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Alice Walker Relationships

Decent Essays

At every stage of life, our relationships and families present us with both joys and challenges. Learning to manage stress, to understand our own emotions and behaviors, and to communicate effectively can help strengthen our own emotional health, as well as our connection to the important people in our lives. In “Everyday Use” certain characters I would like to explain the relationships between Mama and her two daughters Dee and Maggie; the relationship that they have towards one another maybe the cause and effect of the actions taken place during the story.

Mama is a robust woman who does what is needed to maintain the upkeep of the land. "I am a large, big-boned woman with rough, man-working hands....I can kill and clean a hog as mercilessly …show more content…

I feel she was selfish, uneducated and unappreciative of her past and that the way she carried herself was ridiculous. Not the usual education, such as in college, because she had that, but the education of her heritage, or past. She changes her name, “Well I say, Dee.” “No mama, she says Not Dee. Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo!” (p.496). How can you change a name that’s part of your heritage but you care so much about it. From the start, shortly after the introduction to her new boyfriend, Dee begins to ask for things. “I knew there was something I wanted to ask you if I could have.” (p.497) Dee wants to take them to help spice up her and Hakim the Barber's house when those objects are still in "everyday use" in their own home. “This churn top is what I need…” (497) Dee asks her mother for the quilts her grandmother had quilted, her mother said they were for Maggie her sister, Dee's reply was that Maggie wouldn't appreciate the quilts. “She’d probably be backward enough to put them to everyday use.” (498) The history of African American quilts is nearly as old as the history of America. Their surviving quilts provide a unique history of their lives and culture. Mama offered a quilt to Dee and she said no it was old fashioned and out of style. Mama promised it to Maggie because she knew she would appreciate the …show more content…

“Dee wanted nice things.” (495). As a child, she always demanded "nice things" that did not belong to her, like "the suit somebody gave Mama" and "black pumps to match" for her own graduation dress. “At sixteen she had a style of her own; and knew what style was.” (495) The way Dee acts isn’t all Dee’s fault her mother has some blame in the way she acts. She believes her heritage lies in her African roots from the distant past. She does not think that her family is a part of her heritage, only the objects they possess. To Mama and Maggie heritage is something that a person lives, and is made up of family members, and the knowledge that gets passed down from them. Maggie’s the she is because her mother didn’t spoil and treats Maggie the same as she did Dee. Maggie knows more about where she comes from, and appreciates her mother more than Dee. Dee misplaces the significance of her true heritage in her desire for what she believes is her racial heritage. “I did something I had never done before: hugged Maggie to me, then dragged her on into the room, snatched the quilts out of Miss Wangero’s hands and dumped them into Maggie’s lap.” (499) Mama did the right thing she stood up to Dee and her selfish, unappreciative ways, and gave the quilts to Maggie someone who knows and lived her heritage and would appreciate them more. The way Mama treated each girl was a reflection on how she raised them; besides it’s not good to

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