The Character Of Dee In Alice Walker's Everyday Use

     Dee believes she is more cultured than her family. She may have more knowledge about different cultures and religions that she learned in school, but she does not know as much about the family heritage as she thinks she does. For example, when Dee changes her name to “Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo” she destroys important links to her heritage that she will never understand. Her mother tries to explain to her that her name is significant because it belonged to particular beloved ones. However, Dee seems to reject the names of her ancestors, yet she is eager to seize their handmade goods. When Dee realizes she is not going obtain possession of the quilts, she storms out of the house without saying a word. It is apparent that the only reason for her visit is to get the family heirlooms, not to see the house, her mother, or Maggie.

A daughter who uses her mother's gifts in contrast to a daughter who preserves them, is far more valuable just like in “Everyday use” by Alice Walker because heritage values can be preserved. From here on, Walker utilizes a prideful tone which later shifts into an authoritative tone by illustrating a proud mother who becomes defensive because of her modern daughter’s opposing views.

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

Alice Walker crafts the character of Dee Johnson in the short story “Everyday Use” in a clever way. Starting from the first paragraph, Walker creates an image of Dee, who at first seems very shallow. Dee then becomes a more complex character as the story progresses. Blessed with both brains and beauty, Dee emerges as someone who is still struggling with her identity and heritage.

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.

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

Alice Walker skillfully crafts the character of Dee Johnson in the short story "Everyday Use." From the first paragraph, Walker begins to weave the portrait of Dee, who at first seems shallow in many aspects. Dee becomes a more complex character, however, as the story unfolds. Blessed with both brains and good looks, Dee emerges as someone who is still struggling with her identity and heritage.

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.”).

To clarify, Walker’s narrative focuses on two classes of people: one lower and one higher. In general, Mama and Maggie represent a class that only appreciates practicality, whereas Dee and Hakim-a-barber represent a class that places more value on artistic interest. For example, when Mama asks Dee why she would rather be called Wangero, she explains that “[she] couldn 't bear it any longer, being named after the people who oppress [her]," (Walker). In effect, Dee’s new and dramatically different name exemplifies how serious she is about defining her identity with her new culture as opposed to remaining in the same culture as her Mama. In other words, Dee has taken the sole purpose of having a name, identity, and added a symbolism to it of her defiance. In another instance, when Dee sees her family’s butter churn, her

In Alice Walker’s insightful short story, “Everyday Use,” the importance of the present is favored over a trivial souvenir of the past.

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

Paragraph on Alice Walker and Dee and Maggie Directions: Type a paragraph that identifies several similarities between Alice Walker and her two characters, Maggie and Dee, in “Everyday Use.” Alice Walker, an African American novelist and poet born in 1944 shares quite a few similarities with the characters Dee and Maggie in a story she wrote called “Everyday Use.” The story is about a mother with two daughters who have different personalities and think differently about certain objects. One similarity she shares with Dee is that they both will not withdraw from their beliefs. Walker characterizes herself as a womanist and maintains a stalwart focus on feminist controversies within African American culture(“Alice Walker”).

Everyday Use, by Alice Walker, a very known short story, tells the life of Mama, Dee, and Maggie. The characters encounter a difficulty when the mother of two daughters decides who she should give her quilts to. Mama, the mother of Maggie and Dee(Wangero) ends up giving Maggie the quilts. She ends up giving them to her because she knows Maggie will appreciate them the way they are meant to be appreciated. The quilts are extremely important to the family since the fabric incorporated come from old pieces of clothing of grandparents.

When Dee comes back to visit her family she makes herself an outcast. Dee greets her family with a language that they are not familiar with. She wants things from her “past” life to decorate her house with. Dee distances herself further by changing her name. Dee believes that her name is a way of tying her self to the “people who oppress” her (2440) instead of thinking about her family’s history with that name. She claims that Dee is dead and her new name was Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo. Dee’s beliefs are also shallow. Her and her boyfriend Hakim-a-barber are supposed to be Muslim but when mama makes food with pork she gobbles it down.