A War Inside: A Daughter’s Struggle To Escape Her Past In Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use”, one of the main characters, Dee, has a serious internal conflict with her heritage. Dee comes from a tight-knit family that has had it rough throughout all of its generations. Dee lives for fine, fancy things and her immediate family could never give her what she desired. Though her mother yearns for a healthy relationship with her, Dee looks past her mother’s wishes to reach her own goals of distancing herself from her family. Walker’s portrayal of Dee shows her to be very unhappy and at war with herself over her family issues. In this story, Dee exemplifies tremendous hatred for her heritage. She assumes a new religion, lifestyle, look, and name. Out …show more content…
Dee’s demeanor is totally different from her family’s. Dee is good looking, bold, and eccentric; whereas her mother and sister are more homely and less attractive. Her mother is a “big-boned woman with rough, man-working hands”(Walker 109). Maggie is compared by her mother to “a lame animal, perhaps a dog run over by some careless person rich enough to own a car”(Walker 109). Dee, being their opposite, despises what they are and also the fact that she is immediately related to them. Dee also has a serious hate for her childhood home. The house does not meet her standards. It has “no real windows, just some holes cut in the sides” (Walker 110). Her mother thinks,”This house is in a pasture, too, like the other one. No doubt when Dee sees it she will want to tear it down” (Walker111). When Dee arrives she has a camera and takes pictures of the house and her family as if it is a zoo or other attraction and her mother and sister are the entertainment. This reinforces the fact that she believes she is better than them. Dee’s thirst for finer things has caused her to grow her hate for her past; the fact her mother could not provide those things is what makes Dee dislike her so much. Most all of Dee’s internal conflict with her past is blamed on her immediate
Mama mentions Dee’s arrogant ways in the beginning of the story by saying “And Dee. I see her standing off under the sweet gum tree she used to dig gum out of; a look of concentration on her face as she watched the last dingy gray board of the house fall in towards the red-hot brick chimney. Why don’t you do a dance around the ashes? I’d wanted to ask her. She hated the house that much (316).” Dee had no interest in trying to help her sister Maggie, she just was so glad that she did not have to live in that old house anymore. Mama also says, “This house is in a pasture, too, like the other. No doubt when Dee sees it she will want to tear it down (317).” This only shows more evidence of Dee’s materialistic and egolistic ways. Dee was the type of person who always wanted the best of things. Her mother mentions that “Dee wanted nice things. A yellow organdy dress to wear to her graduation from high school (316).” Dee always wanted to be that styling girl.
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
Dee is the prodigal daughter; she left home to taste the world only to be given a new appreciation of her backwoods home. She is the favored daughter, possibly because her mother was always trying to get into her favor. And she is the daughter who received all the genetic blessings: fair skin, soft hair, and a full body which gives her confidence and dominance over others, particularly her family. Her confidence radiates in the fact that she can look anyone in the eye, including “strange white men” who terrify both her mother and her sister Maggie. That same stare was the only form of emotion given when their house burned down, a tragedy that may have been perpetrated by Dee in the first place. Her hatred for that house and their lifestyle was what gave Dee a film over her eyelids, a picture of grey and filth, and eventually sent her away. She desperately wanted a life more suitable for a woman of her class, a class that she felt was better than even her own family. And as time goes by, she returns to the house that she criticized for years, never completely running her back on her family, but only for a visit and never with company, for fear of the tint it would bring to her name. Her last visit however finds her as a completely different person, with a man and a mission.
Dee is the spoiled daughter who always gets what she wants, while Maggie is the sister who never really got it her way. Dee is the daughter who Mama hopes will one day be successful and help the family financially. But when Dee comes back home from college with a “friend,” her Mama is in for something she did not expect from her daughter. Dee comes home with a different name, and perhaps most importantly, a new personality. This essay will discuss how Dees personality changed and how it impacts her families relationship with her.
The characters in “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker serve as a comparison between how family heritage and traditions are viewed. Walker illustrates that heritage is represented not by the possession of items or how they look, but buy how they are used, how one’s attitude is, and how they go about a daily lifestyle. Every memory or tradition in “Everyday Use” strengthens the separation in the relationship between Dee and her mother, the narrator, which involves different views on their family heritage.
In the short story “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker, the author portrays opposing ideas about one’s heritage. Through the eyes of two daughters, Dee and Maggie, who have chosen to live their lives in very different manners, the reader can choose which character to identify most with by judging what is really important in one’s life. In Dee’s case, she goes out to make all that can of herself while leaving her past behind, in comparison to Maggie, who stays back with her roots and makes the most out of the surroundings that she has been placed in. Through the use of symbolism, the tangible object of a family heirloom quilt brings out these issues relating to heritage to Mama, and she is able to reasonably decide which of her daughters has a real appreciation for the quilt, and can pass it on to her. Dee and Maggie shed a new light on the actual meaning of heritage through their personality traits, lifestyle decisions, and relationships with specific family members.
Old habits are hard to break. Just like Dee in “Everyday Use,” Dee moved away and became a different person in her outward appearance, but she was still the same internally; focused only on herself and her well-being. Many people try to change their hair, clothes, and how they live in an attempt to prove how much they have changed, but their personalities most times remain the same.
Feeling ashamed of her African culture and family, Dee wishes that her mother and sister look different and that her home would be nicer. Mama always knew how Dee felt about her, “My daughter would want me to be a hundred pounds lighter, my skin like an uncooked barley pancake. But that is a mistake” (par. 6). Dee’s judgmental nature has affected her mother’s self-view. Dee has returned from college to visit her family, but with a different attitude. Dee portrays herself as a confident and exceeding person, however, her mother sees her as arrogant and insensitive. In attempts to reconnect with her African roots, Dee has changed her name to Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo. Mama is cognizant that Dee’s intentions are not genuine and sees it as a rejection of her heritage. Worrying more about taking pictures of her surrounding, Dee neglects to spend time with her family. Mama notices that Dee, “Lines up picture after picture of me sitting there in front of the house with Maggie cowering behind me. She never takes a shot without making sure the house is included” (par. 22). Mama recognizes that Dee’s has only come to collect items to take back home instead of honoring and embracing her roots. Before leaving to college Dee’s mother had given her a quilt to take with her, but Dee was too embarrassed by it to take it. Now, Dee has asked her mother for it so that she can take as a part of her collection. Infuriated, her mother decided to stop Dee from continuing be deceitful of who she is. Evidently, Dee and her mother have very different views about Dee’s character. Between Dee’s self-view and her mother’s, we can see different features of Dee’s
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...
“Everyday Use” is a story based in the era of racial separation between communities of diverse ethnicity. “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker merely scratches the surface of racial heritage and the elimination of previous ways of living. This discontinuation of poverty driven physical labor shines through Dee as she grows to know more of her heritage throughout her years in school. An example of this is when Dee changes her name; this is an indication of Dee/Wangero wanting to change her lifestyle after the harsh truth she is hit with while going to school. Dee learns about the struggles of African Americans during this time, which changes her view on the unforgiving reality of her family’s lifestyle. In “Everyday Use”, the author opens the mind
Dee is shallow and manipulative. Not only does her education separate her from her family identity and heritage, it prevents her from bonding with her mother and sister. If Dee could only push her arrogance aside, she would be able to develop a deep connection with her family. While connecting with her family, Dee would also develop a deeper understanding of her heritage. Maggie and Mama did not give in to the “whim of an outside world that doesn’t really have much to do with them” (Farrell par.1). In the attempt to “fit” in, Dee has become self-centered, and demanding with her very own family; to the extent of intimidation, and
From a young age, Dee felt a detachment from her heritage. After her old house, and her sister Maggie, who she stoically watched burn from a fire. Mama even suspects that Dee burned their house and Maggie too, “She had hated the house that much” (Walker 25). Dee agrees when Mama sent her to Augusta to school. She wants to be a college student because she considers herself superior to those around her—she deserved a higher level of life, “She was determined to stare down any disaster in her efforts. Her eyelids would not flicker for minutes at a time” (Walker 25-26). Upon Dee’s return to visit Mama and Maggie, Mama
Alice Walker's "Everyday Use," explores Dee and Maggie's opposing views about their heritage by conveying symbolism through their actions. Maggie is reminded of her heritage throughout everyday life. Her daily chores consist of churning milk, helping mama skin hogs on the bench which is the same table her ancestors built, and working in the pasture. On the other hand, Dee moved to the city where she attends college. It is obvious throughout the story; Dee does not appreciate her heritage. When Dee comes back to visit Mama and Maggie she announces that she has changed her name to Wangero. Dee states "I couldn't bear it any longer, being named after the people who oppress me" (89). Her stopping the tradition of the name Dee, which goes back as far as mama can remember, tells the reader that Dee does not value her heritage. Another symbolism of her lack of appreciation for her heritage demonstrated through her actions is when Dee asks Mama if she can have the churn top to use it as a ce...
In the story of “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker there is a character named Dee Johnson and she is a very clever person. Alice Walker makes Dee Johnson’s character into a very clever but shallow. In the first paragraph, Walker makes Dee’s image, who first seems shallow but as the story goes on she becomes clever. Dee then changes to a more difficult character as the story proceeds. Dee was blessed with both beauty and brains but as the story proceeds it tells that she still struggles with both her heritage and identity. While growing up she is very ashamed of her heritage and where she comes from. She is very fortunate to be the first in her family to go to college. As she starts becoming educated she starts feeling superior over her family.
Another example of Dee's confusion about her own African-American heritage is expressed when she announces to her mother and sister that she has changed her name to "Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo." When her mother questions her about the change, Dee says, "I couldn't bear it any longer being named after the people who oppress me" (411). According to her mother, the name has been in the family since before the Civil War and most likely represents family unity to her. However, Dee does not realize that. Apparently, she believes that by changing her name she is expressing solidarity with her African ancestors and rejecting the oppression implied by the taking on of American names by black slaves.