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Everyday use literary analysis essay
Analysis about everyday use
Literary criticism essay on "Everyday Use
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More handpicked essays just for you.
Everyday use literary analysis essay
Analysis about everyday use
Literary criticism essay on "Everyday Use
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Maggie and her mother in, “Everyday Use” display the correct way to appreciate the greatness within a quilt. Acosta writes as if she was proving that the past is the past and needs to be experienced. Dee in, “Everyday Use” depicts a person who is just trying to use their heritage as a conversation starter or just to show off. In that way also showing that the education does not further you in the appreciation of your roots. Acosta discounts this in a way due to her saying that as she awoke, she wondered how the quilt was stitched.
Maggie on the other hand, is characterized by her unattractiveness and timidity. Her skin is scarred from the fire that had happened ten or twelve years ago. Those scars she has on her body in the same way have scarred her soul leaving her ashamed. She “stumbles” in her reading, but Mrs. Johnson loves her saying she is sweet and is the daughter she can sing songs at church with, but more so that Maggie is like an image of her. She honors her family’s heritage and culture, by learning how to quilt and do things in the household, like her mother views their heritage.
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.
At that point, she starts to discuss how her mom and sister are as yet living out-dated and how they would never think about the world. She doesn 't generally comprehend that Mama and Maggie are cheerful just they way
Maggie is also oppressed by society and Dee, and, though to a further degree than her mother, her view of herself attacks her equality compared to the rest of the world. The subject is immediately introduced. The story begins with Maggie and her mother waiting for Dee. They waste their time in order to be available to Dee as soon as Dee
But from the way you and Mama still live you’d never know it.’” “Everyday Use” uses the point of view of the mother of Dee and Maggie, “…Maggie asked me, ‘Mamma, when did Dee ever have any friends?’” By setting the mother to be the narrator, Walker has given the story a more mature and experienced feel which allows the reader to know more than just emotion. It gives the reader a background knowledge of the story. If the story were written from either of the girls’ point of view it would have been biased against the other and not contained much background.
In the short story, “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker, their are two distinct characters who are very different from each other. These characters have many different motivations, personalities, and points of views with respect to preserving their heritage. The narrator, Mama, looks at them both with different views. Dee and Maggie are two completely different people. Dee has different motivations than Maggie.
Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use” illustrates Dee’s struggle for identity by placing her quest for a new identity against her family’s desire for maintaining culture and heritage. In the beginning, the narrator, who is the mother of Dee, mentions some details about Dee; how she “...wanted nice things… She was determined to stare down any disaster in her efforts… At sixteen, she had a style of her own: and (she) knew what style was.” Providing evidence to the thesis, she was obviously trying exceptionally hard to find for herself a sense of identity. She wanted items her family couldn’t afford, so she worked hard to gain these, and she found a sense of identity from them, but it also pushed her farther away from her family.
It was interesting how Maggie mom described herself as a big-boned woman with rough man-working hands, likewise what she had worn to bed in the winter, and what she would wear during the day. The main gist of the story was the quilts of grandma Dee, and how beautiful and special they were. Expressly, knowing she had stitched them with her hands. It was also interesting to see how detail she was when describing Dee dress (loud that it hurts her eyes, yellow and oranges enough to throw back the light in the sun, and her entire face warming from the heat waves coming from the dress). It was astonishing, however sad to see how her daughter Dee disregarded her heritage, even changing her name, since she believe that the name given to her was from her oppressors, which she was wrong.
The point of view in the story “Everyday Use,” by Alice Walker plays a big part. Throughout the story, one of Mama’s daughters came to visit. The way Mama and Maggie see her is not in a very pleasant way. In fact, they are scared to tell her no when it comes to anything. From Mama’s perspective Dee seems like this rude, stuck up, spoiled child because she had the opportunity to go out and expand her education, while Mama and Maggie continued to live their lives on the farm.
How does a person value heritage and what type of impact does it hold on a family with a substantial history? Taking a glimpse beneath the surface of family relationships and views on traditional heritage, author Alice Walker showcases a true grasp on letting readers see into the compassionate lives of three strong female leads. With her short story “Everyday Use” each character relatable and described in such detail, the reader can truly sympathize and understand the impact heritage brings to a family. Walker’s compelling short story “Everyday Use” explores how complicated family dynamics can impact the attitude towards heritage through the three female leads. Family can occupy strong roots dating back generations with steadfast traditions that appreciate true meaning and personal endearment to family members.
Upon reading the piece Everyday Use by Alice Walker my initial reaction was that cultural appropriation of her culture/heritage is what motivated her to write this story. Throughout the story, it is clearly evident that Maggie and Dee (Wangero) are two polar opposites. Maggie is reserved and self-conscious about her body, for she was burned in a fire. When describing Maggie, Mama compares her walk to a dog that has been run over and says, "She has been like this, chin on chest, eyes on ground, feet in shuffle, ever since the fire that burned the other house to the ground" (Walker 316). Clearly, Maggie is not one who is confident in her own skin.
Even things Momma used every day that Dee would not. She is trying to “show off” her heritage instead of being part of it. Almost like she will go to school and do show-and-tell. An image that Walker shows is when Wangero asks Momma for the quilts and Maggie is in the kitchen and Momma’s point of view, “I heard something fall in the kitchen, and a minute later the kitchen door slammed” (Walker). Maggie is upset as previously mentioned Wangero is the daughter who was hardly ever told “No” to.
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.
The comparison of characters is something an author allows us to do while reading a story, by telling us about the characters’ looks, their personalities, their lifestyles, and also the traits that may describe a character. “Everyday Use” written by Alice Walker, two characters named Maggie and Dee had a few things in common and many differences from each other. The characters Maggie and Dee, also known as “Wanergo,” are sisters who compete on who inherits the family heirlooms. The story is told from the mother’s (Mama’s) point of view.