The Role Of Dee And Maggie In Alice Walker's Everyday Use

She shows no respect for anyone and that there is not a single possession that she should not have. Firstly, Dee thinks that no matter what she sees, it should be hers. Without asking Mama if she could have it, Dee took the butter churn from the kitchen, and told Mama she would use it as a centerpiece (53). Another example would be that Dee shows no respect for anyone even her mother. When they were finished eating, Dee disrespected her mother by going through her trunk at the foot of the bed and took the quilts (53). Lastly, Dee shows how controlling and how she puts herself above people. “Dee moved back just enough so that I [Mama] couldn’t reach the quilts. They already belonged to her” (53); Dee has not even gotten these quilts, and has already put her control on them. In these ways and more, Dee is showing herself as someone who respects no one and thinks she is above

The short story “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker infers that dee, the narrator's daughter, is very hypocritical and self serving. Although being informed from her education, Dee has no gratitude for her real inheritance. Growing up,the child was very smart and beautiful. Her behavior toward her sister and mother was terrible. thinking that her family was nothing more than simpletons, she held no gratitude for what they try to teach her. Dee thinks her hometown and her relatives are an embarrassment to the world and under progressed. Dee left for college after a short while when her primary schooling was complete. Whilst there Dee receives the shock of her life. Keeping up with the times is a second nature to Dee, this is one of the main reason she can not bear to be compared to her backwards family. The character Dee in the short story “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker, holds no real family value and only pretends to care about her history now as she is trying to partake in with the new fad.

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 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’ Mama treats her daughter Dee differently in the end of the story. Mama loves her daughters and works hard to help them have a good life. Dee comes to visit Mama and Maggie one day. In the article Walker’s ‘Everydays Use’ published in the Explicator the author states, “Mama frequently describes Maggie as a docile, somewhat frightened animal, one that accepts the hand that fate has dealt her and attempts to flee any situation posing a potential threat” (184). As Dee arrives at their home, Maggie gets nervous and tries to go back into the house. Mama holds on to Maggie to make sure she stays outside. When Dee is visiting Mama and Maggie she starts taking stuff out of the house. She is taking items to decorate her own home with. When Mama asks Dee what she would do with the quilts Dee said, “Hang them” (Walker

She is protective, and loving to Maggie. Mama realizes that Dee who is lighter skinned, and with other physical attributes admired by others will fare better in life, although she acknowledges some of Dee's flaws to herself. She also recognizes that Dee is better able to care for herself.

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

From the beginning, the mother introduces Dee as her more educated daughter and states how she reminds them every chance she got:

Mama, the narrator, waits with her youngest, feeble daughter Maggie, to reunite with her eldest Dee. When they meet, Mama finds that Dee has changed, the things she used to arrogantly shrug off are now things that she identifies as being important to her heritage. Mama realizes that the quilts that Dee wants hold a different meaning to Dee than it does to Mama and Maggie, so she sends Dee away, and gives the quilts to Maggie.

She plays both the father and the mother’s role to her two daughters. The narrator stated, “I can work outside all day, breaking ice to get water for washing” (Mama). This informs the reader that there is no man in the house to do this; therefore, the narrator has to do it. Also, Mama is uneducated. Mama said, “After second grade the school was closed down” (Mama). The narrator stated this in order to let the reader know that the last grade completed by her was second grade and to show how low of an education she has. It also informs the reader how heritage is followed, since only one of her daughters is going to school. In the short story, Mama’s relationship with her daughters is shown to be different from one daughter to the other. Mama mostly always favored Dee, and has good hopes for her future: “[W]e raised money, the church and me, to send her to Augusta to school” (Mama). This informed the reader that Mama would put Dee on top, and then Maggie on bottom. Although Mama preferred Dee, she would spend most of her time with Maggie and got along better with her. The narrator always talked about how Dee would make her mother and her sister Maggie’s self esteem go down: “She washes us in a river of make believe, burned us with a lot of knowledge…” (Mama). The reader can understand how superior Dee was to her sister and mother and how she would put them down.

Dee was considered Ms. Johnson's perfect child, she was "lighter than Maggie, with nicer hair and a fuller figure" ( Walker 1). So initially, she always got her way. Dee also knew what it was she wanted and she only wanted the nicer things. She wanted things like " A yellow organdy dress to wear to her graduation from high school; black pumps to match a green suit she'd made from an old suit somebody gave her" (Walker 2). Ms. Johnson and her family were not the richest, so all of her daughter's commands of what she wanted were out of Ms. Johnson's reach. Also because the Johnson's were not financially well off their house was not the biggest either. Dee hated their house, while it burnt to the ground she just had " a look of concentration on her face as she watched the last dingy gray boards of the house fall in toward the red-hot brick chimney" (Walker 2). Ms. Johnson knew Dee hated their old house and was not excited when Dee was coming to visit their new house because it looked just like the old house in some ways.

In Alice Walker's "Everyday Use” she creates a conflict between characters. Walker describes a family as they anxiously await the arrival of, Dee, the older sister of the family. When Dee (Wangero) comes home to visit Mrs. Johnson and Maggie, right away the readers see the differences in the family by how they talk, act, and dress. Dee has changed her name to an "African" name and is collecting the objects and materials of her past. Dee thinks that since she is in college she knows mores then the rest of her uneducated family. She is more educated and looks down on the simple life of her mother and sister. When Dee asks for a beautiful family heirloom quilt to hang on her wall, Mrs. Johnson finally denies her of this task. Mrs. Johnson finally sees that Dee does not want the quilt for the same purpose as Maggie does. Instead, Mrs. Johnson will give Maggie the quilt to keep her and her husband warm. The theme of the importance of heritage becomes clear at this point of the story. This theme is shown by Walker's use of conflict, irony, and symbolism. All throughout her short story she incorporates heritage. She describes it as a background feeling between family members, and African heritage to heirlooms that have been in the family line for generations. Dee the older sister takes her heritage for granted by only wanting her heirlooms for her educational purposes.

In “Everyday Uses” Alice Walker used the idea of Maggie and Dee, who had different experiences in their life. In the story the Mama decides to give one of her daughters the quilts, but the other daughter believes she is more deserving of the quilts. The Mama understood that Maggie would understand the true value of what the quilts mean to their family. Dee does not listen to her mother who tried to tell her the garments used to make the quilt. Dee still left with one of the quilts, but left telling her mother she does not understand her own heritage and needs improvement. Both daughters showed what family means to each of them.

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.

It was easy to feel anger and disrespect for the character Dee. She was described as lighter than Maggie, with nicer hair and a fuller figure (444). From the very beginning of the story Dee showed herself as selfish and this trait was shown from her throughout the story. Dee wrote to