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Everyday Use By Alice Walker Analysis

532 Words3 Pages

" Everyday Use," by Alice Walker which is a short story that is told in first person (narrator) by "Mama". The main events (plot) of this short story is about personality and talks about heritage. A old fashion woman who label herself as a large, big boned woman with manly hands , and have qualities of a man . She has two daughters who names are Maggie and Dee. The two sisters are not alike in so many ways. Maggie is the humble sister that have low self esteem about her appearance. She has burn scars down her arms and legs from the fire that burned the other house down. Every since the fire, Maggie walk with her head down without lifting her feet. Mama's oldest daughter Dee is the neat looking one, has style, not scared to make something of herself, but she forgets where she come from. …show more content…

Dee hated the other house that burned down to the ground. Mama used to think she hated her sister Maggie, also. Dee who changed her name to Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo was returning home to visit from school. Mama and Maggie made the yard so clean waiting on the arrival of Dee. The yard was just not a simple yard, it was an open space yard that was comfortable and meant something more to Mama. Dee brings along her boyfriend, short stocky boy with his hair to his navel. He greets Mama and Maggie by speaking (dialogue) "Asalamalakim", but just call him Hakim-a-barber after Mama trip over it several times. Dee brings out two quits, begins to discuss with Mama about having the old quits. Mama had promise to give the quits to Maggie. Mama starts to realize the quits deserve to be with Maggie and gave them to her, instead of Dee the daughter who wants to display the quits as part of her "heritage", rather than putting them to

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These differences cause tension to wear on family relationships, ultimately causing Dee to leave in anger. Walker uses characterization, contrast, and imagery to portray Dee and Mama’s relationship, and that mother-daughter relations are not always as the parties wish them to be. Mama and Dee are characterized by their appearances, thoughts, and actions. Mama describes herself as stout, broad boned, and man-handed. Mama is described as somewhat inferior to her daughter, whose “humor…erupted like bubbles

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The Three Family Artifacts In Everyday Use By Alice Walker

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The first character is Mama, who is the mother of Dee and Maggie. The second character is Dee, who is the daughter of Mama and the sister of Maggie. The third character is Maggie, who is the daughter of Mama and the sister of Dee. The fourth character is Asalamalakim, who is the significant other of Dee.

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Character Analysis Of Dee Kemanjo In Everyday Use By Alice Walker

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She doesn 't know how hard life is with her sister and mother. Dee only cares about what she wants and she talks down on her family. She believes her sister could not use the quilts in a way she thought they should be used. " Maggie can 't appreciate these quilts!" she said.

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Dee and Hakim pull up to the house and when Dee steps out of the car, she greets Mama and Maggie in a foreign dialect. She’s dressed in a brightly colored dress that Mama says is so loud it is “enough to throw back the light of the sun.” When Mama speaks to Dee, Dee states that she wants to be called Wangero because Dee is dead. Dee’s reasoning behind changing her name is that she “couldn’t

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Analyzing The Use Of Generational Quilts In Everyday Use By Alice Walker

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Dee eventually comes back to her mom and Maggie to introduce her partner, Asalamalakim and pick up some quilts that

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Everyday Use By Alice Walker Summary

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The family leads a hard working, simple and minimalistic life that allows them just enough to get by. Mama is described as a “large, big-boned woman with rough, man-working hands” (Walker 418). Her day to day life doesn’t allow for the high standards of her eldest daughter Dee. Dee is described by Mama as being unappreciative and bratty. Mama makes is clear that the family’s socioeconomic status would never be good enough for the eldest daughter.

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Thin body, scars up and down her arms and legs described as Maggie. “ Have you ever seen a lame animal, perhaps a dog run over by some careless person rich enough to own a car, sidle( move sideways in a shy, sneaky manner) up to someone who is ignorant enough to be kind to him? That is the way my Maggie walks. 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”( 78 Walker). Dee has been always a good looking girl with neat feet, nice-black hair and a fuller figure and light weighted than Maggie.

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In attempts to reconnect with her African roots, Dee has changed her name to Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo. Dee has also taken an interest in embracing her African heritage and has dressed in traditional African clothes to visit her mother. Her mother knows that Dee’s intentions are not genuine. Worrying more about taking pictures of her mother and collecting items that represent the African culture to take back home, Dee neglects to spend time with her family. Her mother notices that Dee, “Lines up picture after picture of me sitting there in front of the house with Maggie cowering behind me.

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The story is told from the point of view of their mother, Ms. Johnson, and it is from her that we learn about the difference in the sister’s characters. Dee, who changes her name to Wangero, is outspoken and is the educated sister. Maggie is shy and appears to be ashamed of the burns on her skin. “[Maggie] thinks her sister has held life always in the palm of one hand, that ‘no’ is a word the world would never learn to say to her” (Walker 6). This is important because, in the end, Dee does not get her way.

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Essay On Everyday Use By Alice Walker

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In the story, “Everyday Use,” the oldest sister Dee redefines her views of her family’s heritage. Dee leaves her rural home to receive an education in the city, but when returning back home she has changed completely. Specifically, Dee changes her name to Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo which creates difficulties for her mother. In the story Dee explains, “Couldn’t bear it any longer, being named after the people who oppress me" (Walker 318). She views her past name as a reminder that African Americans are not given original names.

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With determined ambitions and education resulted in a lack of sensibility in heritage, history, and self identity, which only family can implement. Dee presents herself almost as a weird, intimidating individual foreign to what her family has ever known. The conflict that Mama and Maggie are confronted with is that Dee is does not care about anything but herself. When being rejected to have possession of the quilts Dee stated “But they’re priceless! She was saying now, furiously; for she has a temper.”.

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The story goes beyond these traits to deal mainly with the way in which the two sisters value their heritage. Maggie knows nothing but her heritage, for she has never left home. On the other hand, Dee seems to have

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Maggie has a very bad relationship with her bigger sister Dee with jealousy and hatred. Mama always thinks that Maggie lives an unfair life but Maggie never said that. “Maggie asked me mama when Dee ever had friends” (Walker, 317, 14), this quote shows how Maggie is jalousie from Dee, actually dee has friends. When Maggie sees stuff she doesn’t like she hides it and doesn’t talk but when she knew that Dee wanted to take the quilt that mama promised to give her she dropped the plates and smashes the kitchen door very hard.

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Irony In Alice Walker's Everyday Use

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This point of view contributes to this story is multiple ways. Mama narrating this story helps to give the reader insight into the past of the characters. Mama was there for everything that happened in the lives of her two daughters, Dee and Maggie. She knows their personalities and how they feel about their heritage and lives. As a result of Mama’s knowledge of these important details, Mama is able to add a contrast between the past and the present.

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