Protagonist In Everyday Use

Character Analysis of the Protagonist in “Everyday Use” Like an onion, the protagonist (mom) in Alice Walker’s short story “Everyday Use” has many layers to her character. As a single parent the mom has to solely provide the necessities of life for her kids, being the only emotional support and dealing with daughters whom are both needing their mother’s wisdom. Her daughter Dee/Wangero, an exceptionally beautiful young woman blessed with “her feet …always neat-looking, as if God himself had shaped them with a certain style” (111), is having an identity crisis as well as being used to getting what she wants. These character traits of Dee/Wangero ultimately creates a conflict within the family dynamic. Maggie is the complete opposite of her sister, while Dee/Wangero is beautiful and smart, Maggie is disfigured and simple-minded. Being a single mother, she crosses gender boundaries and works hard in order to provide for her family. Although a man's job is harder, she has physically built for it and describes herself as a " large, big-bone woman with rough, man-working hands" (109). As a single mother, she acquired skills that are usually reserved for a man and takes pride in being able to "kill and clean a hog as mercilessly as a man. work outside all day, [and] [break] ice to get water for washing. One winter she [knocks] a bull calf straight in the brain between the eyes with a sledge hammer and hang the meat to chill by nightfall" (109). Although she considers herself to be manly, she still appreciates

The layers of details crafted into the characters are so detailed that the readers are easily immersed into the story. The anxiety and hardship of raising two kids while being a single parent are all too real and relatable these days. Not only that, but mix it up with a daughter who is having an identity crisis and another that needs emotional support and you’ve got a mother that has her hands