Everyday Use Analysis Essay Example
Ellen Johnson
Mr. Roberts
AP English 4
13 Apr 2010
Dee: the Sister Who Lost Her Identity 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. In "Everyday Use", Walker tells a story of a child who believes her mother's views to be old-fashioned and considers herself to be more in touch with her culture. Author Flannery O'Connor has written numerous short stories containing issues similar to these issues: This plot line and character type can be found in a number of O'Connor short stories, for example, 'Good Country People,' 'Everything That Rises Must Converge,' and 'The Enduring Chill.' O'Connor ends these stories with an epiphanic awareness on the part of the arrogant intellectual of his or her true fragility, thereby providing, too, a more positive view of the parent (in comparison to her child). (Bauer)
Bauer points out that Dee too is an arrogant intellectual and has chosen to follow faulty values that only allow her to make poor choices. O'Connor's arrogant intellectuals are similar to Dee, and O'Connor's positively viewed parents are likened to Mama (Bauer). To continue this relationship, both O'Connor and Walker provide their readers with accounts of characters facing complex situations, as well as an insight to typical Southern lifestyles, while finalizing their pieces with the parents in a positive light and the child seen as misguided (Bauer). Dee wishes to promote her heritage proudly to the point of bragging. Instead of using the quilt to keep warm or
Mr. Roberts
AP English 4
13 Apr 2010
Dee: the Sister Who Lost Her Identity 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. In "Everyday Use", Walker tells a story of a child who believes her mother's views to be old-fashioned and considers herself to be more in touch with her culture. Author Flannery O'Connor has written numerous short stories containing issues similar to these issues: This plot line and character type can be found in a number of O'Connor short stories, for example, 'Good Country People,' 'Everything That Rises Must Converge,' and 'The Enduring Chill.' O'Connor ends these stories with an epiphanic awareness on the part of the arrogant intellectual of his or her true fragility, thereby providing, too, a more positive view of the parent (in comparison to her child). (Bauer)
Bauer points out that Dee too is an arrogant intellectual and has chosen to follow faulty values that only allow her to make poor choices. O'Connor's arrogant intellectuals are similar to Dee, and O'Connor's positively viewed parents are likened to Mama (Bauer). To continue this relationship, both O'Connor and Walker provide their readers with accounts of characters facing complex situations, as well as an insight to typical Southern lifestyles, while finalizing their pieces with the parents in a positive light and the child seen as misguided (Bauer). Dee wishes to promote her heritage proudly to the point of bragging. Instead of using the quilt to keep warm or