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Everyday Use Character Analysis Essay

1358 Words6 Pages

Characterization, conflict, and symbolism is a major key in a short story matter of fact it is a major key in any type of literature. Characterization is explained through out literature from poems to book. Characterization is shown well throughout the short story “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker. Conflict and symbolism are also shown very well throughout the whole short story. The key to find characterization, conflict, and symbolism in a piece of literature is to analyze the story and actually understand the story. Walker explained characterization, conflict, and symbolism very well from the characters Dee, Maggie, or another family member. Walker also explained conflict through the sisters and shown their type of relationship. Characterization, conflict, and symbolism is in pretty much every time of literature it is just the way people read the story and analyze the story to find the three major keys of a piece of literature. First of all, characterization is the describing the individual quality of a person or thing. Characterization is explained through the short story “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker through the main characters from Dee, Maggie, Barber, and more. Characterization is the act of describing someone …show more content…

They had been pieced by Grandma Dee and then Big Dee and me had hung them on the quilt frames on the front porch and quilted them. One was in the Lone Stat pattern. The other was Walk Around the Mountain. In both of them were scraps of dresses Grandma Dee had worn fifty and more years ago (Walker 5). The quilts mean a lot to the family tradition and Dee know if she does not take care of them Grandma Dee would not like that to happen if she still alive. Symbolism is shown in the story plenty of time from the quilts and the meaning of the family tradition. Symbolism is in every piece of literature people just have to look for it. When the reader knows the main symbol of the story, the story becomes more

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Dee wanted to have the quilts that her grandma pieced before she died. “Out came Wangero with two quilts. They had been pieced by Grandma Dee” (Walker, 57). Dee was told no because Mama promised Maggie that she would give it to her, when she gets married.

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Each piece of fabric represents the life and struggles of Mama’s ancestors. The quilt is a piece of history passed down from generation to generation, which embodies long lasting memories and legacy. Wangero asked, “Can I have these old quilts” (1193). Mama was not happy about the request and suggested other quilts.

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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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In Everyday Use, Maggie is often used to contrast with her sister. Dee is often portrayed as more of a beautiful and smart person while Maggie is depicted as ugly and shy. Maggie looks up to her sister and even tries to win her acceptance by allowing her to have the old quilts. There is also jealousy in this relationship as Maggie feels as if Deed has been gifted in life with her beauty, intelligence, and confidence. However, despite Dee’s more favorable outward appearance she has a harsh personality and cares very little for her family.

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Therefore, many of the items which Dee and Maggie see in the course of the story have radically different meanings. Dee, having had the advantage of leaving home to go to college, had her life changed by the lifestyle she was introduced to in the city. When she came home again, her view of the items which Maggie and her mother considered as everyday use items had taken on a whole new meaning to her, she now saw them as artifacts instead of things which were useful.

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As she looks at her quilts, Mama remembers that a certain patch came from her grandfather's paisley shirts, that some pieces came from dresses that Grandma Dee wore 50 years earlier, and even that there was a very small piece of her great-grandfather's Civil War uniform. From this, we can all see how and why they mean so much to her. To Dee, the quilts are a quaint "primitive" art. To Mama and Maggie, they represent more than that. They are family memories, very personal and very special mementos of loved ones who are gone.

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