The New Beginning In Alice Walker's 'Everyday Use'

Jordan May

Molly Thornton

ENGL 2310

1 December 2016

The New Beginning in “Everyday Use” In “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker from the very beginning of the story it is shown by the narrator that Dee or Wangero is a very smart but yet a very stubborn girl who is used to getting her way. She has moved away from home to attend school and try to make a better life for herself. While she is leaving behind part of her past, she makes clear when she gets home that by changing her name from Dee to Wangero that she is no longer going to be named after the people who oppressed her. This is shown in the story when it is stated “I couldn’t bear it any longer, being named after the people who oppress me” (Walker 397). This statement is important because it

The statement is meant for people who are going through the same scenarios and to show them that they should strive to do better for themselves. Because if Wangero can move on and move away from everything she had ever know to create that better life for her and for her future family then someone who is going through a similar scenario could also do what she has done. Which may seem easy but is far from easy because she has to move away from the place she was born and the place her family has lived for many years before she was even born. Although with the courage she has she is able to go off to school and create that life that she had always wanted for herself. Wangero also tries to get her sister Maggie to go out and make something of herself and this is shown when it say’s “You ought to try to make something of yourself too, Maggie. It’s really a new day for us. But the way you and mama live you’d never know it” (Walker 401). This is important because not only does she try and make better for herself she tries to get her mom and sister to also go and move away from home to create a new life a new identity that is not related to their past and those who oppressed