Everyday Use

682 Words2 Pages

There are two types of characterization that the author uses to describe and reveal the attributes or way that the character is. The author uses direct and indirect characterization to reveal the feeling of a character. Direct characterization the author tells the ready the characters personality and traits unlike indirect where the ready has find the characters personality. The central theme in the story “Everyday use” is the value of heritage and identity. Direct and indirect characterization of the three main characters helps reveal this theme because the reader uses direct and indirect characterization to reveal each of the characters feeling on what each one of them thinks heritage means to them. Alice Walker “Everyday use” is a short story that reveals family tradition, jealousy, and family heritage by using direct and indirect characterization. This story centers on a family who is waiting for a visit from a successful daughter. Dee is educated and has a greater value and perspective of life because of her success. Dee asks her mother for the quilts that were hand made from her grandmother and mamma replies to Dee that she had already promised to give them to her other sister. Dee then argues that Maggie, her other sister will not value and treasure the quilt. The central theme of the story is the value of heritage and identity of each of the characters by using direct and indirect characterization to identify each of the characters actual feelings towards each other and the quilt.

The author uses direct characterization when mamma describes Maggie as insecure and jealous of her older sister Dee because she was able to escape the house when it was burning. Maggie’s direct characterization is shown to the reader through her...

... middle of paper ...

...nt for the reader to use direct and indirect characterization because the reader has to understand all of the characters true personality. Using indirect characterization the reader learned that Dee was not ignorant of her family heritage just because she left her home. Using indirect characterization the reader also identified that mamma may have felt oppressed and jealous of Dee because she had moved on with her life and got an education. The story is not just about a random quilt, it the value and history that it holds that was so important to Dee. The reader learned each of the characters true personality by using direct and indirect. This is important because the reader has to see both sides of the character the way it is described and the way it really is. Maggie directly described Dee as isolated and selfish but indirectly Dee cared about her family heritage.

Show More
Related

  • Characterization In The Lottle By Eugenia Collier

    681 Words  | 2 Pages

    Also, the narrator indirect character because the author doesn’t tell us about her personality, it was located in the context clues. Chatita, according the context clues, is a little girl, who is faint of hearing and forgetful. In the book of Marigold, Miss. Lottie is a direct character because in the story, she is an matured lady, who is very poor. According to the story, Lizabeth is a indirect character because she is a sophisticated young woman that execute immature things to do, for her enjoyment, like breaking Miss. Lottie’s marigolds. Sometimes in the story, the author can use characterization in all of his characters but in these stories only a couple people have characterization. Without characterization, the story will become uninteresting and the plot wouldn’t make sense, for example if an author doesn’t apply a personality to character then it wouldn’t help the rest of the story because you don’t know what the character is

    Read More

  • Examples Of Direct Characterization In The Crucible

    505 Words  | 2 Pages

    Characterization is the process by which the author reveal the personality of a character. Characterization can be created in two different ways: direct and indirect characterization. Direct characterization is when the author tells the readers what a character is like. Indirect characterization is based on clues from the story, the reader decides what a character is like. Indirect characterization can come from what the character says/does, what the character thinks, what others say about the character, and the character’s physical appearance.

    Read More

  • Unit Plan - The Great Gatsby

    948 Words  | 2 Pages

    (C) analyze the way in which a work of fiction is shaped by the narrator's point of view.

    Read More

  • Everyday Use

    649 Words  | 2 Pages

    The saying never judge a book by its cover is brought to mind when I read this story. "Everyday Use" has three main characters; Mama, Maggie, and Dee. The only things we know about these characters are through Mama's eyes. Mama is telling the story, so everything we read is from what she says. It is hard for us to know the true personalities of the characters because we learn of them through one characters point of view. It is also easy to misunderstand the characters because of the information the story reveals.

    Read More

  • Cathedral by Raymond Carver

    837 Words  | 2 Pages

    Raymond Carver, the author of “Cathedral” uses characterization to describe the main character, the narrator’s development in the story upon meeting a blind man. This blind man, Robert, unintentionally changes the narrator’s perspective on life and on himself. The narrator first starts off as an arrogant, close minded individual who later opens his mind and is introduced to new perspectives of life. The most important element used in this writing is characterization because it makes the reader change perspectives on how the narrator develops throughout the story and deeply goes into a lot of detail to support the narrator’s development. good thesis, but the wording is a little bland and lifeless

    Read More

  • How Does Steinbeck Use Direct Characterization In Of Mice And Men

    818 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the book Mice and Men, John Steinbeck uses both Direct Characterization, and Indirect Characterization, to describe the characters. Direct characterization is when you tell the reader the characteristics of the character directly. For example, “She is tall and skinny.”On the other hand, Indirect characterization is when you give a description of the character, without directly saying what the character is like, through speech and actions. Direct And Indirect Characterization can easily be compared and contrasted in many ways.

    Read More

  • Everyday Use

    1546 Words  | 4 Pages

    Everyday Use, a short story about the trials and tribulations of a small African American family located in the South, is an examination of black women’s need to keep their powerful heritage. It speaks on multiple levels, voicing the necessity and strength of being true to one’s roots and past; that heritage is not just something to talk about but to live and enjoy in order for someone to fully understand themselves. A sociological landmine, it was written to awaken the concepts of feminism as well as the civil rights movement, while being able to focus on just three women and their relationship to one another. Everyday Use give its black female characters an identity of their own, each in their own right, and observes the internal conflicts of two sisters who have made two very different life choices, all the while scrutinizing the underlying sibling rivalry between them.

    Read More

  • Comparing Heritage In Everyday Use And A Pair Of Tickets

    1509 Words  | 4 Pages

    By contrasting the family characters in “Everyday Use,” Walker illustrates lost heritage by placing the significance of heritage solely on material objects. Walker presents Mama and Maggie, the younger daughter, as an example that heritage in both knowledge and form passing from one generation to another through a learning experience connection. However, by a broken connection, Dee the older daughter, represents a misconception of heritage as material. Dee, the “heritage queen” portrays a rags to riches daughter who does not understand what heritage is all about. Her definition of heritage hangs on a wall to show off, not to be used. Dee’s avoidance of heritage becomes clear when she is talking to Mama about changing her name, she says, “I couldn’t bear it any longer being named after the people who oppress me” (Walker 75). Thus resembling that Dee just takes another name without even understanding what her original name means. She tries to explain to Mama that her name now has meaning, quality, and heritage; never realizing that the new name means nothing. Changing her name bothers Mama and Maggie because Dee’s name is a fourth generation name, truly giving it heritage. Dee likes to gloat to her friends about how she was raised, so she tries to show off by decorating her house with useful items from her past. Her argument with Mama about taking quilts that were hand stitched as opposed to sewn by machine gives readers a chance to see Dee’s outlook of heritage is short lived. Dee says to Mama, “But they’re priceless. . . Maggie would put them on the bed and in five years they’d be in rags. Less than that!” (Walker 77). Mama will not allow her daughter to take the quilts because she has been saving them for Dee’s sister, Maggie, and she wants the quilts to be put into everyday use. By helping

    Read More

  • Comparsion Of Kincaid's Girl And Walker's Everyday Use

    1594 Words  | 4 Pages

    The search for identity in "Everyday Use" written by Alice Walker uses the family's contrasting views to illustrate the importance of understanding present life in relation to the traditions of ancestral culture. Using careful descriptions and attitudes, Walker uses the voice of the protagonist (the mother) to demonstrate which factors contribute to the values of one’s heritage and identity; she illustrates that these are represented not by the possession of objects or mere appearances, but by one’s lifestyle and attitude. Also, in the illustration “Girl”, Jamaica Kincaid uses a mother’s voice, like Walker, to illustrate the mother’s meaning of identity. Both mothers in each story have their own outlook of what defines a person’s identity. Although each mother has different...

    Read More

  • Analysis Of My Lucy Friend Who Smells Like Corn

    237 Words  | 1 Pages

    During the story “My Lucy Friend Who Smells Like Corn”, The author wrote this text in order to tell the reader about how poor lucy is and it is about what lower class did for fun.Throughout the story Lucy's actions make her seem like a shockingly gross little girl.In the story she does some disturbing things and she takes alot of dares from her friend for example she said”Have you ever eated dog food? I have. After crunching like ice, she opens her big mouth to prove it, only a pink tongue rolling around in there like a blind worm, and Janey looking in because she said Show me But me I like that Lucy, corn smell hair and aqua flip-flops just like mine that we bought at the K mart for only 79 cents same time”This is an example of a type of indirect

    Read More

  • Good People: Direct And Indirect Characterization

    291 Words  | 1 Pages

    The traits of the characters are taken off of what Lane is thinking, how he perceives the situation. Therefore the story uses indirect characterization. However, both direct and indirect characterization used to describe Sheri. She is a person who has a strong faith from what Lane states about her, but at the end when she finally talks, she shows that she's smart by knowing what Lanes is thinking and responsible by offering to take care of the baby by herself .“She will carry this, and have it; she has to.”(154).

    Read More

  • Everyday Use by Alice Walker: A Look at Symbolism and Family Values

    893 Words  | 2 Pages

    Alice Walkers “Everyday Use”, is a story about a family of African Americans that are faced with moral issues involving what true inheritance is and who deserves it. Two sisters and two hand stitched quilts become the center of focus for this short story. Walker paints for us the most vivid representation through a third person perspective of family values and how people from the same environment and upbringing can become different types of people.

    Read More

  • Zadie Smith's Novel On Beauty

    319 Words  | 1 Pages

    In the novel on beauty, the author Zadie Smith uses free indirect discourse to explore into the different characters frame of mind by doing so the reader is being challenged to make sense of when the narrator is slipping in and out od different characters

    Read More

  • Literary Analysis: "Everyday Use"

    692 Words  | 2 Pages

    n “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker, we hear a story from the viewpoint of Mama, an African American woman about a visit from her daughter Dee. Mama along with her other daughter Maggie still live poor in the Deep South while Dee has moved onto a more successful life. Mama and Maggie embrace their roots and heritage whereas Dee wants to get as far away as possible. During her return, Dee draws her attention to a quilt. It is this quilt and the title of the piece that centers on the concept of what it means to integrate one’s culture into their everyday life.

    Read More

  • The Importance of Personal Identity in Alice Walker's Everyday Use

    623 Words  | 2 Pages

    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...

    Read More

More about Everyday Use

Open Document