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Everyday Use By Alice Walker Analysis

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From “breaking ice to get water for washing” (Walker 311) to getting “up early” (Hayden 1) to make “banked fires blaze” (Hayden 5), it is no secret that parenting can be a physically-demanding job. By making sure their children simply survive, parents often push emotional and mental “offices” (Hayden 14) to the side. In “Those Winter Sundays” by Robert Hayden and “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker, this phenomenon occurs, as the parent-child relationships are extremely traditional. Both works of fiction can teach parents that while putting food on the table is certainly a duty of caregivers, it takes a lot more than “man-working hands” (Walker 311) to raise a child. Today’s parents should learn from the mistakes of traditional parenting and opt …show more content…

In both works, self-expression is looked down upon rather than embraced. Mama has a classic case of Goldilocks gone wrong. She has Dee who “would always look anyone in the eye” (Walker 311), while clothed in bright, fashionable outfits. Then, she has Maggie who has been “passed by good looks [,] money [, and] quickness” (Walker 312). Dee is too much, while Maggie is not enough. Mama admits that as she raised Dee, she often “fought off the temptation to shake” (Walker 312) Dee’s egotistical determination. Dee transformed into an alter-ego-like person, Wangero, before Mama could prevent it. David White notices that Mama “gradually changes ‘Wangero’ to ‘Dee (Wangero),’and in her final reference simply refers to her as ‘Dee.’ These transitions are indicative of Mama’s change in attitude toward Dee.” By refusing to call Dee by her new name, Mama has decided to stop respecting the woman she raised. Especially because Dee is her daughter, Mama should embrace the way Dee has chosen to express who she feels she is. On the other hand, self-expression in “Those Winter Sundays” is nonexistent. Both the father and son treat their relationship as an assembly line. Once the house was heated, the father would “call” (Hayden 7) for his son to wake up, so the son would “slowly rise and dress” (Hayden 8). The father “polished [his son’s] good shoes” (Hayden 13), so those were the shoes the son …show more content…

While the relationship between Mama and Dee is a lost cause, the end of the narrative portrays a blossoming of acceptance between Mama and Maggie, though it may be out of spite for Dee. In the beginning of the story, Mama declares that Maggie “will marry John Thomas…and then I’ll be free” (Walker 312). As Dee forages through the little house taking treasures she can use as trophies of surviving a rough childhood, Maggie knows every story behind every piece. After a while Mama finally stops Dee and gives quilts, which are like family jewels for them, to Maggie, who respects their heritage and will put them to good use. White points out that in the midst of Dee’s selfish tirade, Mama finally “sees her mother and her sister—the two women whose name Dee has rejected [—in Maggie]. In Maggie’s scarred hands she sees a heritage she should be proud of—not ashamed of.” Mama realizes that while Dee has a fiery, almost enviable personality, it is no match for the kind and respectful demeanor of Maggie. With an action as simple as Mama giving Maggie the quilts, Maggie is the happiest and most accepted she has ever felt. On the flip side, children must respect who their parents are. The father in “Those Winter Sundays” sacrifices everything for his family. After working at a manual labor job all week, he gets up Sunday morning “in the blueblack cold” (Hayden 2) to build a fire with his “cracked hands that ached” (Hayden 3).

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