Alice Walker

Alice Walker juxtaposes Maggie with her sister, Dee, to demonstrate how society denigrates not only African-American women but women in general in the 1970s. Early on in the story, Maggie is described as nervous, hopelessly standing in the corner. Later she is described as nearly hidden from view. On a metaphorical level, Maggie is the symbol of the lack of power women held in the 1970s. She is the epitome of the silent female homemaker. On the other hand, Dee is assertive, “will look you right in the eye.” She serves as a symbol of the free, successful modern woman. However, her assertiveness might come off as cockiness, and too much pride. By contrasting Maggie and Dee, Alice Walker is expressing both sides of the female role during that time.

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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 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.

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.

Maggie the younger sister lived with her mother and liked the life of her living with her mother. Dee didn't like that poor old-fashioned life and she wants to be rich and to forget about this poor family and to live her actual way of life as an African-American. Mama liked their way of life and didn't want to change it and also Maggie liked it and didn't want to change it.

As the story advances however, Dee does get more complex and is demonstrated to be battling with her own particular personality and heritage. Concrete subtle elements are expressed about Dee that lead you to know she is beautiful, smart and certain. Dee is described as thin with a little waste. She is a light cleaned dark individuals with a decent review hair. She is also well educated. Dee is fashion conscience, continually needing more pleasant things that were not affordable to her family. First and foremost of the story, Dee’s mother and sister, Maggie are is getting ready for Dee’s entry for a visit. Here is the place you get the first flash of Dee’s obvious identity. Maggie is portrayed by her mother as being apprehensive until after Dee goes when Dee hasn’t arrived yet. This persuades that maybe Maggie is threatened by Dee and maybe feels inferior compared to Dee. Dee’s mother discuss dreaming a fantasy about being welcomed by Dee with a grasp and tears in her eyes. All things considered Dee’s mother and sister don’t appear to feel just as they truly measures up to what Dee expects or needs them will be Dee’s mother never had much of an education and Dee’s mother raised enough cash to send Dee off to school. Maggie is specified as having poor sight and not being brilliant. Dee the again is smart.

The beginning of the story involved a lot of characterizing on the youngest sister Maggie. Before her older sister Dee arrived at the house, her actions showed that she was scared to see her sister. “Maggie will be nervous until after her sister goes: she will stand hopelessly in corners, homely and ashamed of the burn scars down her arms and legs, eying her sister with a mixture of envy and awe. She thinks her sister has held life always in the palm of one hand, that "no" is a word the world never learned to say to her” said the mother.

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

The mother, describes Dee as light skinned with nice hair and a full figure (486). She recounts Dee?s childhood and her appreciation of nice things. She was not the least upset when the family home burned to the ground while she was just a girl, ?Why don?t you do a dance around the ashes? I?d wanted to ask her. She had hated the house that much.? (486)

The strongest example of Dee's confusion and of Walker's belief that a family's heritage should be alive and not frozen in time is at the end of the story. Dee finds the two quilts that had been pieced together by many generations of her family, and she wants to keep them. Her mother says, "In both of them were scraps of dresses Grandma Dee had worn fifty and more years ago. Bits and pieces of Grandpa Jarrell's paisley shirts. And one teeny

Dee however, always thought she was too proud to live with what her Mother provided for her. She still loved her Mother, no doubt, but she said things like "She wrote me once that no matter where we "choose" to live, she will manage to come see us" (415). Another way that Dee thought she was too proud for what her Mother provided for her was when she changed her name. She felt that it was too below her, and that it did not even deserve to be associated with a living person. After she tells her Mother her new name, and her Mother asked her what happened to her old one, she said that "She's dead…I couldn't bear it any longer, being named after the people who oppress me" (416). With this statement, Dee sums up everything she thinks about her history and her Mother. She feels that the only way that she could change herself and her background is by changing her name, or killing her other

While growing up Dee was always resentful of the lifestyle that she had as it did not measure to the better things she was always dreaming of. While the mother recounts the story of when their original house burned to the ground, she mentions how Dee stood there concentrating at the way the house slowly disappeared in the fire since "she hated the house that much" (Walker 298). This aspect sets the tone of how Dee was never willing to embody the characteristics of her life growing up, and it can be seen how she was ashamed of where she came from as later she writes her mother in a letter of how she will always try to visit them, but "she will never bring her

Laurie Holden, a Hollywood actress and producer, stated, “I think women are amazing and women's friendships are like a sisterhood and we should see more of it in television and film” (BrainyQuote). In the entertainment industry, the representation of friendship between women in books and movies regularly develops and empowers this special relationship. Alice Walker, author of The Color Purple and many short stories and poems, believes in the mission to represent real life friendships and the true character building and development that happens in reality. Walker was born on February 9, 1944, during the last year of World War II, and her book, The Color Purple, had its setting in this time period (Unger 519). Walker used this personal experience to reflect a sense of knowledge with her characters and the places where her characters were.

Each writer has their own individual and distinct writing style which is unique to their own work. Most authors use distinctive methods to connect with their readers on a personal level. Although many authors do not succeed in fully being able to capture the attention of the typical reader, one famous author is known for her abilities to strengthen the bonds between her work and her reader. Her name is Alice Walker. She has won many awards for her unique and effective writing methods which have captured the attention of millions of readers worldwide. Walker is a novelist, poet, and even an activist. She is an influential person as she has mastered many fields of literature. Nonetheless, she has experienced many adventures throughout her life