Have you ever seen two sisters that are completely different in looks, thought, and what is important to them? This example can be compare to the story of Maggie and Dee in” Everyday Use” by Alice Walker. Although Maggie and Dee are sisters from the same parents and raised by the same mother in the same house who love and cherished them, they have different looks, different attitude towards family, and how they cherished the family heritage. According to the narrator (who is also their mother) she describes Dee as being more attractive than Maggie. Dee is lighter than Maggie, with nicer hair and a fuller figure (p. 256). Dee loves and wants nice things. She is always determined to stare down any disaster in her effort (p.257). Dee is an attractive, beautiful, and confident …show more content…
When Dee went to college she came back and seems to be ashamed of her mother, Maggie, and their new house. Maggie wrote to her mother while she was still in college her thoughts about their new house. “She wrote to me once that no matter where we choose to live, she will manage to come see us, but would never bring her friends (P. 257)”. She even changed her name from Dee to Wangero, saying she couldn’t do it any more (being name after the people that oppressed her). Dee was also a very selfish person. She wanted everything for herself. She had always wanted beautiful things all her life. Her mother let her have the butter churn; she went around and wanted more. She wanted her grandmother’s handmade quilts, even though her mother refused to give her. Her mother was saving the quilts for her sister for when she would get married. Dee insisted on having them. She was thoughtless toward her sister. Although Dee was thoughtless, resentful, and demanding towards family, being educated taught her to value her heritage. One the reasons she wanted grandma handmade quilts so bad. Dee education opens her eyes and understanding about family
Both mothers compare their two daughters to each other. In Everyday Use the mother tells us that "Dee is lighter than Maggie, with nicer hair and a fuller figure." She Fahning -2-speaks of the fire that burned and scarred Maggie. She tells us how Maggie is not bright, how she shuffles when she walks. Comparing her with Dee whose feet vwere always neat-looking, as if God himself had shaped them." We also learn of Dee's "style" and the way she awes the other girls at school with it.
In the story, she introduces two sisters with almost opposite personalities and different views on heritage: Maggie and Dee. She uses the contrast between the two sisters to show how one should accept and preserve one's heritage. Beyond the contrast between two sisters there exist the judge figure mom, the narrator and the Dee's irony. The irony on Dee's opinion is the key to understand the story and why the mother let Maggie keep the quilts, which symbolize the heritage.
In conclusion, Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use” portrays the conflicts and struggles within a family’s culture. The focus is on two characters with completely different personalities and their conflict about a family’s heirloom. Alice Walker shows in her story that one’s culture and values can be affected by the personalities, different lifestyles, and a family’s relationship. The difference between Maggie and Dee’s personalities affect the acceptance of their culture and values. The family relationship and the different lifestyles also contribute to how cultures and values can be affected as well.
The stories “I Stand Here Ironing” by Tillie Olsen and “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker, are different in many ways, but are also similar. “I Stand Here Ironing” and “Everyday Use” both focus on the relationships of the mother and daughter, and on the sibling’s relationships with each other. Emily from “I Stand Here Ironing” and Maggie from “Everyday Use” have different relationships with their mothers, but have similar relationships with their sisters. Although the stories are similar in that Emily and Maggie are both distant from their sisters, they differ in that the mother is distant from Emily in “I Stand Here Ironing,” while the mother is close to Maggie in “Everyday Use.”
The way that Dee wanted to preserve the quilts her ancestors crafted instead of their traditional everyday use was similar to when the main character in Araby originally thought that love was not something that needs to be won over or bought. Dee rejected what was known to be true by trying to preserve her family's useful quilts like artifacts. She explained that her sister did not understand by saying "’Maggie can't appreciate these quilts! She'd probably be backward enough to put them to everyday use.’" The quilts showed the hard working people of her family's past, yet she attempted to reject that in a twisted modernist way. The way that Dee tried to move away from tradition was similar to how the main character in Araby realized the wrongness of his perception of love’s tradition. He started out by putting his crush on a pedestal, and believing that the way to someone's heart was through gifts and money. It was almost like he was bribing her to an event called the Bazaar with him when he said “`If I go, I will bring you something.'” Then he had an epiphany. Love must be reciprocal, not something that can be won.This traditional way of trying to win one’s love instead of it being a reciprocal concept was then discovered to be false to him. The way of questioning what is true led to enlightenment in Araby, whereas in Everyday Use it led to regression. Both
Dee, the older sister, wants to hang the quilts on a wall and view her culture from a distance. In fact she even seems ashamed of her family situation. In a letter to her mother Dee says, " . . . no matter where [they] choose to live, she will manage to come and see [them], but she will never bring her friends" (87). She even goes as far as to denounce her name because she claims, " I couldn't bear it any longer being named after the people that oppress me" (89). However, her mother states that she was named after her aunt and grandmother, the very people who made her beloved quilts. She makes it apparent that her idea of appreciating her culture is to leave it alone, especially when she says, " Maggie can't appreciate these quilts! She'd probably be backward enough to put them to everyday use"(91).
After all, she was never told no, so in her mind her options for success were endless. Dee grew up being taught the there was no real issue with society, but once she moved away to college, her perspective on the situation changed dramatically. Dee States “I couldn’t bear it any longer being named after the people who oppress me” (Walker, 318). This indicates a sense of remorse towards her family’s heritage and the way she was raised. Furthermore, linking the reason why she changed her name. This action is a rebellion towards her heritage and her family’s morals, as it is taking the very essence of their history and rewriting it to claim ignorance on the fact that this poverty induced lifestyle never happened. Although agreeing with Dee on certain situations, I’ve come to the conclusion that you should not step out of your heritage. This could cause you to lose your path and ultimately isolate you from your family’s history. Agreeing on the aspect of higher education, this puts Dee in a strange position in the story. She is not liked because of her ignorance towards her heritage, yet she has a way about her that is compelling to the audience. In “My Dungeon Shook” it states that “The details and symbols of your life have been deliberately constructed to make you believe what white people say about you” (Baldwin, 2). This statement supports the idea that Dee/Wangero changed her name because of what white people said about blacks and their lifestyle. Though afflicted by change, Dee wants to keep something to remember her heritage; she wants to be a part of the history without participating in the actions and lifestyle of her
In “Everyday Use,” Mama illustrates the relationship between her two daughters. Both Maggie and Dee are like opposite poles, making it seem like their relationship is non-existent. Dee is a well-educated, good-looking young woman; who is so concerned with style, and fashion that she lacks the meaning of family and heritage. Maggie, however, is a simple, scarred young girl who truly understands the meaning behind family, and heritage. In “Everyday Use,” Alice Walker demonstrates through Mama’s eyes, the strain in Maggie and Dee’s relationship through Maggie’s actions towards her estranged sister’s visit, and Dee’s remarks and dominance over her younger sister.
The mother describes her younger daughter, Maggie, as ."..not bright. Like good looks and money, quickness passed her by," and ."..perhaps a dog run over by some careless person rich enough to own a car, sidle up to someone who is ignorant enough to be kind to him...That's the way my Maggie walks." The reader already feels the older daughter Dee, although ."..stylish...with nicer hair and a fuller figure...and full of knowledge" is more like the careless person rich enough to own a car. Although Maggie and her mother make attempts to improve the appearance of themselves and their home for Dee's arrival and seem eager to see her, having no relation to Dee the reader is given no reason to like her. Already Walker is placing value on "slow, self-conscious," Maggie, who plans on marrying and staying close to home, and casting, Dee, who is attractive and cosmopolitan, and could conceivably bring greater resources to her sister and mother, in a negative light.
Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use” is a short story about an African American family that struggles to make it. Mama tries her best to give Maggie and Dee a better life than what she had. In Alice Walker’s short story “Everyday Use,” Dee is the older sister and Maggie is younger. Dee is described as selfish and self-centered. Maggie is generous, kind, and cares the family’s history together. She would go out of her way to make sure that her older sister, Dee has everything she needs and wants. Maggie is also willing to share what she has with her sister. Maggie is also shy and vulnerable. Mama is the mother of Maggie and Dee. Mama is fair and always keeps her promises to her children. Hakim-a-barber is the boyfriend
In the beginning of the story Dee would be ashamed and embarrassed of where she came from. Dee never appreciate everything she had. When she was younger she didn’t want her friends to come over because of her house. She would be mean to her mom and Maggie (her sister). “She use to read to us without pity; forcing words, lies, other folk’s habit,
Throughout “Everyday Use” mama compares the two sisters very often. For instance, “Dee is lighter than Maggie, with nicer hair and a fuller figure. She is a woman now” (744) Mama is saying Dee is much more attractive than Maggie and how she has the figure of a grown woman, it also shows that Dee is more cherished and appreciated because she is light skin. In the slavery days, Dee would have been an in-house slave while Maggie would have been an outside slave which is based on their physical appearance. Mama also showed bias when she said “Dee feet were always neat looking like God himself shaped them with a certain style.” (745). Mama put Dee on a high pedal stool while she always brought down Maggie, like when she said “she isn’t bright . . . good looks. . . passed her by”. Mama has shown bias between the two sisters since the very beginning of “Everyday Use” comparing the two physical traits. Mama was vey bias throughout the story but between her bias Maggie’s potential and her ignorance tied together brought family themes in this
The culture difference is finally revealed. Dee is much more outgoing and modern. It was quite evident that Dee was not the same Dee anymore. Though the readers do not know what Dee was like before, Mama explains it will. She recalls an instance when Dee used to be cultured and conservative. “She used to read to us without pity; forcing words, lies, other folks ' habits, whole lives upon us two, sitting trapped and ignorant underneath her voice” (424). This quote simply implies that Dee wanted to be the best, even when she spending time with her family. Now returning from college, all she cares is materialistic things. For example, Mama recalls how Dee always wanted nice and different things. “Dee wanted nice things. 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 me…” (425). Now that she is educated and does not live with her family, she has “grown up.” Even more and wants to be stylish and show off her heritage. She has become more womanly and selfish at the same time. Even her attitude has changed. Mama continues her recall thinking about Dee’s new attributes. “She was determined to stare down any disaster in her efforts. Her eyelids would not flicker for minutes at a time. Often I fought off the temptation to shake her. At sixteen she had a style of her own: and knew what style was” (425). Clearly, Mama was annoyed with Dee’s new
Walker creates Dee as a selfish, unfeeling individual, who has an incredible zest for knowledge. She emphasizes her character as distinct from that of Maggie Johnson, her younger sister. ” She used to read to us without pity, forcing words, lies, other folk's habits, whole lives upon us two; sitting trapped and ignorant underneath her words" (7). Because of this her mother, Mrs. Johnson sends her to school in Augusta after she and the church raises the money. Dee thinks she is better than the rest, she wants to leave her family and heritage behind because she feels like they aren’t as sophisticated as she is.
Author Alice Walker, displays the importance of personal identity and the significance of one’s heritage. These subjects are being addressed through the characterization of each character. In the story “Everyday Use”, the mother shows how their daughters are in completely two different worlds. One of her daughter, Maggie, is shy and jealous of her sister Dee and thought her sister had it easy with her life. She is the type that would stay around with her mother and be excluded from the outside world. Dee on the other hand, grew to be more outgoing and exposed to the real, modern world. The story shows how the two girls from different views of life co-exist and have a relationship with each other in the family. Maggie had always felt that Mama, her mother, showed more love and care to Dee over her. It is until the end of the story where we find out Mama cares more about Maggie through the quilt her mother gave to her. Showing that even though Dee is successful and have a more modern life, Maggie herself is just as successful in her own way through her love for her traditions and old w...