Everyday Use Character Analysis

The story of a father with two sons is told in the Gospel of Luke through the Parable of the Prodigal Son. The Parable teaches about loss as one son dismissively leaves his family, ultimately denying his own heritage and background, to lead a "wastefully extravagant" life. Eventually, he returns to the family he left behind. On the surface, Alice Walker's characters in Everyday Use appear quite similar. A mother has two daughters with very different personalities and values. One daughter "leaves", sees the world outside and returns to the place and people she left. Here is where the stories diverge, however. In the Parable, the returning son repents for his past actions and mistreatment of others. In Everyday Use, Dee returns to Mama
She worked hard as a single parent and was more of the family's "father figure". She could milk cows and “kill and clean a hog as mercilessly as a man” (25). She protects one child with special needs and sends another one off into the world. It is often said that "a mother's love is unconditional." However, Mama sees the limitations of both of her daughters and is brutally honest in describing them, admittedly with her own bias. (MAYBE ADD A QUOTE HERE?) If this were not Mama's story and instead was told through the lens of either daughter, it would be so completely hate-filled that it would be an even less accurate portrayal of the dynamics among the three
Dee is a force in the family, but she is arrogant and condescending towards Mama and her sister. Dee, too, is full of resentment about everything. She hates the way she grew up. She hates their family home. She hates that her mother was more like a man than a woman. She hates that Mama and Maggie aren't as smart and "stylish" as her. Yet, when Dee becomes captivated by the “Back to Africa” movement, suddenly her family's own heritage becomes something popular rather than a source of embarrassment. She returns home demanding the family quilts not for sentimental reasons, but because they now considered “special” and is shocked when Mama denies her of them. Dee's potential narration would be a delusional one, as even she with her self-confidence denies her connection to her family, is swayed by society's views of culture and popularity and even takes on her own new persona as Wangero.
Everyday Use is at its core a story of family. Families are messy. They are complicated and not always easily understood. And, family stories are almost always deeply personal and best told from within. This is not a story that belongs to a distant third-person, semi-omniscient narrator. It is the story of three African-American women trying to find themselves, and while each has a unique perspective to offer, it is Mama who has seen and experienced more with both of her daughters