Alice Walker Everyday Use Conflict

Conflict fuels most relationships through tough times. In the story "Everyday Use" by Alice Walker, the characters of Mama and Dee have a stressful conflict placed upon their relationship. Mama was raised upon the philosophy that strong work can achieve anything, while Dee was raised in a more educated environment than Mama. This causes a conflict, which causes trouble in their relationship, showing that conflict has a negative impact on relationships. One conflict that takes place happens when Dee arrives home from college. When somebody dies, it can take a toll on everyone around them, and their items may be all that people can take to remember them by. Mama told Maggie that she could receive her and Big Dee's handcrafted quilts when she married John Thomas. Revolted by Mama's statement, Dee exclaimed, "But they're priceless! Maggie would put them on the bed and in five years they'd be in rags. Less than that!" (Walker 27). This shows that conflict only leads to negativity, because frustrated, Dee yells at Mama about how Maggie would ruin the quilts that she wants for herself. This conflict between Mama and Dee shows how people should initiate an effort not to start conflict because it only drives people farther apart, rather than sticking together. Another conflict

These three ideas being, when people start conflict, they drive themselves farther apart rather than drawing them together, not to purposely disturb people and start conflicts, and, assuming may lead to negative conflict. When conflict is present in a relationship, it is mostly negative and will not end well. This idea is strongly backed by the three main ideas. This represents that all three main ideas from "Everyday Use" are important to proving the fact that conflict is almost always negative in a