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Siblings, although sharing the common bond of blood, are most often extremely different from one another. The two sisters maggie and dee, are sisters who are as opposite as night and day. Throughout the story, the girl’s differences become evident through their personalities, Physical traits, and the way they feel about their heritage. Maggie and dee have many discrepancies that cause them to view each other as an opponent. Maggie is always “nervous until after her sister goes” away .Maggie Eyes her sister with envy and awe”, and when Dee comes home to visit maggie “ attempts to make a dash for the house” to escape having to face Dee aging. She gives in to letting Dee have the quilts like” someone who is used to never winning anything.
The narrator has two daughters, Dee and Maggie. Dee was this cute girl who was super intelligent and sophisticated. She often saw herself as being above her mother and sister and would often make them feel stupid and bad about themselves. "She used to read to us without pity, forcing words, lies, other folks' habits, whole lives upon us two, sitting trapped and ignorant underneath her voice". She shows that Dee enjoyed making her mother and younger sister feel dumb about themselves because it made her feel superior. Her whole life Dee detested her family and where she came from and couldn’t wait to get away. But, still her mother worked her booty off to provide her with high education and a good life. Dee goes away to college and when she returns she is a completely different person, suddenly interested in her family; photographing them upon arrival. With her guest, new "Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo", invades her mothers house taking everything in like it’s a cute display for her. Finally, when Wangero (Dee) demands that her mother give her some quilts, her mum can not take anymore. She tells Dee that Maggie, not her, will be receiving the quilts and she snaps. "I did something I never had done before: hugged Maggie to me, then dragged her on into the room, snatched the quilts out of Miss Wangero's hands, and dumped them into Maggie's lap. Maggie just sat
...sents some discrepancies in how people value their family history. To some, family does not mean much at all but others are very much aware of their ancestors and the traits that they share in common. Some people use this self-awareness to better themselves while others find ways of exploiting it to satisfy their superficial needs. Dee is the type of individual that misuses her heritage. She is using it to fit in and attract the new religious group with which she has begun to associate. Maggie just seems oblivious, although the story does not allow the reader to know what she is thinking. The truth is that Maggie and her mother are living their heritage. This is the lesson that Dee's mother is trying to teach her; to accept and embrace who she is rather than continuously search for something she is not. She could search for her entire life and never be fulfilled.
When two children are brought up by the same parent in the same environment, one might logically conclude that these children will be very similar, or at least have comparable qualities. In Alice Walker's "Everyday Use," however, this is not the case. The only thing Maggie and Dee share in common is the fact that they were both raised by the same woman in the same home. They differ in appearance, personality, and ideas that concern the family artifacts.
Both mothers compare their two daughters to each other. In Everyday Use the mother tells us that "Dee is lighter than Maggie, with nicer hair and a fuller figure." She Fahning -2-speaks of the fire that burned and scarred Maggie. She tells us how Maggie is not bright, how she shuffles when she walks. Comparing her with Dee whose feet vwere always neat-looking, as if God himself had shaped them." We also learn of Dee's "style" and the way she awes the other girls at school with it.
Dee and maggie are sister in "Everyday Use". Dee is outgoing and ambitious, Maggie is shy and lazy. Maggie envies Dee, but also fears her. They act more like co-workers than siblings. In the story they don't appear to interact with each other often, which makes it difficult to develop a relationship.From the story it doesn't illustrate them ever having a close connection probably due to Maggie's shyness and envy. Alice Walker writes "Maggie will be be nervous until after her sister goes: she will stand hopelessly in corners homely and ashamed of the burn scars down her arms and legs, eyeing her sister with a mixture of envy and awe. She thinks her sister has held life always in the palm of one hand, that "no" is a word never learned to say to her." Dee(Wangero) is the most dominant one out of the two, which is no surprise since she tries take the quilts from Dee (Wangero). I found it I found it odd that she wanted those quilts because of her heritage, when she completely disgraced her heritage when she traded her own name in for Wangero. Alice writes :
Maggie relationship with Dee is full of jealousy and envy. Maggie thinks that her sister is better, prettier, and smarter than she will ever be. Because of that, Maggie is shy and intimidated when her sister and her boyfriend come home to visit for the first time in years. Dee on the other hand does not make it any better, because of her jealousy and judgmental ways make Maggie feel unloved and unappreciated. When Maggie is burn in the house fire Dee shows no concern if her sister lives or die. Even their mother knows that their relationship is nonexistent. Dee’s mother said “I used to think she hated Maggie” (Walker 154). Even as adults Dee and Maggie love for one another is arm distance away. Dee feels that her mother and sister are not claiming their heritage and are close minded country
In the story, she introduces two sisters with almost opposite personalities and different views on heritage: Maggie and Dee. She uses the contrast between the two sisters to show how one should accept and preserve one's heritage. Beyond the contrast between two sisters there exist the judge figure mom, the narrator and the Dee's irony. The irony on Dee's opinion is the key to understand the story and why the mother let Maggie keep the quilts, which symbolize the heritage.
As you can see, I strongly agree with the narrator of the story and her choice in giving Maggie the quilts. Dee (Wangero) has been given enough in her life. She has beauty, confidence and her education. Maggie has wonderful qualities too, but has been through hardships. All which make her more deserving of the family quilts.
Everyday Use ends with Dee leaving, not with the quilts, thus making room for the new bond between Mama and Maggie. Dee may believe that she has won in some way because she is the educated sister who appreciates her heritage, but the reader sees it is in fact Maggie who has become victorious by having her way of life validated by Mama’s support and Dee’s envy. Maggie’s system of values is redeemed by creating a new relationship, with herself, in which she is no longer silenced and can truly appreciate the beauty of her home even in its everyday use. While there is little growth seen from the experience on Dee’s side, we know that Maggie is forever changed, giving her more power than she ever had. There is still and will always be a struggle between her and her sister, but Maggie now knows she does not need redemption from Dee, nor anyone else, because it is she who carries the importance of the past into the future.
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)
The differences in attitude that Dee and Maggie portray about their heritage are seen early in the story. When the family's house burned down ten or twelve years ago, Maggie was deeply affected by the tragedy of losing her home where she grew up. As her mother describes, "She has been like this, chin on chest, eyes on ground, feet in shuffle, ever since the fire that burned the other house to the ground" (409). Dee, on the other hand, had hated the house. Her mother had wanted to ask her, "Why don't you dance around the ashes?" (409). Dee did not hold any significance in the home where she had grown up. In her confusion about her heritage, it was just a house to her.
Dee wants to appreciate her family quilts by framing them in her home, but Maggie would most likely put them to everyday use and have them in order to remember her Grandmother ...
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
In the late nineteenth century people obtained more freedom. The American rags to riches story struck a chord with many people and they tried to change their social class. For some, even with new opportunities in life, it would be hard for them to climb the class ladder. Many people live lives full of hardship and obstacles, such as Maggie Johnson from Stephen Crane's Maggie a Girl of the Streets, who grows up in the slums of New York City. Edna Pontellier from Kate Chopin's The Awakening lives a life of extravagance and wealth but still ends up dying a sad and lonely death because she makes poor decisions. Maggie also dies in a tragic death, but not because of bad choices, but because of the situation she finds herself in throughout her life. Maggie's situation turns her into a victim and facilitates her tragic death while Edna makes herself into a victim and causes her own death.
Dee is known to be spoiled , because no ever says no to her. The mother stands up for Maggie and shows her she loves her as well . She rejects Dee’s wants and says “ I promised to give them quilts to Maggie, for whens he marries John Thomas”(26). The fact that Dee was spoiled does not mean the mother loved her more, she just mostly always had her way. The mother feels sad for Maggie because she is not fair faced , bright, and stylish like her older sister, and that’s why she’s comparing them two .As the mom says that “Dee is lighter than Maggie, with nicer hair and a fuller figure” (24). It gives an image of what Maggie is not, and so because she is also living with her mother , the mother decides to give the quilts to Maggie and finally says no to Dee. Alice making the mother observant of her daughters, informed the audience about physical and emotional features of Maggie and Dee that shaped their images.The little descriptions of Dee throughout the story , creates a bigger image into Dee that the reader finally pictures. She says that “ Dee wanted nice things. (25)” , that “Dee is lighter than Maggie” (24) , and that “ At sixteen she had a style of her own “(25), and this made Dee into a image of a beautiful women Maggie and the mother were a bit jealous of. The mother is also observant of Maggie . She describes her as scarred from the burning house, severely shy, and with a lack of education. She describes the relationship as well between Maggie and her older sister with jealousy and awe