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Literary Analysis of Everyday Use by Alice Walker
Literary Analysis of Everyday Use by Alice Walker
A Literary Review of 'Everyday Use' by Alice Walker
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Fabrics are the point of the story “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker, in which Dee (Wangero) attempts to persuade her mother that she, and not her sister Maggie, should have the quilts made by her grandmother, aunt, and mother. Two strategies Wangero uses for persuasion are repetition and diction to convince her mother that the quilts Grandma Dee had stitched should belong to Wangero, and not Maggie. These strategies
"She 'd probably be backwards enough to put them to everyday use" (320). Dee thinks Maggie would be dumb to keep the quilts for “everyday use”. Also, she figured her family did not know their own heritage. Dee feels as though her sister should “make something of” herself. She states, “It’s really a new day for us” to show that Maggie needs to see a greater amount of the world.
Where one learns the truth By Tonia Semovskih The multi-award winning classic Looking for Alibrandi by Melina Marchetta, the novel explores racial, class tensions and allows readers to relate personally and emphasise the adolescent issues. The tragedy and love of the novel are also about discovery, family and freedom. We’re spending time in the life of 17-year-old Josephine Alibrandi, ‘The seventeen that Janis Ian sang about where one learns the truth’. It’s a turbulent year for Josie when she learns the serious truths about herself and her family, fall in love, lose a friend and gain a father.
The prettiest daughter had a life outside of where her mother was located. The less attractive daughter stayed with her mother and that was probably the best choice for her. “Everyday Use” allows readers to see the conflicts on how culture can be twisted and viewed differently by generations through the theme, characters and symbols. To begin with, there are three generations of culture that is
The setting of Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use” reveals important aspects about the family in many ways. Without the enriched setting provided to the reader by Walker, this story would have had no foundation on which to be built. The first way Walker uses setting to let the reader get to know the family is through the detailed description provided to the reader about the family home in paragraph one. Walker describes the family’s front yard as being an “extended living room” (Walker 417)
In “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker, the meaning of heritage is admired differently by a family of the same background. Dee who now has an education and understands her heritage feud with Mama and Maggie who appreciate their heritage. Although they all come from the same household, their differences get in the way when it comes to the most valuable items in the house; including the churn and dasher that Mama and Maggie still use daily, the handmade quilts made by Grandma Dee, and how Dee is blinded by the truth of her own heritage. Dee wants the churn and dasher for decoration purposes only stating “I can use the churn top as a centerpiece for the alcove table,” (Walker 272.)
The sisters have a different outlook on their lives. Dee wants to go to school to better her life than she had growing up. While Maggie knows she will get married to John and have an ordinary life. Maggie also takes pride in wanting to learn about her roots.
Sarnowski describes Maggie by stating, “She ekes out an existence on the family farm and has neither the intelligence nor the physical attributes of Dee/Wangero” (Sarnowski 278). This statement shows that Maggie lives a conservative type of farm life, and due to this lifestyle, she is less intelligent than her sister. This statement also shows how the character Maggie is described in a sense as inferior to Dee because of her lack of education and physical attributes. Maggie’s traditionalist ways show, however, when she tells her mother, “"She can have them, Mama,” … "I can 'member Grandma Dee without the quilts"” (Walker 6).
In Alice Walker’s The Color Purple, as well as in her short story “Everyday Use”, Walker’s recurring theme of familial customs shows how certain traditions can cause conflict in families and communities, highlighting the idea that not all traditions
This new outlook on her life caused Dee to place different values on the items with which she had grown up. She wanted to take the items as things to put on display like art hanging on a wall. Dee even wanted the cherished quilts to “hang them” (Walker, 1973) instead of using them as blankets. As she saw it, to use the quilts for their original purpose would destroy them, or as she said, “Maggie would put them on the bed and in five years they 'd be in rags” (Walker, 1973).
The oldest daughter, Dee, is an educated young women who redefines her identity and beliefs of her heritage. On the contrary, the youngest daughter, Maggie, leads a traditional lifestyle in the South with her mother and remains faithful to her idea of heritage. The author of the short story, Alice Walker, shares several parallels between her own life and this story. Kathleen Wilson, award winner of the Guggenheim Fellowship
The quilt is seen as an element for "everyday use", but the use and value of it are different for the differing sisters. To Maggie, she values the quilt as an "everyday use" because to her it represents her family and who she is and so it is used as an everyday heirloom to remind her where she came from and who she
The first house is like the origin of the beginning of the family. It holds their story In brief, “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker contains literary elements that draws back to a heritage. Walker wrote this short story to explain how each character saw their heritage. Some are proud, awed, but others are ashamed of their
Separating from one’s true values may lead one to betray their own family and culture. In the short story Everyday Use a young woman who disregards her family inferiorly is faced with the conflict of self identity. The author reflects betrayal of family values through his exposure of heritage and education in the story. Heritage unveils the concept of who Dee is and the disconnection from her own shows her inadequacy to have one. Dee tries her best to stray away from the life she once had and went the extent of changing her name.
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
