Family Relationships In Everyday Use By Alice Walker

Mama, the protagonist in Alice Walker's short story, Everyday Use is a woman with a solid foundation and tough roots. The qualities that society would find admirable within Mama are the same qualities that Dee, Mama's oldest daughter, would spurn, thinking them only the qualities of a down home, uneducated, country bumpkin. Dee, the story's main antagonist, is proof that children are not necessarily products of their environment.

“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.

Standing up for what is right is not an easy task, but it is necessary to protect those who can not defend themselves. “Everyday Use” is about Mama and her decision to choose sentimental values over materialism. Dee is the educated yet selfish sister of Maggie, who is self conscious and withdrawn because she had been scarred by a house fire. After a very long time, Dee returns to her home in search of materialistic goods so that she can preserve her family’s heritage by turning their culture into a commodity. Dee believes that possessing items with traditional value will allow her to understand her cultural heritage, and this symbolizes her misconception of viewing heritage as a material entity. However, Mama and Maggie clearly defines family and cultural heritage through their knowledge of everyday traditional practices, such as churning butter and quilting. Maggie and Dee are sisters, but they are like the two ends of a stick. Although they have been brought up in the same home and raised by the same mother, this is as far as their similarities

The short story "Everyday Use" by Alice Walker, the story is about two sisters and a mother. Despite the family being poor, the mother works hard to provide for the both of her daughters. Dee is the eldest daughter and despises where she came from. Dee later on gains an education, attends college, and obtains a degree. In the story she is going through an identity crisis and changes her name to "Wanegro." On the other hand, Maggie is a shy young girl. At such a young age, she is still suffering from a tragic event. Maggie is intimidated by Dee; solely since Dee carries many accomplishments and her appearance. Soon after, Dee remembers the

In the short story called “Everyday Use,” by Alice Walker, the mother daughter conflict theme is portrayed throughout the whole story. The oldest daughter Dee constantly believes that she is better than the rest of the family causing a family feud about who gets the cherished quilt. Dee has always been on a pedestal over her family and she soon finds out that it is no longer the case. Once she finds this out conflict arises. The biggest conflict lies between Mama and Dee. This is clearly illustrated by Dee’s high standards, selfish behavior, and lack of knowledge about her family’s heritage.

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.

The character of Mama in the short story “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker endures through intense times and takes advantage of what she has. She is a lady that tells things how they are, only plain truth. She can be entertaining now and again and intense at others. She is self-portrayed as “a large, huge boned, women with rough, man-working

In the short story, “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker, three distinct characters are depicted, Mama, Dee, and Maggie. Each have different qualities: Maggie is somewhat demure but humble, Mama is a hard-worker who tries her hardest to understand her daughters, and Dee is a vibrant, educated woman who has strong opinions which she is not hesitant to share (in stark contrast to her mother and sister). Mama and Maggie are often overshadowed by Dee’s vivacious personality, thus making their relationship to her somewhat strained. For example, Mama has done a lot for Dee to help her become the woman she wanted to be (“...we raised money, the church and me, to send her to Augusta to school.”), yet Dee doesn't really seem to understand or appreciate all of her mother’s hard work and instead sort of throws it back in Mama’s face by constantly making her feel inferior and uneducated (“...I am the way my daughter would want me to be: a hundred pounds lighter, my skin like an uncooked barley pancake”; “She [Dee] used to read to us [Mama and Maggie] without pity; forcing words, lies […] whole other lives upon us two, sitting trapped and ignorant underneath her voice.”).

Although the story "Everyday Use" is narrated from Mama's point of view, Alice Walker reveals Dee, Mama's eldest daughter, to be the central character. Dee remains essentially unchanged throughout the story. Even though Dee achieves her aim by overcoming complications such as poverty and racial discrimination, she is not admirable for her achievements and courage. Walker describes her to be selfish and self-centered, a woman who remains unchanged from her childhood to the current position after several years. The disregard for her sister's pain, ingratitude for the money raised for her education, and the desire for quilts indicates her static behavior.

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

The short story “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker begins with the narrator, Mama, and her daughter, Maggie, sitting in the yard that they both prepared and cleaned the day before. They were waiting for Dee, the oldest daughter, that is returning from college in Augusta after seven years of education. Maggie is going to be nervous for as long as Dee stays because of the scars and burns marks she got from the fire in their previous house. Maggie thinks that Dee has a much easier life than her. Mama compared Maggie to a lame animal and Mama thinks Dee is lighter than Maggie. Also, Mama believed that Dee hated Maggie, but that was before Mama and the community church raised the money to send Dee to school in Augusta. When Dee showed up

The story is centered on the homecoming of the oldest daughter Dee and her male friend. The mother, the backbone in the family, is the narrator of the story, Mama’s monologue within the story shows us the limitations on a mother’s unconditional love. Mama is a loving mother who is occasionally weighed down by her two daughters Dee and Maggie. Growing up as an African American girl, played a very big role in shaping the passive side of Mamas personality. This is very important because “Everyday Use” is mostly about racial identity, and how race plays a crucial role in who we are as people.

Not realizing she is named after her African American aunt, Dee could not stand the possibility of her name being tainted with an association to a white person. Despite Dee wanting to use her education to condemn African American oppression, Walker presents her as the opposite of someone who has a good grasp on the importance of heritage. Ironically, when Dee makes big claims about how unjust the treatment towards her ancestors was, she contradicts herself when she disregards her own unique heritage. Dee is confused about who she wants to be and what she wants to portray. On the other hand, Matthew Mullins prompts the reader to take another look at Dee’s character that is completely separate from the first. In his criticism, Mullins claims that he “...could respect her and sympathize with her attempts to make something of herself in a world in which black women are expected to conform to...stereotypically passive roles...” (3). Even though Mullins agrees that Dee is an unlikeable person, he suggests that the reader should pity her. Dee, a strong and independent woman, is unfairly presented as someone who is selfish and mean. In contrast to her mother and sister, she represents many women in society whose potential is overlooked and simply put into the negative limelight. She is not someone who can just accept social norms; instead, she is very ambitious in her

In the short story “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker, Walker describes a relationship between the three main characters Dee, Maggie, and Mama who have many differences between one another. Dee has the qualities and lifestyle much different to that of Maggie and Mama. Dee has instilled the qualities of an educated society, where it appears that she has adopted the ideals of the Black Power movement. She even changes her name in protest to what she believes was a name given to her by her oppressors. Dee’s character is very judgmental, and as a result her character has affected her family.

Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use,” is narrated by Mrs. Johnson, the mother of two daughters, Maggie and Dee. Maggie is a shy and soft-spoken girl that’s barely a presence ever since a fire burned their old house down. Her life seems absolutely gloomy because she is a burn victim with little education. In addition to her being “not bright,” she “can’t see well” because of a visual impairment. Dee, on the other hand, is the opposite. With a significant presence she is assertive and belligerent. With her spoiled personality she explains to her mother that she does not understand her own heritage. Ironically by the end of the story, Dee is ignorant to the true meaning of heritage.