Sacrifice In Everyday Use By Alice Walker

Alice Walker is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American author who was born on February 9, 1944, in Eatonton, Georgia. She is one of eight children brought up in a poor household still recovering from the effects of the great depression. During her early childhood, Walker was accidentally shot with a BB gun, leaving her with a large scar across her eye; this caused her to withdraw from the world and confide in reading and writing poetry. She later published her first official work Once, a collection of poetry in 1968, and continued from there. Through her work, she became very involved in the civil rights movement, which had a huge impact on her publications. She later wrote her most famous novel ¨The Color Purple¨ in 1985 and published a body of

In this short story, we see sacrifice from not only the narrator, Mama but also Dee´s sister Maggie. Here, Mama says, ¨…we raised the money, the church and me, to send her to Augusta to school¨ (Walker 395). This quote shows us how not only Mama, but the whole community sacrificed and took the time to get Dee to college. A second example is how Maggie, though unintentionally, sacrificed more for Dee than she will ever know. Mama describes, ¨She has been like this; chin on chest, eyes on ground, feet in shuffle ever since the fire that burned our other house to the ground.¨ This quote gives us a look into how Maggie being severely injured in the fire led Dee to some of the opportunities she was given. Maggie becoming shy and docile due to her injuries caused her to fall behind Dee and almost fade out of view when it comes to their family. Maggie wasn't given the opportunity to go to school and this allowed Dee to take the spotlight. Though she may not recognize this, it is obvious in the text that Maggie unintentionally sacrificed so much so Dee could become the person she

In this short story, we see Dee find her way once she steps away from her family. Through Dee's time away from home she is exposed to things she wouldn't have been if she didn't go off to school. She was given the opportunity that Mama and Maggie never had and Dee tries to explain how she has changed. Mama and Dee say, "Well," I say. "Dee." "No, Mama," she says. "Not 'Dee,' Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo!" "What happened to 'Dee'?" I wanted to know. "She's dead," Wangero said. "I couldn't bear it any longer, being named after the people who oppress me¨ (Walker 398). Here Dee expresses herself through her new name. She found a way to show her newfound identity through something as impactful as her name. This is valuable because it shows how someone can find their personality and not be the same as the others in their family. It shows how having different opinions from family is ok and perfectly normal. Although Dee can sometimes come off as rude throughout the story when she tries to share her opinion, she comes from a good