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Maggie's Redemption In Everyday Use By Alice Walker

219 Words1 Pages
In the short story, "Everyday Use," the author, Alice Walker, decides that Mrs. Johnson will find her redemption. At the beginning of the story, Mrs. Johnson only pays her oldest daughter, Dee, attention by letting her have whatever she wants. In "Everyday Use," Dee comes to Mrs. Johnson and Maggie's home and tries to take things that do not belong to her, such as the quilts. Mrs. Johnson finds her redemption when she decides that her youngest daughter, Maggie, is the one she needs to defend in the situation. Quilts that Maggie helped sew, Dee wanted to take and Maggie told her to go ahead and take them. Mrs. Johnson did not like it and "snatched the quilts out of Miss Wangero's hands and dumped them into Maggie's lap" (Walker 749). Mrs. Johnson
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In the story “Everyday Use” I find Maggie to be the most sympathetic. Maggie’s older sister, Dee, makes Maggie feel inferior to her. Maggie has burn scars and marks on her body, that makes her feel like she doesn’t look good. Dee always receive what she want and Dee is also smart. While Maggie isn’t so smart and doesn’t have the money or style to get what she wants.

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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

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Maggie on the other hand, is characterized by her unattractiveness and timidity. Her skin is scarred from the fire that had happened ten or twelve years ago. Those scars she has on her body in the same way have scarred her soul leaving her ashamed. She “stumbles” in her reading, but Mrs. Johnson loves her saying she is sweet and is the daughter she can sing songs at church with, but more so that Maggie is like an image of her. She honors her family’s heritage and culture, by learning how to quilt and do things in the household, like her mother views their heritage.

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343 Words | 2 Pages

Maggie in Alice Walker’s short story “Everyday Use” plays the role of being the nervous and ugly sister of the story, however she is the child with the good heart. Maggie was nervous ashamed of her scars “Maggie was nervous… she will stand hopelessly in corners, homely ashamed of the burn scars down her arms and legs”. Living in a house with a pretty sister and being the ugly sister with scars could be the reason why she picked up on a timid personality, being ‘ashamed’ of her own skin shaping her in a way that she degraded herself from everybody else. Maggie was not this way before the fire, her mother stated, as it is quoted that she had adopted to a certain walk ever since the fire.

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664 Words | 3 Pages

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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803 Words | 4 Pages

Robert Steveson once wrote, “In each two natures are at war - good and evil”, highlighting the struggle between good and evil within people. In the short novel In The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Mr. Utterson, a lawyer, tries to unravel a mystery of occurrences and connections between a murderous criminal and a renowned doctor. As the story progresses, the complicated relationship between the doctor and the criminal is revealed and exposes the duality of the doctor. In The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Stevenson emphasizes the duality of man through contrasting emotions of virtue and evil causing internal conflict. In Chapter 3, one can balance good and evil, but oftentimes, one tends to lean toward one side rather than another.

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When Dee practically demands the quilts promised to Maggie, Maggie automatically forfeits them without complaint. She never takes the time to battle her sister and she doesn't lose her composure. She, akin to a defenseless child, gives in to the pressure of Dee. "She can have them, [the quilts] Mama,” She is far more worried about keeping the peace and hiding from the commotion than defending what belongs to her. This professes Maggie to be a very complacent and scared girl, especially in the face of her sister Dee.

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This shows that Maggie views the quilts as a way of remembering her deceased grandmother. It’s not as much about the physical looks of the quilt, but more about them being a passed down memento from her grandmother. In addition, Sarnowski states, “Losing the quilts would not extinguish or reduce Maggie’s sense of heritage, but it would rob her sense of heritage of an affirming token” (Sarnowski 280). Maggie knows what her heritage is and does not necessarily need the quilts to define it. She is happy with the life she lives and although she would be losing this “affirming token” she would still know where she comes

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Mrs. Johnson ends up giving Maggie the quilts for the right

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869 Words | 4 Pages

Ms. Johnson didn't have an education, yet she knew the value of the quilts and she didn’t let a few words from Dee change her decision of giving the quilts to Maggie. Dee leaves her mother’s house quite upset and tells her sister, “You ought to try to make something of yourself, too, Maggie. It’s really a new day for us. But from the way you and Mama still live you’d never know it” (Walker 12).

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1149 Words | 5 Pages

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).

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1357 Words | 6 Pages

In the short story” Everyday Use” by Alice Walker who tells a story about black women who have two daughters Maggie and Dee. She has to have the decision to give the quilts of one of her two daughters. Dee her oldest daughter who has been away at college and comes to visit her family and she wants the quilts as popular fashion and show them as part of their heritage. Maggie, her youngest daughter, who lives with her mother at home and understands the family tradition and heritage.her mother has been promised to give the quilts for her. The quilts mean for Maggie communication with family and culture.

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1425 Words | 6 Pages

By holding these quilts from Dee, Mama Johnson decides that Maggie’s practical approach to heritage is better than Dee’s superficial, impersonal concept of her new heritage. Dee and Maggie, the two sisters who want the handmade

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1561 Words | 7 Pages

These quilts are a ways of honoring her African American heritage and to be given these was very significant in their culture. For once Dee sees the historical background because of the stitching and material used, but doesn’t find any use in using them. Dee is going to try and convince her mom to let her keep the quilts, when Dee says, “Maggie can’t appreciate these quilts!” (Walker 721) and “You just will not understand. The point these quilts, these quilts!”

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1026 Words | 5 Pages

The comparison of characters is something an author allows us to do while reading a story, by telling us about the characters’ looks, their personalities, their lifestyles, and also the traits that may describe a character. “Everyday Use” written by Alice Walker, two characters named Maggie and Dee had a few things in common and many differences from each other. The characters Maggie and Dee, also known as “Wanergo,” are sisters who compete on who inherits the family heirlooms. The story is told from the mother’s (Mama’s) point of view.

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