Everyday Use Walker
In contrast, the women in “Everyday Use” by Walker exemplify the total opposite of what Southern women should be. Walker allows the mother in “Everyday Use” to have self-confident strength, in which she takes on the tasks usually reserved for a man. In the beginning the mother describes herself as “a large big-boned woman with rough, man-working hands.” She goes further to explain how she “can kill and clean a hog as mercilessly as a man.” Walker makes the mother the narrator of the story which becomes significant since she is a great example of the resistance shown to move into a more modernized world. Throughout her narration, it becomes obvious the mother is stuck in tradition, so much so her confinement becomes clear due to her lack of
education, which confines her to a much simpler life. She explains how her lack of intelligence stems from her time period in 1927 rural Georgia where racial issues were tense and colored people weren’t allowed many educational opportunities, for example when she describes her school closing after the second grade and she states that “colored asked fewer questions than they do now.” Her absent educational background makes her susceptible to following into a life based on tradition where a quilt is only for practical use and doing a man’s job is nothing out of the ordinary.
education, which confines her to a much simpler life. She explains how her lack of intelligence stems from her time period in 1927 rural Georgia where racial issues were tense and colored people weren’t allowed many educational opportunities, for example when she describes her school closing after the second grade and she states that “colored asked fewer questions than they do now.” Her absent educational background makes her susceptible to following into a life based on tradition where a quilt is only for practical use and doing a man’s job is nothing out of the ordinary.