Themes Of Everyday Use

The story “Everyday Uses” begins with a Mother talking about her daughters, Maggie and Dee. Dee is outgoing, beautiful, and judgmental; she searches for things that may give her life purpose. Family values are of very little importance to Dee. She finds her significance more in her appearance than in endearment to the people of with whom she has shared her life, due to her insecurities. Then, there is her little sister Maggie, a small, shy girl, who has large insecurities due to her appearance. She also walks with a limp, due to a fire that occurred at her old house when she was younger. Maggie may lack external beauty but, she has internal beauty; a caring heart and she loves her Mother. The love that Maggie has for her mom is in sharp

Mama understands the past and the significance of a family heritage. Her heritage including her memories of her mother and grandma making quilts together by hands.

Everyday Use is a compelling story of a mother's conflicting relationships with her two daughters. Maggie, which the mother feels contains more practical and traditional ways of living life and then Dee her oldest and most promising daughter, who she feels has broken away from tradition and has lost a lot of their heritage. At first glance you would see this as the normal mother daughter spat of maybe the wild child versus the little miss do right. This story holds a much deeper and important meaning. Everyday use tells the struggle to keep hold of African American culture in the late 1960’s early 1970’s, when most African Americans were searching for their roots. Many

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

“Everyday Use” is a story of a mother and her daughters, and how each understands their present life in relation to the customs of their people and culture. The difference in beliefs between the mother and Dee is highlighted throughout the story using several different symbols. The theme of “Everyday Use” accentuates this symbolic story full of symbols that show the difference in how mother and daughter understand their heritage. The three symbols I have selected to show this difference between characters are the yard and setting of the story, the quilts, and the clothing of each character.

Is culture the reason behind why people perform their actions?In the short story “Everyday Use,” by alice walker, one of the daughters denies her culture. In the essay “An Indian Father’s Plea,” by Robert Lake, the other students and teacher makes fun of the son, Wind-Wolf. In the Novel excerpt “Two Kinds,” by Amy tan, Jing-mei’s mother expects her daughter to keep to her mother’s perspective of culture. Culture influences people’s views on life.

n the short story "Everyday Use," by Alice Walker, a mother and one of her daughters argue over who should get some old quilts. The quilts are valuable to the family, made from clothing family members wore, going as far back as the Civil War. While who gets the quilts seems most important, there is actually a character who gains more by the end of the story. The mother starts the story feeling unimportant and ignorant, especially in the eyes of her daughter, Dee. But by the end of the story, the mother gains pride and self-respect in a way she never has before.

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.

Families, since the dawn of time, have brought a mixture of love and heartache. Regardless of race, economics, or beliefs, families share a lot more in common than they realize. Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use” is a story about a family whose problems are no different than most families. Mama and her daughters have an appreciation for their heritage, but they struggle to see each other’s point of view. In “Everyday Use” the family has similarities and differences with my family concerning hardworking mothers, sibling relationships and family values.

Imagine a ripe, fresh, and juicy apple in the hand of a healthy, happy, well-fed child. Now imagine this same apple in the hand of a battered, hungry, and dingy child. How do you believe these two children view this one simple fruit? Both of these children will view this apple differently, just like how culture influences how people see the world differently.

In Alice Walker’s classic short story Everyday Use, Walker takes her readers through a yester-year, yet contemporary African American experience in the rural southern America; A dynamic human experience that takes roots in despair, oppression, and resilience. In this first-person narration, our narrator anxiously awaits the arrival of her daughter, but in the meantime, we’re brought along a recollection of rough times of our narrator’s family. Through Mama’s memories, and dialogue with Dee, a theme of cultural conflict is revealed. Mama’s recollection of the past and her dreams reveals to the reader how tough life has been growing in the south. In Mama’s narration, we learned that her education level did not progress past second grade due to

In continuation, the author in Everyday Use puts it, “in times of rapid culture change and ferment, ties to family are stretch thin.” (Walker p.1). In the story, there are representations of three culture that exist between the three African - American characters of; Maggie, Dee, and her mother. The mother is a character of tradition, her speech throughout the story consist of the dream genre of which she creates a descriptive reality, but still expresses information about her past, culture, and people. One of the lines she states is, “who can imagine me looking a stranger white man in the eye?” (Walker p.2). Mama is still living in a world where she still defines herself in a decade of slavery, of which she is unable to look at white people;

The short story, “Everyday Use,” by Alice Walker, takes place in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s. The story focuses on three black women who were all raised in the south. Although any child might think that everywhere the sun touches would be equal for everyone. It is actually the opposite. The sun that blazed down on the south was that of discrimination and prejudice. On the other hand, African Americans were finding a desire to know where they came from, to embrace their culture as well as their ancestors. As I am sure you know, Alice Walker does an incredible job of telling this story, she uses many techniques to get her thoughts across to the reader. Three of the most prominent used in “EverdayUse” are characterization, conflict, and symbolism.

In the short story “Everyday Use” the author, Alice Walker, utilizes numerous elements of fiction in order to create a central theme and award the reader a fascinating experience. “Everyday Use” is set in the late 1960s or early 1970s on a rural farm. The two main characters, Mama and Maggie, are anticipating the arrival of Dee, Mama’s oldest daughter. As the reader makes their way through the story, we experience both feelings of anticipation of Dee’s arrival and conflict by the protagonist characters with the antagonist character, Dee. The author uses the characters, setting, tone and diction to create an interesting reading experience, while also supporting the central theme of knowing and appreciating one’s heritage.

“Everyday Use” is a short story written by a 1940’s black writer, Alice Walker. She did a fantastic job illustrating her characters. There are different types of character in her story from round to static. Her use of clear-cut symbolism prompts the reader to be able to take a deeper look into the characters of the story. When reading this story I felt anger for Dee, while for the narrator and Maggie I felt sympathy.