Family Values In 'Marriage Is A Private Affair, And Everyday Use'

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Family Values
In cultures past and present, families have always had some kind of tradition. Now there are some parents who don’t concern themselves with these traditions, and some that keep them close to heart. The ones that value their family traditions will teach them to their children and hope that their children will value them as much as they do and follow them as well. Some families have heirlooms that will get passed down from generation to generation. When comparing the short stories “Marriage is a Private Affair” by Chinva Achebe and “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker, you can see that the both sets of parents have important roles in their children’s lives and they have traditions that they follow, conflicts arise when the family traditions …show more content…

In the story “Everyday Use”, in this story the theme is based on passing down a family heirloom through the generations. Mama has two daughters, Dee and Maggie. Dee has had the opportunity to go away to college and live a new life. Maggie on the other hand is home, living with her mother. Mama’s daughters are very different from each other; she describes Maggie as “a lame animal, perhaps a dog run over by some careless person rich enough to own a car.” Whereas Dee is said to be more outgoing, nicer hair and pretty. Mama and Maggie are actually a lot alike; they both share a love for their heritage. Mama has her mother’s quilt that will be passed down to one of her daughters. When Maggie comes home form college she expresses, that she wants the quilt, and not cause she cares about her heritage, she just wants to use it as a throw-blanket. Maggie on the other hand has already been promised the quilt since she will put it to better use. In this story you see how a mother may have “favored” one child over another, since she had more in common with one. Maybe Mama could have solved the conflict before it started by giving Dee something else of her grandmothers to have in her home as “everyday

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