Alice Walker Everyday Use Analysis
Assertion Paper Number Nine
Everyday Use
By: Alice Walker
I think that the black mother to Maggie and Dee in this story sees her two daughters as two opposites of herself. While she and Maggie move to a house (much the same as the previous one) Dee moves on to go to college. Maggie was badly burned in the fire which explains her peculiar way of behaving at times now. She seems to be shy and quiet, but I get the feeling that this is only because of her burns. She is not the brightest person and she knows it, page 3011 “She knows she is not bright”. She may not be the smartest or quickest person, but Maggie still does just fine.
On the other hand you have Dee, or better know throughout this story as “Wangero” Wangero is quite the opposite
of Maggie. She is very outgoing and smart and has turned into, I think, for lack of a better word, a hippie. Change has overtaken her throughout the years as well. When Wangero first goes to college, the mother offers her the quilts on page 3015, “Then she had told me they were old-fashioned, out of style”. Wangero takes claim over the quilts as well on that page and the mother thinks, “They already belonged to her.” I think that the reason Wangero has changed so much, is because she is no longer sheltered by the house in the pasture. She has experienced many changes during the time period when she was away from home. I believe that this was a time for her to learn to stand up for herself and her rights.
The mother has the same qualities as both of her daughters. Maggie never really changes and stays in the present, while Dee (Wangero) leaves only to continue to change. I think that the mother would like to be more of a person like Dee, but yet still remain the same. It’s at this point that she finally realizes she can! On page 3015, “I did something I never had done before: hugged Maggie to me, then dragged her on into the room, snatched the quilts out of Miss Wangero’s hands and dumped them into Maggie’s lap.” By snatching the quilts away she has been taught by her hippie daughter to stand up for herself and her heritage. The moral of the story: It’s never to late to learn something new.
Everyday Use
By: Alice Walker
I think that the black mother to Maggie and Dee in this story sees her two daughters as two opposites of herself. While she and Maggie move to a house (much the same as the previous one) Dee moves on to go to college. Maggie was badly burned in the fire which explains her peculiar way of behaving at times now. She seems to be shy and quiet, but I get the feeling that this is only because of her burns. She is not the brightest person and she knows it, page 3011 “She knows she is not bright”. She may not be the smartest or quickest person, but Maggie still does just fine.
On the other hand you have Dee, or better know throughout this story as “Wangero” Wangero is quite the opposite
of Maggie. She is very outgoing and smart and has turned into, I think, for lack of a better word, a hippie. Change has overtaken her throughout the years as well. When Wangero first goes to college, the mother offers her the quilts on page 3015, “Then she had told me they were old-fashioned, out of style”. Wangero takes claim over the quilts as well on that page and the mother thinks, “They already belonged to her.” I think that the reason Wangero has changed so much, is because she is no longer sheltered by the house in the pasture. She has experienced many changes during the time period when she was away from home. I believe that this was a time for her to learn to stand up for herself and her rights.
The mother has the same qualities as both of her daughters. Maggie never really changes and stays in the present, while Dee (Wangero) leaves only to continue to change. I think that the mother would like to be more of a person like Dee, but yet still remain the same. It’s at this point that she finally realizes she can! On page 3015, “I did something I never had done before: hugged Maggie to me, then dragged her on into the room, snatched the quilts out of Miss Wangero’s hands and dumped them into Maggie’s lap.” By snatching the quilts away she has been taught by her hippie daughter to stand up for herself and her heritage. The moral of the story: It’s never to late to learn something new.