The Johnson House In Alice Walker's 'Everyday Use'

The shattered “house”
By: Ariella Barishansky It is clear from the text in Alice Walker’s “Everyday use” the Johnson house is a focal point of this short story. (subject) Why does the story focus at great length on their physical house and give lengthy descriptions about it. (question/problem) To answer this question, I think we should look at this specific passage’s descriptions of the house, understand the details on a deeper level and explain the details in correlation to Dee’s relationship with her mother. (approach) The central focus of this story is the relationship Dee has with her family, the events that occur, and the way her family responds and reacts to her in these situations. Familial issues and conflicts is a clear theme through out this
story. The passage that I have chosen to analyze closely describes the Johnson house at length as broken and run down. I connected the Johnson’s familial conflict with the physical issues of their home. I think “the house” symbolically represents Dee’s broken relationship with her mother. In addition, the damaged relationship Dee has with her mother primarily exists due to the lack of respect she has for her mother as an authoritative figure and her mother’s lack of control over her.

Body paragraph 1: explains my subject- the focal point of the house in this story, the physical descriptions in my passage. The Johnson’s home is a focal point in this short story. The author goes at great length to describe the house in detail. The specific passage I did a close reading of and analyzed in particular describes the house as being old, broken and small. It is similar to the previous house the Johnson family lived in. The house has three rooms, no real windows, shutters on the outside of the house and pasture-like. The author quotes, “It is three rooms, just like the one that burned, except the roof is tin; they don’t make shingle roofs anymore. There are no real windows, just some holes… with rawhide holding the shutters up on the outside. This house is in a pasture too.” From closely reading and analyzing this passage, I picked up on its structure. I think it’s structurally set up as an old, broken house, supporting the shutters by rawhide holdings. The house in essence will fall down without these unstable holdings. The structure of this passage connotes the unstableness of the house. Just like the passage rambles numerous detailed descriptions of house and its unstableness, the actual physical house is unstable and broken.
Body paragraph2: After closely scrutinizing this passage, I have concluded from the specific language expressed by the author and the tone of voice that there is an underlying deeper meaning as to why the house is mentioned at great length and in great detail.
The house symbolically represents the broken and unstable relationship Dee has with her mother. Dee’s broken relationship were her mother is a major theme and focal point in this short story and must have some connection to the lengthy descriptions of the Johnson’s house. From the word choice the author uses in this passage it is clear that Dee and her mother do not have a close relationship. The author quotes, “No doubt when Dee sees it she will want to tear it down. She wrote me once that no matter where we “choose” to live, she will manage to come see us.” From the strong language of the words “no doubt,” it is clear that Dee does not want much to do with her family and will manage to visit them out of daughterly obligations to visit her mother. In addition, Dee says she will never bring friends over to her mother’s house. That is a hurtful and insulting comment to her mother. She is implying that she is ashamed of her mother’s home and does not respect her mother’s
home.
Body paragraph 3: Dee’s relationship with her mother is damaged due to her lack of respect for her mother and her mother’s lack of control over her daughter. From the passage about Dee having the old quilts from her ancestors and not being able to take no for an answer, it is clear that Dee does not repsect her mother as an authoritative figure in her life. Additionally, it is clear that her mother has mo control over her daughter because she lets Dee stomp all over her, until the turning point when she finally tells her daughter no and takes the quilts away from Dee and gives them to Maggie. This underlying lack of respect Dee has for her mother causes tension and conflict between the two of them. Regarding the house, Dee hated the first house they lived in and her mother says “No doubt when Dee sees it she will want to tear it down. She wrote me once… she’ll manage to come see us.” In most familial settings the parents have control over their children and have authoritative roles in the household. In the Johnson home, things are broken and messed up physically and figuratively. Physically the house is old, broken and has fake windows. Figuratively it’s broken as well due to Mama Johnson’s lack of control over Dee and Dee’s lack of respect for her mother. Most children do not have a say in what their house looks like or which house they’ll live in, but Mama Johnson uses the strong language of “no doubt,” providing key evidence for her daughter’s lack of approval in her mother’s decisions. The strong language of “…She’ll manage to come see us” is intense and provides further evidence for Dee’s broken relationship with her mother. The author chose the word “manage,” to strongly describe Dee’s lack of respect for her mother. In a normal familial setting, the children visit their parents and have a constant relationship with their parents. With regard to Dee’s relationship with her mother, the author chooses the word “manage” specifically to further deepen their messed up situation.