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Of Idealism And Pragmatism In Alice Walker's Everyday Use

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Do you take things for granted? Well I don’t think you should. People always take everyday items for granted. The story is “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker. “Everyday Use” was written in the 1960 and 1970-time period and it was publicized in 1973. The two articles are “Heritage and deracination in Walker's "Everyday Use." (Alice Walker) by David Cowart and “Destroying to Save: Idealism and Pragmatism in Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use” by Joe Sarnowski. There is historical context of how African Americans have taken every day items for granted in Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use”. First, the observations of how “Everyday Use” relates to the struggles that African Americans had. For example, Everyday Use is about how African Americans waste things that some people wish that they had. Some people wish they had food to eat, clothes to wear, and place to live but they don’t and the people that do have those things do not make the best use out of those things. People …show more content…

The article will be about some of the struggles that African Americans face on today. One thing that was mentioned is how African Americans deal with the things that society puts on them. The author said that the clearness of Everyday Use allows to read it but it has the information to still make it a journal. The author also said that Dee only cares about herself she shows contemporary African Americans a way to cope with an oppressive society. That’s the type of person that we need. She is like a strong model especially for the African American that might be reading the story. Lastly, the author the stated Dee was delighted with family home. That was the biggest part of the family heritage. There was nothing more important that to the

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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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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.

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The Importance of Heritage In the short story “Everyday Use”, it seems as if Dee’s character traits, such as her condescending and ashamed attitude towards her family, are only negative traits. However, when the readers read deeper into the story, they find that one of Dee’s best character traits is her love for her heritage. In the beginning of the story, Dee arrives in a yellow and orange dress with her hair that “stands straight up like wool on a sheep” (60). Dee’s afro signifies that she does not want to straighten her hair, which would conform to white people’s view of beauty.

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Everyday Use and Sula are coming of age stories. They both illustrate times in people’s lives when they have to decide to how they are going to live with their past and themselves. The short story "Everyday Use", Alice Walker emphasizes the aspect of individuality. The story focuses on the lives of two sisters, Maggie and Dee.

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Dee has always been ashamed of her African culture and family. Dee would prefer that her mother and sister look different and that her home would be nicer. Her mother always knew how Dee felt about her, “My daughter would want me to be a hundred pounds lighter, my skin like an uncooked barley pancake. But that is a mistake” (par. 6). Dee has returned from college to visit her family, but with a different attitude.

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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.

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Dee is a girl who lived with her mom and her sister Maggie, but she wasn’t like them at all, she was different than her sister and her mother. Mama was collecting money to take Dee to school in Augusta. Dee liked to be fashionable, she always wanted nice things. Dee changed allot in the story, she changed after she went to study in school.

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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.

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In the short story “ Everyday Use” the story took place in the rural south during an tumultuous time when many African Americans were struggling to redefine and seize control of their social, cultural, and political identity in American society. “On TV mother and child embrace and smile into each other 's faces. Sometimes the mother and father weep, the child wraps them in her arms and leans across the table to tell how she would not have made it without their help. I have seen these programs” (155).

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Most people struggle with figuring out who they really are. The short story "Everyday Use,” written by  Alice Walker, emphasizes this aspect of individuality. It is about an African- American mother and her two daughters. The story concentrates on the lives of two sisters named Maggie and Dee(Wangero). Maggie is portrayed as a homely and ignorant girl, while Dee is portrayed as a beautiful and educated woman.

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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.

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Introduction Let 's be honest, we lead an easy life: automatic dishwashers, riding lawnmowers, T.V. remote controls, automatic garage door openers, power screwdrivers, bread machines, electric pencil sharpeners, etc., etc. etc. We live in a time-saving, energy-saving, convenient society. It 's a wonderful life. Or is it?

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And, womanism here represented through Mama, calls for a critical relatedness to the heritage. The narrative articulates the shallowness of Dee’s

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