ipl-logo

Literary Analysis Of 'OYDAY USE'

1379 Words6 Pages

Literary Analysis The poem, “WE REAL COOL” sums the life of troubled teenagers who choose to leave school and pursue street life. The poet only sees the certain fate of quick death for teenagers. The poem describes the happiness that teenagers chase in the present moment at the expense of the future. The teenagers hang around pool tables, learn all the tricks of the game and ignore the consequences of their decisions in their future. The poem showcases the teenagers’ attitude in an emotional way, and this enables the author to connect the message to the audience (Kennedy). The story, “EVERYDAY USE”, was published as part of a short stories collection in Love and trouble: stories of black women. The title of the book can reveal the contents …show more content…

In the 1950s and 1960s, African Americans had been granted civil rights, though gradually, and the emerging generation was confused as regards the expectations placed on them. Some members of this generation saw fit that the best they could do in the circumstances was to fight for historical injustices suffered by the black American, while others made unsuccessful attempts to break the yoke of poverty and overcome inequality. The authors’ presentation of the story as a family strife is especially enlightening as it allows one to analyze universal themes from the aspect of the smallest unit of a community, the …show more content…

In the story, “EVERYDAY USE”, one gets attracted to the lack of empathy and genuine connection between Dee and her family. Even though Dee is educated, she appears ignorant of her family heritage, and this makes her claim of making decisions based on her heritage baseless. At the end of the story, one develops a connection with Mama and Maggie as they appear defenseless in light of Dee’s veiled education and her subsequent actions towards her family. This storyline highlights the problem faced by the uneducated and the hope killed by those they look up to and subsequently inspire the reader to take action for the betterment of

Show More
Related

How To Achieve Success In The Lesson By Harlon L. Dalton

452 Words | 2 Pages

The two stories illustrate that African-Americans are not given an equal chance in terms of gaining opportunities for a successful life. However, it may be possible that one key factor among all can develop a whole problematic image on success and why White Americans think of the African-American society as to not having the capability for a chance towards success. At the time, the economy could have been at a huge disadvantage for the African-Americans because majority of them did not have the chance to rise up from it in terms of creating revenue for themselves. The whole world around them built this image and it is hard to come out of when no one can give opportunities for them to improve and grow. Harlon L. Dalton expresses how unfair the

Read More

Alice Walker Everyday Use Characterization

390 Words | 2 Pages

Everyday Use Characterization Essay In Alice Walker’s Everyday Use , the Johnson family experiences a small reunion as the sister Dee returns home. Dee arrives with ideas about heritage that are radically different from the rest of the family.

Read More

Death Of Innocence Book Report

1353 Words | 6 Pages

Mamie specifically wrote this book to tell her son’s story, representing hope and forgiveness, which revealed the sinister and illegal punishments of the south. She wanted to prevent this horrendous tragedy from happening to others. The purpose of the book was to describe the torment African Americans faced in the era of Jim Crow. It gives imagery through the perspective of a mother who faced hurt, but brought unity to the public, to stand up for the rights of equal treatment. This book tells how one event was part of the elimination of racial segregation.

Read More

Frederick Douglass Allegory Of The Cave

924 Words | 4 Pages

Whereas Douglass dangerously strived to attain knowledge and education, the characters in We Real Cool (18) don’t want to be educated nor enlightened and even boast about their ignorance. In merely 24 lines, We Real Cool describes the fateful lives of seven pool players. While others might say that the language of the poem gives off a celebratory attitude, I think its tone rings of insecurity, arrogance and even defiance, particularly with the repeated usage of the word “we.” The first line of the poem, “We real cool” shows the level of education of the boys, which presumably isn’t very much, followed by “We left school” which implies the boys dropped out of school and don’t even value education.

Read More

A Rhetorical Analysis Of 'Everyday Use' By Alice Walker

1052 Words | 5 Pages

Occasion: Alice Walker writes the story to draw attention to the mindset of the minorities. Walker was an activist. “Everyday Use” is a short story within a collection documenting the stories of black women, such as Alice Walker herself. Audience: Walker writes the story for everyone to read.

Read More

Troy Maxson Character Analysis

1222 Words | 5 Pages

According “Black Power: Radical Politics and African American Identity” by Jeffrey O. G. Ogbar, during the 1950s, African Americans has struggled to live their regular daily basis. They were exposed to many aspects of

Read More

Dee's Struggle For Identity In Everyday Use By Alice Walker

271 Words | 2 Pages

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.

Read More

Themes And Imagery In Everyday Use By Alice Walker

910 Words | 4 Pages

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.

Read More

Literary Analysis Of We Real Cool By Gwendolyn Brooks

912 Words | 4 Pages

We Real Cool Teenage dropouts has been one of the most problematic conflicts in the United States. This unreasonable act has disastrous effects. In the poem “We Real Cool”, Gwendolyn Brooks utilizes repetition to emphasize the consequences of discontinuing school.

Read More

Everyday Use By Alice Walker Summary

494 Words | 2 Pages

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.

Read More

Everyday Use Transformation

809 Words | 4 Pages

Have you ever not seen eye to eye with your mother? In Alice Walker’s short story “Everyday Use”, we are shown how many of the choices we make and the things we value create our identity. This story focuses on two characters, mama and her daughter Dee (Wangero), who struggle to see the same way about their heritage. Dee wants the things made by her grandmother, to not admire it as an artifact, but rather to remake it. She wants to take them, and change them to match her lifestyle as it is today.

Read More

Point Of View In Alice Walker's Everyday Use

983 Words | 4 Pages

When you look at it from Dee’s point of few she just seems to be pushing her family to expand their education and have a better life. Dee doesn’t want her family on a farm and raising cattle because that isn’t what she likes. She has an open mind about things and sees them as more than just what they are used for, hence the title, “Everyday Use.” Dee may seem like a rude, spoiled girl, but looking at it from her perspective, all she wants is for her family to live the way she does. Changing the point of view from Mama to Dee would make a major difference.

Read More

Dee's Education In Everyday Use By Alice Walker

1040 Words | 5 Pages

It shows that getting good grades doesn't automatically mean you truly appreciate and connect with your heritage. In conclusion, the story about Dee's achievements in "Everyday Use" teaches us important lessons. It shows that when we face difficulties and tough situations, they can actually shape our future in a good way. Education plays a really important role in changing lives and opening new opportunities. We shouldn't limit ourselves to what we already know, but instead try to learn and explore new things.

Read More

African American Assimilation In America

1716 Words | 7 Pages

The African – American 's Assimilation into White America America is often considered the land of opportunities, a place where people can have a fresh start, a clean slate. America is a land that is made up of immigrants. Over the centuries America has been a place where people dream to live in, however the American dream wasn 't as perfect as believed; there were issues of race inferiority, slavery and social inequality amongst other problems. When a person arrives into a new society he has a difficult task ahead of him- to assimilate into that new society- which includes the economical, cultural, political and social aspects. In the following paper I will discuss how the African American, who came as slaves to America, has fought over the centuries to achieve equality in a white society that discriminated them.

Read More

Self Identity In Alice Walker's Everyday Use

629 Words | 3 Pages

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.

Read More

More about Literary Analysis Of 'OYDAY USE'

Related Topics

Open Document