Mama, Dee And Maggie In Everyday Use By Alice Walker

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 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.”).

In “Everyday Use”, Alice Walker presents an everyday average family which involves a single mother with two daughters, one who seems to have life handed to her, and the other who is shy and lacks confidence in herself due to a family tragedy. Alice Walker gives some interesting stories behind each of her main characters: Mrs. Johnson, Dee (Wangero), Maggie, and Hakim Akbar (Asalamalakim). Among the characters in the story, Mrs. Johnson stands out because she loves her daughters equally, she accepts them both, and she overcomes her conflict with Dee.

She lacks all the qualities her sister has. She’s not bold, and she walks with her head down on the floor, showing she has no self-confidence. She has scars all over her body, from the time the house burned down. She’s more of a quiet person who would stand in the corner and not talk to you. You can tell she’s always been kind of jealous of her sister, but I guess also a bit proud of her, and despite everything she does love her. If she didn’t, she would have never raised money with her mom and the church for her sister to go away to college. She also always looks at her sister with a mixture of envy and awe. She’s used to getting everything she wants and loves taken away from her, right in front of her eyes. When Dee finds these quilts that Maggie is supposed to have once she gets married, she’s in the kitchen. When she hears her mom and sister talking about the quilts, she comes out of the kitchen and tells her mom "She can have them mama", and she says it as if she’s used to never wining anything "I can remember Grandma Dee without the quilts." And she smiles, but you can tell it’s not a smile of happiness; it’s more of a forced smile she is used to giving

Just as the argument over the quilts shows Dee as intrinsically immature, it directly points out that the mother and Dee have, in fact, great value within them. Dee’s mother, for instance, is at first silent to Dee’s demands to have the butter churn and wooden benches. When Dee takes the quilts, previously promised to Maggie, the mother then becomes defensive. The mother questions Dee’s intended use of the quilts in an effort to deter Dee from her insistence of owning

     Pride is the theme that seems to separate this family the most. It's having pride versus not having it. Maggie doesn't have it. She does not speak for herself when Dee wants the quilts. She lets mama speak for her. Like a scalded dog, she hides behind Mama when Dee arrives. Mama compares Maggie to a "Lame animal…run over by a car…"(Walker 88). Pride mostly comes from respect and she doesn't get much. Dee maybe has too much pride. This probably comes from "the world not knowing how to say no to her." She has looks and she's what one would describe as

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.

“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.

Dee, at the beginning of story Everyday Use, seems to despise her African American up-bringing and culture. Her mother explicitly tells us Dee seems to be happy when their home, that has family heirlooms stored inside burns to the ground. “She was standing by the old tree, smiling.” Earning favorable marks in school, seemingly living an opposite lifestyle, Dee’s intelligence shines; the only aspect which makes her unappealing, the attitude she has toward her family. After graduating high school and leaving for college, Dee’s mother and sister doesn't hear from her. One day, they see a surprise in the driveway.

Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use” introduces a clash between generations. Now and then, Maggie and Dee.

Prior to the beginning of the story, context clues show that Dee and her family already had a broken relationship. She is the oldest child between Maggie and her, but not the humblest between the two. In my opinion Dee’s personality comes off as arrogant, uneducated, unappreciative of her family heritage which causes her to carry herself in a ridiculous way.

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

     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.

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.

Maggie's personality is closely connected to the ego section because of her powerful desire to do right and to solve her problems realistically. Mama explains that "after dinner Dee went to the trunk at the foot of [the] bed...Maggie hung back in the kitchen over the dishpan" (Walker 95). As Dee tries to usurp the quilts from her mother, Maggie tries to help her mother by doing the dishes. Maggie tries to act morally while Dee tries to take advantage of her mother. While discussing the rightful owner of the quilts, Maggie said, " 'She can have them, Mama'...like somebody used to never winning anything, or having anything reserved for her" (Walker 97). Instead of fighting over the quilts, Maggie willingly gives them to her sister. Even though Maggie wishes to have them, she does not want to produce conflict in her family. Maggie is accustomed to getting less than her sister and has an unselfish personality. Her actions are parallel to an ego because the ego defines moral actions.