Maggie in Alice Walker’s short story “Everyday Use” plays the role of being the nervous and ugly sister of the story, however she is the child with the good heart. Maggie was nervous ashamed of her scars “Maggie was nervous… she will stand hopelessly in corners, homely ashamed of the burn scars down her arms and legs”. Living in a house with a pretty sister and being the ugly sister with scars could be the reason why she picked up on a timid personality, being ‘ashamed’ of her own skin shaping her in a way that she degraded herself from everybody else. Maggie was not this way before the fire, her mother stated, as it is quoted that she had adopted to a certain walk ever since the fire.
People share similarities in their daily lives every day. Maybe you and someone across the world are nearly similar. For instance, Alice Walker and Amir from The Kite Runner. Although they were both different, the two had very similar lives. As shown, both characters lost one of their parents, and both were misunderstood by their fathers.
This reasoning contributes to the overall significance of scars in the novel which is that scars serve as reminders of the suffering characters had to endure, therefore,
Alice Walker’s story “Roselily” is about hardships and doing what is best for the ones you love. The story elegantly shows Roselily’s emotions and thoughts about her marriage through diction and symbolism. These literary devices portray an unsure mother about her decision to marry a religious man for the sake of her children and her future. In the very beginning of the story Roselily describe herself as “dragging herself across the world” (A. Walker 266).
Alice Walker uses imagery and diction throughout her short story to tell the reader the meaning of “The Flowers”. The meaning of innocence lost and people growing up being changed by the harshness of reality. The author is able to use the imagery to show the difference between innocence and the loss of it. The setting is also used to show this as well.
In the short story, “Everyday Use,” Alice Walker uses her contrasting characters of Maggie and Dee to show a cultural split. Dee, the eldest daughter, comes home to visit her family who lives a very traditional way of life. Dee has gone to college and lives a more modernist lifestyle, whereas her sister Maggie has not gone to school and lives a more traditionalist lifestyle. This difference between the sisters shows the division in the 1960s between a traditionalist and modernist lifestyle through the characters Maggie and Dee. During the 1960s some African-Americans began to replace their birth names with names of African or Muslim descent, but what was the reason behind this change?
Everyday Use uses the setting to emphasize the difference between how Dee and her mother view the symbolic meaning of the yard, Maggie, and the quilts. By placing this story deep in the south, on a farm with expanses of open land all around, helps to convey the differences that exist between that setting and where Dee is assumed to be living (Dischinger, M. (2015). Dee’s mother views the yard as an extension of the house and what she loves about her life where she is. That seems to be evident with her thought as she says, “A yard like this is more comfortable than most people know. It is not just a yard.”
“It is not just a yard. It is like an extended living room.” (Walker, 1973, p.314). With the yard being the main setting in the story, viewers learn the yard will be the comfort spot for this broken family. In “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker readers are introduced to three main characters.
In her short story “Everyday Use,” Alice White focuses on a rural family and their different interpretations of the African- American heritage. The story begins when Dee, the educated older daughter, comes to visit her mama and younger sister, Maggie. The two sister are completely different physical, mentally, and emotionally. Alice White uses characterization and different types of symbolism to show the difference between Dee and Maggie’s interpretations of the African-American culture and heritage. Alice White uses characterization to show the difference between Dee and Maggie’s interpretations of the African- American culture and heritage.
Through conflict, theme and characterization, Alice Walker portrays Maggie, Dee, and Mama as women from different generations and their heritage. First of all, through several external and internal conflicts, Walker describes that the arrival of Dee will affect Maggie. One conflict, when Dee asks mama if she can have
Alice Walker conveys the meaning of “The Flowers” by making the flowers seem innocent, just like Myop. The author used a perception of this young innocent girl who is gathering flowers away from her home to give the reader suspicion of what was going to happen next. The author also used elements of writer’s craft such as Imagery, Symbol, Setting, Diction, Style etc. Although, at first when the narrative begins, the reader gets a sense of an emotional ending, until the author introduces the setting.
Characterization in “Everyday use” In “Everyday Use” Alice Walker creates the characters of Mom, Maggie, and Dee in order to explore the appreciation and values of African American culture and what it stands for. The story grows around one daughter Dee coming back home to visit her family. As one is introduced to the characters in “Everyday Use”, it becomes noticeable that the two sisters, Maggie and Dee, are very different. Maggie is portrayed as a homely and ignorant girl, while Dee is portrayed as a beautiful and educated woman.
Alice Walker was able to use symbolism to represent the families of heritage on of living using in Everyday Use. In the short novel Alice Walker talks about the life and struggles of black women. As she was the eighth child of sharecropper parents. She grew up in the midst of violent racism and poverty which was influenced her later writings. After graduating from high school in 1961 she got a scholarship for Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia, where she stayed for two years and wrote her first novel which was published in
A constant comparison and contrast between Maggie and Dee is prominent structural feature of the narrative. This structural strategy helps in conceptualizing the plurality of female experience within the same milieu. This strategy encapsulates another dimension of womanism, viz. , womanism refuses to treat black woman as a homogeneous monolith. Unlike feminist position, womanism is sensitive to change with time.
Alice Walker (1944- ) is considered as a writer who is the powerful woman at expressing political and social struggles on feminism. According to my perception, she has been named as a militant without weapon in order to bring equality for regarding inferior of black women in all the nations. Her vision consistently mirrors her concern with racial and political issues, particularly with the black woman's struggle for spiritual and political survival. Her political awareness, her Southern heritage, and her sense of the freedom made greatness into the revolution. Much of her writing reveals her concern for black women and their families.
