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Symbolism in the things they carried literary criticism
The use of symbolism in the novel
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More handpicked essays just for you.
Symbolism in the things they carried literary criticism
The use of symbolism in the novel
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Speaker: Alice Walker writes in a first person point of view. The speaker is a single mother who “never had an education” (Walker 49). She is a minority, and accepts the lower status: “Who can even imagine me looking a strange white man in in the eye?” (48). The mother refuses to challenge the people society deem as better than her.
On the contrary, Dee has been ambitious yet determined and risen above their humble background. Having desires to move to even higher levels. This truly scares her mother. Generally, Timpe simplifies the works of Walker for easy understanding. Several other works are as well cited and thus
Alice Walker was a social activist, born in 1944. She is very popular for her novel “The Color Purple” that was published in 1982. Before that, she wrote “Everyday Use” in 1973. It is a short story about a family that branches out in their own way throughout the years. She shows us that the daughters were being directed into two different pathways.
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.
My Family correlation to “Everyday Use” No filter, no beating around the bush, sensing shade. All of the things that describe my mama. Which is a similarity to the story. In the story “Everyday Use” written by Alice Walker, Mama comes off as very blunt. If you knew my family you could see exactly how they relate.
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.
This appreciation also leads to Dee changing not only her lifestyle, but several other things such as her apparel and name; which is described as “stereotypically African.” However, Dee’s new-found appreciation does seem, like Hakims, to be more of a fad. In Diane Ross’s article, “Everyday Use,” she states, “To Dee, artifacts such as the benches or the quilts are strictly aesthetic objects. It never occurs to her that they, too, are symbols of oppression: Her family made these things because they could not afford to buy them” (Ross 1-2).
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.
In one way or another, everyone has experienced the phenomenon known as a “family resemblance”, in which one member of a family appears similar another in appearance or action. A family bond is one that cannot be broken despite apparent differences within the family. An example of this is evident in the story Everyday Use by Alice Walker. This story focuses on the “Black Power Movement” in which one character, Dee, takes part while her sister, Maggie, has no affiliation. While Dee and Maggie are similar in the sense that both desire a connection with their family, they do not share the same lifestyle or ideas surrounding their culture.
The Take on “Everyday Use” Alice Walker’s issues created in her story “Everyday Use” bring life to the firmly set themes that helps convey them in a brighter light. Clashing of lifestyles and heritage are very clear throughout the storyline, also conflicts within the characters make their way into the story. The issues brought to light in the story help the reader recognize a deeper meaning behind the story. Creating these issues, Alice Walker helps the reader be more aware of the actual surroundings, also helping to get to know Mama, Dee, and Maggie. Uses of vivid imagery suck the reader into the book making them believe they are there themselves.
Alice Walker wrote what Mama said about Dee or Wangero, “Dee wanted nice things.” Mama describes Dee as a lavish person who is only interested in herself and her fulfilling’s. Dee had changed her name to show that she is not accepting that a “white person” named her ancestors in way, so it can be passed down. Walker describes Mama as someone who is satisfied with what they have. “I will wait for her in the yard that Maggie and I made so clean and wavy yesterday afternoon,” Walker demonstrates how Mama is pleased with nature where her life takes place in.
She didn’t like her sister Maggie she also doesn’t like her mom allot and she didn’t like their house. From the main changes Dee made was changing her name. “No mama, she says not Dee, wangero Leewanik kemanjo “(Walker, 318, 25). She also brought her friend with her his name is Hakim-a-barber.
The short story, Everyday Use, is written by Alice Walker. This short story tells about the narrator, mama, and her daughter Maggie wait for a visit from Dee, mama’s older daughter. Throughout this short story, the reader can see the distraught relationship between mama and Dee. The reader can see how Dee is different than mama and Maggie; she thinks that she knows way more about her heritage than mama and Maggie, when she really does not. In the short story, Everyday Use, Walker uses imagery, symbolism, and point of view to show that heritage can only be understood when one is true to their roots.
In the short story “Everyday Use,” Alice Walker shows the conflicts and struggles with people of the African-American culture in America. The author focuses on the members of the Johnson family, who are the main characters. In the family there are 2 daughters and a mother. The first daughter is named Maggie, who had been injured in a house fire has been living with her mom. Her older sister is Dee, who grew up with natural beauty wanted to have a better life than her mother and sister.
This womanist conceptualization is shown by a nuanced destruction by Dee’s response to the quilt, which is the main metaphor in the story. A typical political rhetoric is represented in the character of Dee. This is a rhetoric which is more aggressive than mature, showier than subtle. Dee ends up in simplifying and commodifying culture, instead of relating it to any meaningful way. She comes out as a being who takes activism as a fad rather than a commitment.