The short story “Everyday Use”, by Alice walker, begins with a family of three: Maggie, Dee, and “Mama”(there mother). The author never reveals her actual name. However Dee being old enough to attend college leaves off to college. When she comes back from college, she begins to express herself in different ways, a way that is more liberal. By the authors description she is dressed differently, she talks differently, she even changed her name to Wangero. However she starts gathering things that her mother and her sister, Maggie, owned to express her heritage, she has the wrong idea of heritage, her heritage lied in her own name passed from her grandmother to her aunt to her. the name that she carried, Dee, was passed along for three generations, which she didn’t realize. The author shows symbolism and point of view throughout the story through the family’s name,Dee, the quilt, the house, and the mother explains the story where the author uses point of view. The objects that make Dee the person she is, are disrespectful, selfish, and self-centered.…
In Alice Walker’s short story, Everyday Use, there are many characters with contrasting personalities. There are two sisters named Dee and Maggie who are polar opposites in both appearance and character. Dee is more upstanding and proud, while Maggie is humble and respectful, so they don’t get along. Although most of Dee’s and Maggie’s characteristics contrast so much, they do share some of characteristics.…
In "Everyday Use" Walker uses symbolism describing a small family of three narrarated by the Mother, known as Mama. Walker uses symbolism in describing the setting, such as living room comfort in their front yard, Maggie's walk as "a lame animal , perhaps a dog run over" (Walker 2). In this short story Walker symbolizes settings and characters and their emotions between each other. Walker's symbolism helps the readers' minds get into the setting and emotions of the short story.…
In the short story, "Everyday Use," Alice Walker teaches us lessons on true inheritance; what it is and who can receive it. Two hand stitched quilts become the center of conflict in the story. They are also used to symbolize the true inheritance. Like a quilt, a person's world view is made up of events, circumstances and influences that shape how they see and respond to the world. "Everyday Use" is a story of two worlds in conflict. Mama, acting as the narrator, guides us through the interaction of the two very different worlds embodied in her daughters.…
Alice Walker's "Everyday Use" is a short story about the clash between a mother and daughter. Dee is the child returning home to visit. The visit is not exactly pleasant and ends after a stand-off between her and Mama. Many readers see Mama as finally standing up for her own ideals while also refusing to conform to the rules Dee wishes her to follow. Dee follows different rules of society and religion than her mother does in order to become her own person. The rules Dee follows are shallow compared to the old-fashioned ways of her mother.…
“Everyday Use” is told from the perspective of Mama and takes place deep in the South sometime around the 1960’s. It is about a hard-working mother and her two daughters Dee and Maggie, and how she had to give each of them different paths to follow in life. Dee is the older sister. These paths both demonstrate how their heritage plays a role in their everyday lives. These routes resulted in Maggie having a better relationship with Mama than Dee had with her.…
Through contrasting family members and views in "Everyday Use", Alice Walker illustrates the importance of understanding our present life in relation to the traditions of our own people and culture. Using careful descriptions and attitudes, Walker demonstrates which factors contribute to the values of one's heritage and culture; she illustrates that these are represented not by the possession of objects or mere appearances, but by one's lifestyle and attitude. In "Everyday Use" Walker personifies the different sides of culture and heritage in the characters of Dee and the mother (the narrator). Dee can be seen to represent a materialistic, complex, and modern way of life where culture and heritage are to be valued only for…
Family history and heritage are things that are seen differently through each person’s eyes’ and they can even affect the way families live. “Everyday Use” is a short story that tells about a mother, her two daughters, and the differences in their values and how they live their lives. In Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use” she uses characterization, imagery, and setting to clearly demonstrate the theme of her story. Throughout the story she continuously uses these literary elements to show her theme of contrasting ideas of heritage.…
"Everyday Use" by Alice Walker, is a story of a black family composed of a mother and her two daughters: Maggie and Dee. Walker does an excellent job illustrating her characters. There are all types of characters in this short story from round to static. Dee is a flat character, yet Walker uses Dee's character to warn people of what might happen if they do not live properly. Walker describes Dee's character as arrogant and selfish, and through Dee's character one is allowed to perceive the wicked affect of an egotistical world.…
In this story “Everyday Use”, Alice Walker tells the story of a mother and her two daughters…
In "Everyday Use," Alice Walker tells a story of a mother's conflicted relationship with her two daughters. At face value the story tells of "Mama" gradually denying the superficial values or her elder, more socially accepted, daughter "Dee," and begins to favor the more practical views of her less fortunate daughter "Maggie." As clear a story as this may seem, there are many undercurrents open to a deeper interpretation. The story as a whole, was a good one, and seemingly aimed at an African American audience. I personally thoroughly enjoyed the story, both for its rich characterization, and the ideals which it represents.…
In Alice Walker’s short story “Everyday Use”, an African American woman living in the deep south known only as “Mama” narrates the story of the relationship between her daughters and herself. The story illustrates the difference between Mama and her shy younger daughter Maggie and her older educated daughter Dee. Dee has moved away from her family and is back with her fiancé to spend some quality time with them. Mama and Dee still cling to traditional black culture in the south while Dee disregards her lineage to adopt a “native African” selfhood. Alice Walker demonstrates the struggle between embracing one’s heritage and making one of your own as Dee shows how disconnected from her family she really is.…
Alice Walker illustrates the significance of heritage in material objects by contrasting the family members in the story "Everyday Use". Walker uses Mama and Maggie, the youngest of the two sisters, as an example that heritage travels from one generation to another through experience and learning. However, Dee, the oldest daughter, possesses a misconception of heritage as material. During Dee's visit, contrast of characters becomes a conflict. Dee says that the mother does not understand her heritage. But is Dee right by making that comment? Dee misplaces the significance of heritage in her hope for displaying her racial heritage. Rejection of the family history, appreciation of only good material things and selfishness is what makes Dee's understanding of what true heritage wrong.…
Everyday Use, a short story written by Alice Walker, brings the reader into the lives of a mother and her two daughters. The daughters grew up in the same home but had two very different paths. Mama and the church raised money for Dee to attend school in Augusta and Maggie stayed home. Although Dee went on to further her education in Augusta, Maggie learned other valuable life skills from Mama, her Aunt, and her grandmother. These differences growing up give both Maggie and Dee different views of where they came from, where they are now, and the direction of their future.…
Generally, mothers and daughters are bound together tightly and cannot be severed. Sometimes, however, can create a serious conflict between the generations, whether the daughters who accept the new culture or the mothers who deeply rooted in the traditional concept can lead the spiritual discordance to their relationship. In the story Everyday Use wrote by Alice Walker, the story is lead by “mama” who is a black woman has two daughters Dee and Maggie. Dee had better education, yet full of confidence and ambition. In contrast, Maggie is described as an unattractive girl. The climax of the story is the belonging of the quilts which represents the heritage of the family. In Maxine Hong Kingston’s No Name Woman, the narrator’s mother told her…