Everyday Use and Sula are coming of age stories. They both illustrate times in people’s lives when they have to decide to how they are going to live with their past and themselves. The short story "Everyday Use", Alice Walker emphasizes the aspect of individuality. The story focuses on the lives of two sisters, Maggie and Dee. Growing up together under the same conditions clearly created two very distinct individuals with contrasting views regarding their past, present, and future. When Dee arrives home from college, she portrayed herself as higher class; she put herself above her family and her past. During her visit, she was looking for valuable things to have in her home. While looking around, Dee notices two handmade quilts containing pieces of clothe that date back to the Civil War. Unfortunately, Mama has promised them to Maggie. Dee becomes disappointed and says, “Maggie would be …show more content…
The authors, Alice Walker and Toni Morrison, demonstrates how two women growing up together can lead to different point of views. In both stories, there is a woman – Sula in “Sula” and Dee in “Everyday Use” – returning home to find things the way they left them. Sula and Dee’s lives are considered very unconventional in comparison to their towns and families. In the case of Dee, she changed her name because, “I [She] couldn't bear it any longer, being named after people who oppress me." (Walker 1191) However, Sula follows a wildly divergent path and lives a life of fierce independence and total disregard for social conventions. Both characters emphasizes on what is takes to be different regardless of how their family or community viewed them as. These two stories are prime examples of black feminism in which Toni Morrison and Alice Walker have dealt with during their time. Both stories clearly argues that sexism, class oppression, gender identity, and racism are inseparably bound