vey bias throughout the story but between her bias Maggie’s potential and her ignorance tied together brought family themes in this
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
Momma always doing her best for her girls understands there are differences between the two. Dee, who is the older of the two, is the more educated daughter. Dee is superficial and looks at everything how it compares to the value of money. Maggie is younger daughter who cherishes the love of her family, the items her family passes down to her, but is very ashamed of her looks. Momma is much like her younger daughter Maggie. She isn’t superficial and takes to heart having family and the things that are passed down from generation to generation. Dee has very different values from her mother
n “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker, we hear a story from the viewpoint of Mama, an African American woman about a visit from her daughter Dee. Mama along with her other daughter Maggie still live poor in the Deep South while Dee has moved onto a more successful life. Mama and Maggie embrace their roots and heritage whereas Dee wants to get as far away as possible. During her return, Dee draws her attention to a quilt. It is this quilt and the title of the piece that centers on the concept of what it means to integrate one’s culture into their everyday life.
First in “Everyday Use” you recognize the differences in all three women throughout the story. The mama
...cause she had been “savin ‘em for long enough with nobody using ‘em” (12). After Dee gets the picture she walks out of the house and tells her mother “You just don’t understand. . .Your heritage. . .” (13). Dee is in fact the one who does not understand. Dee thinks of heritage to be as tangible as hanging the quilt on her wall or using the churn as a decoration for her table. Her mother, on the other hand, knows about traditions and heritage. Using the quilts would put the memories of their ancestors to everyday use.
...ster and then returns after bettering herself. Mama and Maggie are obviously somewhat jealous of Dee's life. Dee is misunderstood as a selfish, bratty, unappreciative daughter. Maggie is misunderstood as being this sweet, shy, perfect child. Both of the sisters are very misunderstood, but Dee is definitely the most understood of the two. Dee deserves a lot more credit than she receives in this story.
In “Everyday Use,” Mama illustrates the relationship between her two daughters. Both Maggie and Dee are like opposite poles, making it seem like their relationship is non-existent. Dee is a well-educated, good-looking young woman; who is so concerned with style, and fashion that she lacks the meaning of family and heritage. Maggie, however, is a simple, scarred young girl who truly understands the meaning behind family, and heritage. In “Everyday Use,” Alice Walker demonstrates through Mama’s eyes, the strain in Maggie and Dee’s relationship through Maggie’s actions towards her estranged sister’s visit, and Dee’s remarks and dominance over her younger sister.
In the short story, "Everyday Use", written by Alice Walker, Mama, one of the main characters, changes and develops into a better woman that is able to really identify her real star child, metaphorically speaking. Mama’s change is shown throughout the text in a few different ways such as the way she talks about her children Maggie and Dee, and the interactions between her and Dee with Dee’s change in name, and the argument over the quilts.
The story 'Everyday Use', written by Alice Walker, is a story of heritage, pride, and learning what kind of person you really are. In the exposition, the story opens with background information about Dee and Maggie's life, which is being told by Mama. The reader learns that Dee was the type of child that had received everything that she wanted, while Maggie was the complete opposite. The crisis, which occurs later in the story, happens when Dee all of a sudden comes home a different person than she was when she left. During the Climax, Mama realizes that she has often neglected her other child, Maggie, by always giving Dee what she wants. Therefore, in the resolution, Mama defends Maggie by telling Dee that she cannot have the household items that she wants just to show others, instead of putting them to use like Maggie.
In her short story Everyday Use, Alice Walker talks about a Mother Mama, and her two daughters Dee and Maggie, their personalities and reactions to preservation of their family heirlooms. She shows that while Dee has been sent to school for further education, Maggie is left at home and brought up in the old ways. Mama often dreams and longs for the day she can be reunited with Dee, like in the TV shows. She knows this may not be possible because Dee would read and shower them with a lot of knowledge that was unnecessary, only to push them away at the right moment, “like dimwits” (313); Mama and Dee have different conceptions of their family heritage. Family heirlooms to Mama means the people created, used
One situation in particular that Mama brings up is the time when she offers to Dee to bring some of the ancestral quilts with her to college. She claims, “I had offered Dee a quilt whe...
"Everyday Use" is told from momma's point of view which helps to reveal how she feels about herself. Momma feels that she is an uneducated person, she says "I never had an education myself," this creates barriers between her and her oldest daughter Dee who has a college education (94). She describes herself as "big-boned woman with rough, man-working hands" that wears overalls by day and flannel gowns by night (93). From momma's point of view one can tell that she favors her relationship with her daughter Maggie mo...
When Dee finds out that her mama promise to give the quilts to her sister, Dee gets very angry and says that she deserves the quilts more than Maggie because Maggie would not take care of them like she would. Dee feels that she can value and treasure heritage more than her sister Maggie. Dee does what she wants, whenever she wants and she will not accept the word no for any answer. “She thinks her sister has held life always in the palm of one hand, that "no" is a word the world never learned to say to her.” Maggie is used to never getting anything. Throughout the entire story, it says that Maggie gives up many things so Dee can have what she needs or
One of the daughters named Dee was a woman who went to college and found herself and what she wanted to become and live. She even changes her name to be more African-American as she was raised in a white family. Through the story we can see that this means she completely forgets the way she was raised who her family is and what her culture is about. Now on the other hand the second daughter, Maggie is more the shy one and always more close to her mom compare to Dee who knows what she wants. Maggie stayed home with her mother and lived this shelter lifestyle as she always believed her sister to be better than her in a matter of looks and knowledge. In the end we see the mom completely confused and doesn’t understand Dee anymore and why choose that different life to what she’s been though. We read that the mother chooses to give the quilts to Maggie as she knows that she’ll wear them as an honor of her culture and not for