Everyday Use Summary Maggie was the shy girl from her and her sister. She would get nervous around her sister and she will always stop after her sister left. She was ashamed of her scars on her arms and legs. Maggie would look at her sister with envy and she would think that she held her life in the palm of her hand. She would stand hopelessly in corners and the home feeling bad about her scars. In the story “Everyday Use” Maggie goes from shy and ashamed for having her word and being happy. In the beginning of the story Maggie was nervous and ashamed. Maggie would get nervous around her sister and she would be ashamed of her burn scars on her arms and legs. For example, In the book it is said “she would stand hopelessly in …show more content…
the quilts that her mama was going to give to her and Dee was trying to take but mama had promised those quilts to Maggie. She was so mad that she dropped some plates in the kitchen and slam the door. It is said “ Maggie does have a will, and although it is buried deep inside her, it comes through when what she desires most in the world is about to be taken away.” This character changed because she got really angry about a situation that was happening between her sister and mom. I think she exploded with all the anger she had inside her of all the things that happened between her sister that she didn’t let go or expressed her feeling. For example i would of done the same thing as her because I would not be able to just let it go. But after all she acted like a grown up and was going to give up the quilts to her sister even when her mom promised her. The same of the story was to be able to share with someone and not take everything for yourself even if you feel someone has it all. The theme applied to the character because as Maggie got angry about what her sister was saying and how he interpret her, she was willing to give up her
She went to college after high school and didn’t return home after she graduated. She got married to a Muslim man and she became so concerned with her family’s history. When she arrived, she became so concerned with taking pictures of the farmhouse she grew up in a soon as she got their she didn’t even greet her mother and sister Maggie right away. When she entered the home she immediately began to scan the room for things that she felt were good enough to go into her apartment in the city, she also wanted included things that she felt were good enough to impress her friends and to show her where they are from. When she reached the home, she mentioned a few things that stood out to her which included a butter churn and 2 quilts. The two quilts in particular stuck out to her because the two were hand sew by her grandmothers and aunt , along with her mother. Maggie her sister states, “She can have them, Mama,” She said, like somebody used to never winning anything, or having anything reserved for her. “I can member’ Grandma Dee without the quilts’” (Walker). Maggie her younger sister who still lived at home with her family let her sister know she could have them simply because she knew that it wasn’t the quilts that were going to make her remember she’s remembers the years they spent together unlike her sister who was never really around the house as much as Maggie and this was giving Maggie as sense of pride
In the short story “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker, Dee becomes angry with her mother because she won’t allow Dee to take quilts that she had already promised she would give to Maggie. I do not believe this feeling is justified one bit. The mother sent Dee to a school in Augusta for her to be happy since their house burnt to the ground, that must have been expensive; when Dee comes to visit is seems as if she has changed. Dee seems to be very unappreciative. Mama tells Dee that she has already promised Maggie they could be hers then asks “Why don’t you take one or two of the others?”(Walker160). Dee blows up on the narrator. She could have just told Dee that she could not have any quilts at all and also, Dee did not give a good enough reason for her to have the quilts instead of
It is over the quilts that she comes into conflict with her mother since the two quilts were already promised to the other daughter, Maggie.
...daries and what belongs to her. She seems to think that objects that are important in Mother and Maggie's life are just aesthetic pieces of art instead of real life tools. Her idea of reality became warped around the lack of respect she showed the rest of her family.
Stephen Crane accentuates the importance of self-reliance through Maggie’s incapability to support her. Maggie is born into a family with social and economic constraints. She is brought up in a low-l...
The condescending attitude and request from Dee leads Maggie to feel ashamed of her life for a moment and she nearly gives the heirlooms away. “She can have them, Mama,” were the words of...
...ps. The narrator gives the reader the impression that Dee is the villain and Maggie, the underdog. When Maggie comes out on top, it stirs something in the reader that makes them glad it came out that way.
Alice Walker states “Dee is lighter than Maggie, with nicer hair and a fuller figure” (71). With this Walker gives an example of how Dee and Maggie were different not only in their views of heritage, but also in their appearance. As the story continues, Mama speaks of a time where she thought Dee hated Maggie. She describes an incident that resulted in the burning of their previous house. Although never directly stated, it was apparent that Maggie was severely injured in the fire. Walke...
Dee never liked the old house that burned down. Dee does not even like the new house where Maggie and mama live in now. “Dee is lighter than Maggie, with nicer hair and a fuller figure” (Walker 418). Dee is the type of character that wants everything. Dee knows mamma will never say no to her. Now Maggie is the complete opposite of Dee. Dee needs someone to straighten her out. “Have you ever seen a lame animal, perhaps a dog run over by some careless person rich enough to own a car, sidle up to someone who is ignorant enough to be kind to him” (Walker 418)? That is how mamma described Maggie in “Everyday Use”. All Maggie wants it for her sister to accept her. Maggie needs to accept that not everyone is going to love
With this in mind, the mother, or the narrator of the story describes herself as a big-boned, manly woman with hands so rough from years of physical labor. She is a tough parent, taking the role of both mother and father for her daughters and providing for them. Taking into account that they are a poor family and most of them are uneducated. By her mother’s observation and words she describes Maggie as shy. “Maggie walks chin ...
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
Maggie lives with a poor and dysfunctional family and a hopeless future with only the small possibility of change. The environment and setting she grows up in do not support anything more than a dull, dreary and pathetic future for her. An old woman asks Maggie's brother Jimmy: "Eh, Gawd, child, what is it this time? Is yer fader beatin yer mudder, or yer mudder beatin yer fader? (Maggie, 10)" while he runs to Maggie's apartment one night. The lack of love and support of her family hinders Maggie's ability to live a happy and fulfilling life. Without knowing that someone loves her no matter what she does or how she acts Maggie may feel desperate enough to change her situation by any means she can, and without any useful guidance. Even without any positive influences Maggie grows up different from the low-life's living with and around her. Crane explains Maggie's uniqueness in the passage "None of the dirt of Rum Alley seemed to be in her veins. The philosophers up-stairs, down-stairs and on the same floor, puzzled over it" (Maggie 16). Maggie's uniqueness gives her the chance to improve her life, but only a slim chance. Even though Maggie differs from the people around her they remain sleazy, making it harder for her to change her life because she must go outside of her community for help.
They may argue Maggie could of escape from the slum life and she didn’t have to let it take a hold of her. They may also say that Maggie was her own downfall and demise by letting a boy drag her down to the mud and damage her good name. However, because of her upbringing, it was hard for her not to be affected by her environment and social factors.
Quilts symbolize a family’s heritage. Maggie adheres the tradition by learning how to quilt from her grandmother and by sewing her own quilts. Maggie also puts her grandmother’s quilts into everyday use. Therefore, when Dee covets the family’s heirloom, wanting to take her grandmother’s hand-stitched quilts away for decoration, Mama gives the quilts to Maggie. Mama believes that Maggie will continually engage with and build upon the family’s history by using the quilts daily rather than distance herself from
...rn fifty and more years ago. Bits and pieces of Grandpa Jarrell's Paisley shirts. And one teeny faded blue piece . . . that was from Great Grandpa Ezra's uniform that he wore in the Civil War" (Walker, 65). These quilts, which have become an heirloom, not only represent the family, but are an integral part of the family. A concept in which Dee, could just not possibly understand. Mama then grasps the quilts out of Dee’s clutch and places them on Maggie’s lap, for Maggie knows that the quilts are personal and emotional rather than by any means financial (p.66). These quilts are for “Everyday Use.”