Everyday Use: Family Analysis

This short story "Everyday use" speaks about the life of two young ladies and their mother. They are a poor family that lived in old-fashioned life but Dee the bigger sister don'y like that life.

In "Everyday Use," Alice Walker stresses the importance of heritage. She employs various ways to reveal many aspects of heritage that are otherwise hard to be noticed.

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.

Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use” is a short story about the family relationship between a mother and her spoiled daughter. The mother, who is affectionately called “Mama” throughout the story, lives with her younger daughter, Maggie. The older child is Dee, who has not lived at home since she was sent to Augusta to school. She is preoccupied with advancing her social status and acquiring nice things. “Dee wanted nice things. A yellow Organdy dress to wear to her graduation from high school; black pumps to match a green suit…” (Walker,492). The story revolves around Dee’s visit to see Mama and Maggie, an event which obviously does not happen often. Dee only seems to visit the family in order to claim items that Mama has not yet given to her children. As usual, Mama allows Dee to come inside the home and take whatever she wants. Yet, the relationship between Mama and Dee is a complicated one. Others may say that their relationship is strained because Dee burned their first house down. However, there is no direct proof that Dee is responsible for the fire. Their relationship is contentious and uneasy because Dee is very selfish, she wants to advance her life without considering others, mainly Maggie, and she resents that Mama is satisfied with a simple life.

To start, in “Everyday Use” characterization shows up in many different ways and how each character is described. The three main characters that stood out the most are Mama, Dee, and Maggie. Throughout the story Mama is the narrator and tells the story about her life and her children. Mama describes herself as “In real life I am a large big-boned woman with rough man working hands” (744). Also, Mama says “I can kill and clean a hog as mercilessly as a man” (744). This shows that Mama isn’t petite woman and demonstrates her ability with strong work ethic such as a man with his strength to get the job done.

Have you ever noticed that siblings can be polar opposites? In the piece "Everyday Use” by Alice Walker, the facet of individuality is highlighted. The piece focuses on the lives of two sisters. Maggie and Dee are two very different people with dissimilar views about life despite growing up together.

Characterization is used to address how ignorant a person can be to his or her heritage in the short story “Everyday Use,” by Alice Walker. The author shows the way of living, of a family to display the reader the way heritage is forgotten and, or ignored. In this short story the author uses a mother, and two daughters, Dee and Maggie, to demonstrate how different the thoughts are between a family and how they honor their heritage.

A symbol is a person, place, event, or object that suggests more than just its normal meaning. The symbols in this story, “Everyday Use”, were pretty clever and told a lot of clues about the story. Also Little peepholes that would dig into deeper meanings, and hints in the story.

The short story of “Everyday Use” was written by Alice Walker. Mrs. Johnson is the narrator of the story. In this petite narrative, Mrs. Johnson and her youngest daughter Maggie gets a visit from her oldest daughter Dee who came from college and Mrs. Johnson and Maggie both bear witness to Dee’s change. As Dee is trying to embrace the modern culture in the twentieth-century. Thus, in Alice Walker’s story, Mrs. Johnson’s perspective changes at the end, at first favoring Dee and eventually favoring Maggie instead.

In the short story Everyday Use, by Alice Walker, the short story is narrated by a black woman in the South who is faced with the decision to give away two quilts to one of her two daughters. Dee, her oldest daughter who is visiting from college, perceives the quilts as popular fashion and believes they should undoubtedly be given to her. Maggie, her youngest daughter, who still lives at home and understands the family heritage, has been promised the quilts. Dee is insistent to possess these heirlooms of family heritage, while Maggie is forbearing in allowing Mama to make her own decision as to who should receive the quilts. Dee shows a lack of appreciation, disrespect, and a distancing behavior towards her mother and sister. Mama

When we meet our narrator, the mother of Maggie and Dee, she is waiting in the yard with Maggie for Dee to visit. The mother takes simple pleasure in such a pleasant place where, "anyone can come back and look up at the elm tree and wait for the breezes that never come inside the house." (Walker 383) This is her basic attitude, the simple everyday pleasures that have nothing to do with great ideas, cultural heritage or family or racial histories. She later reveals to us that she is even more the rough rural woman since she, "can kill and clean a hog as mercilessly as a man." (Walker 383) Hardly a woman one would expect to have much patience with hanging historical quilts on a wall. Daughter Maggie is very much the

Because of parents, one can never fall. "Why I live at the P.O." by 'Eudora Welty' and "Everyday Use" by 'Alice Walker' forced me to wonder how parents can choose between their children whom to love, support and give more preference as parents are considered for their unbiased love towards their babies. The point of view, tone, and plot of both stories show that Sister is bold, more clear, independent and, undeviating regarding her behavior, and what she wants, and has no fear to confront anyone against her even upon banished by her family than Maggie, whose fear overpowers her.

The events that take place in a person’s life determine a large portion of who that person becomes. In Alice Walkers’ short story, “Everday Use”, the tale of two sisters reuniting as adults is told through the eyes of their mother. The two sisters, Dee and Maggie were raised very differently and when they are reunited they dispute over who will receive the quilts their relative hand sewed. In the story, the quilts are used to symbolize the consequence of Maggie being raised to work hard while Dee was allowed to get an education, and how their diverged upbringing has altered their perspective on their heritage.

Often siblings are brought up in the same environment and turn out completely different. This is the case in Alice Walkers, “Everyday Use”. Although two sisters, Maggie and Dee, are raised by the same woman and in the same home, their similarities end here. Both are different in their appearance, personalities, and ideas about family heritage. Each having opposing views on value and worth of the various items in their lives. Walker uses this conflict to make the point that the use of an object and of people, is more important than style.

About eight months ago I faced a life-changing moment, my family's home, where my six other siblings, as well as my cousin, aunt, and uncle, and I, were all raised; had a terrible kitchen fire. From the beginning, I knew that this was going