ipl-logo

The Character Maggie In Everyday Use By Alice Walker

254 Words2 Pages
In the story “ everyday use” By Alice walker One of the main characters Maggie gains the most out of everybody else. She Is left with the quilts. Maggie still keeps her cultural ethnicity.She is getting married by choice. She finally wins and her sister doesn’t. First, Maggie is the child that is shy and timid of the family. She never really received the best things that her sister received.There is know a moment where that is not true and she finally has won to where she gets something that her sister wanted but, finally that did not happen and maggie got it. For example, it says in the story “But they're priceless!" she was saying now, furiously; for she has a temper. "Maggie would put them on the bed and in five years they'd be in rags.
Show More
Related
732 Words | 3 Pages

In the beginning of the book Maggie mentions a scar she received after her father left her with her brother alone to go buy cigarettes. She was burned with a hot pot of beans. To her, this action by her father was neglect. She states, “But I wasn’t like my brother. I couldn’t let things go” (Rash 31).

Read More
680 Words | 3 Pages

After this Maggie had three sons (one had died in infancy.) and also adopted a daughter. By the time 1895, Maggie was rising rapidly through the

Read More
613 Words | 3 Pages

Circa 1800s, America and Europe were divided in their social values, but united in their industrial ambition. Prior to the announcement of industrialization, both American and European manufacturers majorly exploited the skills and resources of Britain. Americans imported British goods, and Britain contributed immensely to European Industrialization circa 1700s. Many of the building blocks to American Marshall Court Nationalistic society were in the form of British innovation via the multiple facets of elementary manufacturing. Examples of British invention include the first commercial electrical telegraph (William Cooke and Charles Wheatstone), practical steam engine (Thomas Newcomen), a sure fire inexpensive process for mass-producing steel (Henry Bessemer), and various other progressive milestones.

Read More
147 Words | 1 Pages

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.

Read More
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.

Read More
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.

Read More
333 Words | 2 Pages

The prettiest daughter had a life outside of where her mother was located. The less attractive daughter stayed with her mother and that was probably the best choice for her. “Everyday Use” allows readers to see the conflicts on how culture can be twisted and viewed differently by generations through the theme, characters and symbols. To begin with, there are three generations of culture that is

Read More
1032 Words | 5 Pages

This shows, unlike her sister Maggie, Dee’s perception of the quilts are strictly aesthetic and artistic pieces that reflect African Heritage. Dee never considers they may represent oppression themselves and it makes her seem as though she wants them solely just to show off. In addition, Ross goes on to state, “Her admiration for them now seems to reflect a cultural trend toward valuing handmade objects, rather than any sincere interest in her “heritage.” After all, when she was offered a quilt before she went away to college, she rejected it as “old-fashioned, out of style” (Ross 1-2).

Read More
1338 Words | 6 Pages

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

Read More
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).

Read More
712 Words | 3 Pages

The first house is like the origin of the beginning of the family. It holds their story In brief, “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker contains literary elements that draws back to a heritage. Walker wrote this short story to explain how each character saw their heritage. Some are proud, awed, but others are ashamed of their

Read More
721 Words | 3 Pages

Maggie has a very bad relationship with her bigger sister Dee with jealousy and hatred. Mama always thinks that Maggie lives an unfair life but Maggie never said that. “Maggie asked me mama when Dee ever had friends” (Walker, 317, 14), this quote shows how Maggie is jalousie from Dee, actually dee has friends. When Maggie sees stuff she doesn’t like she hides it and doesn’t talk but when she knew that Dee wanted to take the quilt that mama promised to give her she dropped the plates and smashes the kitchen door very hard.

Read More
1283 Words | 6 Pages

‘Maggie can’t appreciate these quilts!’ She said. ‘She’d probably be backward enough to put them to everyday use.’ … ‘But, they're priceless!’ ” (172).

Read More
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!”

Read More
1026 Words | 5 Pages

Maggie did not go to school, does not dress in colorful attention-getting African garb, and does not have a fancy boyfriend, but she does slam a door which indicates her feelings about the quilts and butter churn her sister has come to claim out from under her feet. The temper has flared, and Maggie gets her quilts. In conclusion, the story seems to tell how different Maggie and Dee were from each other; with few comparisons between the two girls to suggest that they had anything in

Read More

More about The Character Maggie In Everyday Use By Alice Walker

Related Topics

Open Document