A Psychoanalytical Reading of "Everyday Use" by Alice Walker
Eman Mohammed
A psychoanalytical reading of "Everyday Use" by Alice Walker
In everyday use the story is about a black family consists of two daughters and a mother. Its main idea is the attachment between each character to the past and to their family. Each character has different perspective towards the past. In my following essay I intend to look deeply in the characters' mind by applying the psychoanalytical reading which can present details not only about the text but also about the author. There are different angles of this field and I'm going to tackle some of them; by means of using some Freudian terms I will depend on the character analysis method and by referring to the characters in relation with the author .In doing so I will be able to develop more fully understanding of characterization, feelings, and conflict.
First, I want to demonstrate how the social, cultural, and historical circumstances of the author, affected the way in which portrayed her characters. Walker's parents were both farmers and she grew up in an environment like the one which is described in the story. Also, a racial segregation was legally enforced. Walker skillfully portrayed the character to be similar to her .In one hand, Like Maggie, Walker was deformed; a gunshot wound her eye when she was a child lifting her blind in one eye, she became shy and less self- confident and withdrew into her own world of reading and writing. Also Maggie has scars from burn when she was young. Though they were deformed both Walker and her character Maggie were valuable characters among whom they live with; as for Maggie became eventually better than her sister in appreciating the value of past. For walker, she became a successful writer and the most popular students when she was at school. So, the deformed of the two weren't an eternal obstacle in their life and in achieving their self-worth. In another hand Like Dee, Walker's abilities garnered her scholarship to
A psychoanalytical reading of "Everyday Use" by Alice Walker
In everyday use the story is about a black family consists of two daughters and a mother. Its main idea is the attachment between each character to the past and to their family. Each character has different perspective towards the past. In my following essay I intend to look deeply in the characters' mind by applying the psychoanalytical reading which can present details not only about the text but also about the author. There are different angles of this field and I'm going to tackle some of them; by means of using some Freudian terms I will depend on the character analysis method and by referring to the characters in relation with the author .In doing so I will be able to develop more fully understanding of characterization, feelings, and conflict.
First, I want to demonstrate how the social, cultural, and historical circumstances of the author, affected the way in which portrayed her characters. Walker's parents were both farmers and she grew up in an environment like the one which is described in the story. Also, a racial segregation was legally enforced. Walker skillfully portrayed the character to be similar to her .In one hand, Like Maggie, Walker was deformed; a gunshot wound her eye when she was a child lifting her blind in one eye, she became shy and less self- confident and withdrew into her own world of reading and writing. Also Maggie has scars from burn when she was young. Though they were deformed both Walker and her character Maggie were valuable characters among whom they live with; as for Maggie became eventually better than her sister in appreciating the value of past. For walker, she became a successful writer and the most popular students when she was at school. So, the deformed of the two weren't an eternal obstacle in their life and in achieving their self-worth. In another hand Like Dee, Walker's abilities garnered her scholarship to