Comparing Everyday Use By Alice Walker And Good Country People

People often feel as though their lives are not what they expect them to be so they make the decision of going out and getting an education. This education often changes the way people look at others who were in their previous situations meaning social class. The education sometimes makes people forget who they truly are because they feel bigger than the people they came up with. In the two texts, “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker and “Good Country People” by Flannery O’Connor the main characters Dee and Joy try to manipulate people even though they lack something in their lives.
Dee is the main character from the short story “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker she attended college directly after high-school and she never returned home. Dee returns

to her mother’s house who is the narrator and her sister, Maggie live at her childhood home. The setting is the country home that is on a farm where the family was for generations. Dee is the prettier of the two sisters, even though she was prettier she never really had many friends. She even once had boyfriend before she left but he eventually the sound to marry someone who was more flashy people. When Dee arrived to the house she was a totally different looking person she was no longer this country girl she was enrobed in this religious clothing and all this jewelry. She was also now married to a Muslim man who greeted them in Arabic. Dee was always the sister that would get treated better than Maggie and her mother and it changed it.
In the short story, “Good Country People” by Flannery O’Connor, Joy has a doctorate in philosophy and still lives on the farm with her mother, Mrs. Hopewell and Mrs. Freeman, who has been working on the farm for a few years. Joy has been living with her family all her life except for when she went to attend college only because her health has been declining for most of her life, doctors said she would only make it until age 45.
The two characters Dee and Joy share similar stories in some aspects of their lives.

These two girls both lack something in their lives that are critical Joy doesn’t have a leg and her health is declining overall and Dee doesn’t have knowledge of her history. Joy lost her leg at a young age from a shooting accident but she does have a prosthetic. The prosthetic leg doesn’t deter her from being this outspoken rude person who loves to talk down on her family. She makes other always feel bad because she though that her education entitled her to have a higher status. Joy learns the hard way that people aren’t always what you expect them to be, Manley Pointer. Pointer was a bible salesman. Joy though she could use that to her benefit along with the fact that Manley seemed to be interested in Joy because he was complimenting her consistently when he visited her. She thought that things would be fine and until she got to the barn with Manley. The two sat in the barn and conversed for a while and then he decided to try and get her to confess her love. The conversation between the two went completely left. Joy decide to tell Manley that she was 30 years old instead of 17 like she originally said and with this opportunity Manley continued on with trying to get them to confess her love. Walker wrote, “The boy’s look was irritated but dogged. “I don’t care,” he said. “I don’t care a thing about what all you done. I just want to know if you love me or don’tcher?” and he caught her to

him and wildly planted her face with kisses until she said, “Yes, yes.” “Okay then,” he said, letting her go. “Prove it.” (O’Connor). At this point in the text her got her to take her leg off in order to show that she had love for him, she did so and afterwards he took her leg, and decided to jump off the top of the barn where they were sitting leaving her sitting there arguing and fighting to get her leg back. He left with her leg but not without acknowledging that he gave her a fake name and that he doesn’t believe in God at all he just sells bibles because he knows that people will buy them. Without her leg Joy was no longer as complete and higher than everyone else because she lacks in another area. That area was her health with it she no longer felt like she was better than others and she was now helpless without with her prosthetic leg and all she had was the knowledge that she would use to talk down on her family anymore because now she was in this vulnerable state on top of that barn where she needed them now more than ever. Dee lacked intelligence in other areas of her life because she was too trusting of others simply making her vulnerable with got her leg stolen from her.
Dee on the other hand faced a more personal issue within her family.

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

because she feels like she finally won something even though it wasn’t physical. She felt like these quilts meant so much more because they were hand sewn by her family and the quality was much better compared to the ones her mom tried to her offer. She denied the quilts simply because she felt like they didn’t have as meaning because they weren’t handmade. The quality was what she was so enwrapped in and she also was concerned with what the quilts consisted of were pieces of cloth from her grandmother’s clothes to preserve them her mom also thought that it didn’t make a difference. Dee lacing that knowledge finally her feel like she lost something once in her life and it was one of the worst feelings ever knowing that she was defeated.
Dee and Joy both lacked in one area of their lives and they didn’t know because the two always felt like they were above others. When the two would put people down they didn’t realize it until finally someone showed their weaknesses Dee being not knowing her heritage and Joy not being able to function properly without her leg.