Everyday Use Character Analysis Essay

Tuten shows her readers that what Dee wants is superficial and that Maggie has a better understanding of heritage. Susan Farrell states in her article that in the story, Mama’s views of Maggie are not accurate. She makes the point that perhaps Mama’s views of Dee are not accurate either, because the story is told from Mama point of view and we never hear Dee’s side of the story (179). Farrell believes that Mama views Dee as a sort of goddess, she may even envy her. Susan states that, “Dee inspires in Mama a type of awe and fear more suitable to the advent of a goddess that the love one might expect a mother to feel for a returning daughter” (180). Later in the article, Farrell makes the point that what Mama’s thinks Dee wants may not actually be what she wants. This could just be a perception of what Dee wants. Farrell also points out other instances in the story that shows Dees actions contradicting Mama’s thoughts.

In Alice Walker's short story "Everyday Use" Mama is the narrator. She speaks of her family of two daughters Maggie and Dee. Through the eyes of two daughters, Dee and Maggie, who have chosen to live their lives in very different manners, the reader can choose which character to identify most with by judging what is really important in one’s life. Throughout the story three themes consistently show. These themes show that the family is separated by shame, knowledge, and pride.

Dee is the afro-centric, ego- centric and eccentric pseudo-intellect. She values her culture in a more materialistic aspect. She respects the artifacts of her history rather than the usefulness. Dee’s earthly-mindedness sets the stage for conflict throughout the entire story, from her arrival until the central conflict when there is a battle amongst the other two main characters Mama and Maggie, about who is truly entitled to the hand-stitched quilts. The quilts were works of art that have been passed down throughout

Dee’s selfishness is also portrayed by her cultured verbal skills. Dee can talk her way through anything. Dee often manipulates others with her verbal skills. This is shown when she reads to her mother and sister “without pity; forcing words, lies, other folks’ habits, whole lives upon us, sitting trapped and ignorant underneath her voice” (Walker 289). This statement further demonstrates the fact that Dee’s family feels inferior to her. Mama describes the situation as if Dee has some kind of power over her family because she is scholarly and her family is not. Dee uses her education to make Mama and Maggie feel less important without, necessarily meaning to.

The strongest example of Dee's confusion and of Walker's belief that a family's heritage should be alive and not frozen in time is at the end of the story. Dee finds the two quilts that had been pieced together by many generations of her family, and she wants to keep them. Her mother says, "In both of them were scraps of dresses Grandma Dee had worn fifty and more years ago. Bits and pieces of Grandpa Jarrell's paisley shirts. And one teeny

“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 effect of an egotistical world.

Maggie is the younger sister of the two. Parallel to Mama, Maggie also suffer from insecurities. Dee is lighter than Maggie with nicer hair and a fuller figure. Maggie was burned in the house fire and she shuffles when she walks. She is described as being shy, unable to make eye contact, and does not like to be seen when other people are around. The story tells how “she stand hopelessly in the corners, homely and ashamed of the burn scars down her arm and legs, eyeing her sister with a mixture of envy and awe” (p.315). Maggie’s thought of her sister is that she has always held life in the palm of one hand, that’s “no” is a word the world never learned to

As the story advances however, Dee does get more complex and is demonstrated to be battling with her own particular personality and heritage. Concrete subtle elements are expressed about Dee that lead you to know she is beautiful, smart and certain. Dee is described as thin with a little waste. She is a light cleaned dark individuals with a decent review hair. She is also well educated. Dee is fashion conscience, continually needing more pleasant things that were not affordable to her family. First and foremost of the story, Dee’s mother and sister, Maggie are is getting ready for Dee’s entry for a visit. Here is the place you get the first flash of Dee’s obvious identity. Maggie is portrayed by her mother as being apprehensive until after Dee goes when Dee hasn’t arrived yet. This persuades that maybe Maggie is threatened by Dee and maybe feels inferior compared to Dee. Dee’s mother discuss dreaming a fantasy about being welcomed by Dee with a grasp and tears in her eyes. All things considered Dee’s mother and sister don’t appear to feel just as they truly measures up to what Dee expects or needs them will be Dee’s mother never had much of an education and Dee’s mother raised enough cash to send Dee off to school. Maggie is specified as having poor sight and not being brilliant. Dee the again is smart.

As Mama described it Dee would “wash us in a river of make-believe and burned us with a lot of knowledge we didn’t necessarily need to know” (Walker 156). After receiving her education, Dee begins to use her knowledge to overshadow the family. She connects with others through her education, which Maggie and Mama did not have the chance to do. However, Mama believes these new ideas and knowledge cause them fear and intimidation instead.

Dee is already claiming the quilts to herself, even though Mama has never said "yes" that she could have them. Dee challenges Mama's authority by grasping the quilts and moving back as her mother tries to touch them. By doing this, she also disregards Mama's free will to give the quilts to whomever she would like. Mama observes that if Dee cannot preserve the unity of the family by honoring her mother, then how will she be able to appreciate the quilts in a respectable way. Dee has nothing but put-downs for Maggie, implying that she is more deserving to receive the quilts. She is using

Momma's point of view defines how she feels about her daughters and the degrees of separation that exist between the two girls. Momma describes Maggie as a partially educated child who does not look as appealing as her older sister. Maggie was burned in a house fire that left her scared all over her body. She does not wear revealing clothes, nor does she attract men as Dee does. Dee, on the other hand, is described as an educated young woman who is ready to take on any and every adventure. Momma says that Dee used to read to her and Maggie without pity (94). She describes Dee as the stylish child; she always prepared dresses out of momma's old suits and is always up on the current style. Momma likes the different qualities Dee possesses, but she is slightly threatened because they are unfamiliar to her. From the description that momma gives of her daughters the reader can feel the differences that exist in her thoughts about her daughters.

Dee is a controlling person who always wanted everything to herself only and don't want anybody to take something more than her. And that appeared when mama said that the quilts which were handmade by their grandma Dee, that she would give it to Maggie, Dee was very angry for that and she wanted to take the quilts herself not because she wanted, just because she don't like anybody to take something more than her and wants everything for herself only. Dee was well educated and didn't liked her mother's and sister's way of living so she traveled and when

When we are first introduced to Dee, we learn that she no longer wants to be called by her given name but instead she would want to be called ‘Wangero’. Dee comments, “I couldn't bear it any longer, being named after the people who oppressed me” (Walker 62). Although Dee may have only known that she was named after Grandma Dee, Mama could have “carried back beyond the Civil War” (Walker 62) the name of her daughter. This offended Mama because it was the beginning of how Dee began to reject her heritage. In addition, Mama also realizes how Maggie acts around Dee because of the way she treats her. When Maggie gives into Dee’s wanting of the blankets, Mama sees that Maggie is hurting and Dee couldnt care less. Mama comments that Maggie answered Dee “like somebody used to never winning anything or having anything reserved for her” (Walker 65). These conflicts lead mama to take a stand against her daughter as well as drawing her closer to Maggie. This showed Dee that she could not just barge into the house and take things she did not even truly know the meaning of. Therefore the reader understands that Dee’s actions led Mama to act differently with both of her children, all for the sake of honoring her heritage and

     In this story, Dee is completely unappreciative. One can get the feeling that the mother in the story had worked long and hard rearing her daughters, and has even gotten Dee into college somehow. Dee returns with her college education and new personality trying to preach to her mother and sister about what they are doing wrong. Plenty of times Dee spoke down to her mother and little sister, Maggie.

The behavior of overlooking her sister's, Maggie, and Mama's feelings since her childhood to the present indicates Dee's character as a person who disregards others. Mama ponders that while the house where they used to live burned to the ground; Maggie was burning, her "hair smoking and dress falling off her in little black papery flakes." Although she saw that Maggie needed her sister's aid, Dee stood "off under the sweet gum tree" at a distance (87). Walker reveals that Mama still finds Dee carrying her self-centeredness when she excludes herself from the pictures and "never [took] a shot without making sure the house is included" (89). Dee wants to capture the signs of poverty from her past so that she can show how much success she has gained in spite of being poor to her friends. Dee is so egotistical that she declares her sister is "backward enough to put [the quilts] to everyday use" (91) whereas she considers herself smart and would appreciate the quilts by hanging them. Her coldness and lack of concern make