A Mother’s Characteristics. Usually a mother knows plenty about their daughters, such as their habits, characteristics and their normal behavior because she raises them. The mother in “Everyday Use” is a perfect example. In “Everyday Use", Alice Walker chose the mother as the narrator because of her characteristics towards her daughters that are unbiased, observant, and knowledgeable, which helps the audience understand the story. As the story progresses the mother shows how she is unbiased and that she loves Maggie and Dee equally. The mother and Maggie feel a bit of resentment toward Dee because of her beauty, her style , her education and her success but the mother still loves Dee. The mother even tells of a dream she had with Dee when …show more content…
she said ,“Dee and I are suddenly brought together on a TV program of this sort. Out of a dark and soft seated limousine I am ushered into a bright room filled with many people. There I meet a smiling, gray, sporty man like Johnny Carson who shakes my hand and tells me what a fine girl I have. Then we are on the stage and Dee is embracing me with tears in her eyes” (24). which shows how badly she wanted to see her daughter . Although the mother does not love Dee more than Maggie, as Dee is begging for her grandmother’s quilts she says “ I promised them quilts to Maggie” (27).This is demonstrating that she does not love one more than the other because she denied Dee’s request and kept Maggie’s promise. Of course, there is more evidence of the mother’s love for Dee as well. For when the mother says , “We raised money, the church and me, to send her to Augusta to school” (25). This description of the past shows that she put an effort for Dee’s education, and for someone who is poor she must love Dee for supporting her dream. Being unbiased is important because the audience needed to read about the two daughters without preference so they understood their behaviors and actions. . The mother’s second characteristic is that she is observant when it comes to her two daughters. She watches Maggie and how she walks . She described Maggie to walk with “chin on chest, eyes on ground, [and] feet in shuffle” (24). This description helped the reader to figure out that Maggie is shy and insecure. The mother claims that “At sixteen she [Dee] had a style of her own: and knew what style was” (25). This description is observant and helps the reader to know that Dee grew up into a confident stylish, unique woman , which sadly the mother never was. Mama also shows observation, when she describes Maggie saying that “Sometimes Maggie reads to me. She stumbles along good naturedly but can't see well. She knows she is not bright. Like good looks and money, quickness passes her by” (25). This gives the reader an image of Maggie that includes her being uneducated, unattractive, and unsuccessful in life so far because she still lives with her mother and has not moved out. Being observant leads the reader to have a clear image of each character’s personalities and certain characteristics. The third and final characteristic of the mother is that she is knowledgeable about both of her daughters because she was there as they grew up. I can infer that she’s been with them for at least ten years because she asked herself “How long ago was it that the other house burned? Ten, twelve years?” (24). As she thinks about Dee she mentions that “Dee wanted nice things. A yellow organdy dress to wear to her graduation from high school; black pumps to match a green suit she'd made from an old suit somebody gave me”(25), which proves that the mother know’s that Dee wanted to be viewed as well dressed. When she describes Maggie in page twenty-four, she includes details like that “ she will stand hopelessly in corners, homely and ashamed of the burn scars down her arms and legs” (24), and only someone who knows Maggie’s insecurity of her scars could state that she would act like this when Dee comes home . Therefore, because the mother is knowledgeable, it let the reader be able to read the story in greater detail of her daughters. The mother’s characteristics as unbiased, observant, and knowledgeable of her daughters which helps the audience understand the family’s past and present situation and also to understand Maggie, Dee, and herself .The mother is unbiased ,meaning she loves her both daughters equally.This characteristic is helpful to the reader because she gives a fair representation of both daughters and does not side with one and praise her and the other to be left alone.
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
and that “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” (24) . All of this information in “Everyday Use” was made possible by the mother because of her knowledge and experience with her two daughters as they grew up. This mother’s characteristics are helpful to the reader because she’s able to describe events of the past such as the house fire that scarred Maggie. She knows about Dee’s interest and Maggie’s crippling shyness. If it were not for the mother’s knowledge , the audience would not have a deep understanding of these two main characters. First, the reader would not know about the family’s bitter emotions towards Dee and second the reader would not know the purpose of Maggie’s permanent shyness. Due to the mother’s characteristics the audience learns more about Maggie, Dee, the family’s past and the setting. Alice walker chose the mother as the narrator because the story would have not been as biased as if the daughters read them. The mother is also observant, so the little details that the mom tells gives new ideas to the reader and let’s them form an image. Lastly the mother’s knowledge was the most important characteristic because since she was the Mother of Dee and Maggie she knew them better for their actions, and the reasons behind them such as how the house fire scarred Maggie resulting into her being shy . Therefore, the mother’s characteristic helped the reader because of the information she obtained of the family.
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
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
In the story "Everyday Use" the narrator is telling a story about her life and two daughters, who are named Dee and Maggie. The narrator is very strong willed, honest, compassionate and very concerned with the lives of her two daughters. Her daughter Dee is not content with her lifestyle and makes it hard on Maggie and the narrator. The narrator is trying to provide for her family the best way she can. The narrator is alone in raising the two daughters and later sends her daughter Dee to college. The longer the story goes on the more the narrator shows how intelligent and how much she loves her two daughters.
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.
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)
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
“I am a large, big boned woman with rough, man-working hands” Mama describes of herself in the short story Everyday Use by Alice Walker. Mama, who additionally takes the role of narrator, is a lady who comes from a wealth of heritage and tough roots. She is never vain, never boastful and most certainly never selfish. She speaks only of her two daughters who she cares deeply for. She analyzes the way she has raised them and how much she has cared too much or too little for them, yet most of all how much they value their family. Mama never speaks of herself, other than one paragraph where she describes what she does. “My fat keeps me hot in zero weather. I can work outside all day, breaking ice to get water for washing” (Walker, 60). She does not need to tell readers who she is, for her descriptions of what she does and how her family interacts, denotes all the reader needs to know. Although Mama narrates this story rather bleakly, she gives readers a sense of love and sense of her inner strength to continue heritage through “Everyday Use”.
Walker shows that in mother and daughter relationships adaptation to change can be hard in a variety of ways. First, Dee, Mother's oldest daughter, comes home to visit her mother and little sister Maggie. When she shows up, she introduces herself as "Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo" (416). Her mother is confused about why she wants to change her name, since it was the one that was passed down. Dee explains that the other name did not suit her. Now even though Mother reluctantly goes along with this new name, it is obvious that she is not used to changing names, especially if it is one of great family importance. Another character that that has a hard time changing along with Mother is Maggie. When Mother sent Dee to a good school where she could get a very good education, Dee used to come back and try to teach her lowly, uneducated family members. Maggie and her Mother were not used to this, and they were happy with the education that they had. Instead, Dee "read to us without pity; forcing words, lies other folks' habits, whole lives upon us two, sitting trapped and ignorant underneath her voice" (413) and tried t...
Dee's physical beauty can be defined as one of her biggest assets. The fact that Maggie sees Dee "with a mixture of envy and awe" (409) cues the reader to Dee's favorable appearance. The simplistic way in which Walker states that "Dee is lighter than Maggie, with nicer hair and a fuller figure" (410) gives the reader the idea that Dee's beauty has made it easier for her to be accepted outside her family in society. We are left with the impression that Dee's appearance is above average. Walker plays on Dee's physical beauty to contrast the homeliness of Maggie and her mother. Walker goes so far as to describe her feet as "always neat-looking, as if God himself had shaped them with a certain style" (411). In describing Dee's feet, Walker is giving the impression of perfection from head to toe. Dee's outward beauty has "made her transition from poor farm girl to that of an educated, middle-class black woman possible" (Allen-Polley 11). Needless to say, Dee doesn't seem comfortable with her past and therefore has a difficult time accepting her future. It is as though she is not really connected with her family anymore. She simply needs them to fulfill their positions in her recreated past.
She has a bit of arrogance to her personality. She leads herself to believe that she is better than her mother and her sister. Her mother explains that “she washed us in a river of make-believe, burned us with a lot of knowledge we didn’t necessarily need to know” (415). Dee utilized her education to belittle her mother and sister. At the beginning of the story, it is revealed that “Dee is lighter than Maggie, with nicer hair and a fuller figure” (415).
Author Alice Walker, displays the importance of personal identity and the significance of one’s heritage. These subjects are being addressed through the characterization of each character. In the story “Everyday Use”, the mother shows how their daughters are in completely two different worlds. One of her daughter, Maggie, is shy and jealous of her sister Dee and thought her sister had it easy with her life. She is the type that would stay around with her mother and be excluded from the outside world. Dee on the other hand, grew to be more outgoing and exposed to the real, modern world. The story shows how the two girls from different views of life co-exist and have a relationship with each other in the family. Maggie had always felt that Mama, her mother, showed more love and care to Dee over her. It is until the end of the story where we find out Mama cares more about Maggie through the quilt her mother gave to her. Showing that even though Dee is successful and have a more modern life, Maggie herself is just as successful in her own way through her love for her traditions and old w...
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
It is what a true mother-daughter bond is supposed to be like. When Dee and the mom were arguing over the quilts the narrator said “like somebody used to never winning anything, or having reserved for her,” which is something that mama has a favorite daughter and she lets Dee have whatever she wants without letting Maggie have anything. It seems like mama wants Dee to be happy when she comes down so she will want to come home. Mama even was going to call her by her new name instead of not going to she tried to because it comes off as Dee is her favorite daughter which is why their mother-daughter relationship is different from Maggie 's and mama’s relationship. Even when Dee took what she wanted like when she just went through mama’s things without asking her. That 's something that only a favorite daughter or someone with a very good mother-daughter relationship would do.
Alice Walker's Literature “Writing saved me from the sin and inconvenience of violence” -Alice Walker (Lewis n.pag) Walker is considered to be an African American novelist, short story writer, poet, essayist, and activist. Most of her literature is mostly from her personal experiences and is moral to a number of African Americans all over the world. Walker defines herself as a “womanist” which means “the prophetic voice concerned about the well-being of the entire African American community, male and female, adults and children.