Theme Of Mama In Everyday Use

Mama’s Mental Makeover in Walker’s “Everyday Use”

In Alice Walker’s “Everyday Life,” we are introduced to a middle aged, African American mother, who is physically tough yet mentally meek. Mama, the narrator, is an independent and devoted mother who at times is troubled by her daughters and their relationship. Walker’s characterization of Mama as a frank, insecure and, conflicted mother enables the reader to understand Mama transformation which is illustrated by a significant decision she makes at the end of the story. Mama, who never gives her first name, is a middle-aged African American woman known as Mrs. Johnson. As you read the story you get the idea that Mama does not reveal her first name because she wants to be seen only as a mother

When the narrators reflects upon her past the reader is provided with important details of Mama growing up as an African American girl before the Civil Rights movement, which played a huge role in shaping Mama’s submissive and uneducated character. This is essential because “Everyday Use” is in essence about racial identity, or how racial oppression plays a vital role in who we are. For example, the narrator explains, “I never had an education myself. After second grade the school was closed down. Don 't ask me why: in 1927 colored asked fewer questions than they do now.” (157). Growing up during this time of discrimination and segregation Mama learned not to assert her opinions or question her reality. Clearly, this shaped the woman Mama was when the story was set in the 1970s’. In addition, Mama’s explains, “Who can even imagine me looking a strange white man in the eye? It seems to me I have talked to them always with one foot raised in flight, with my head turned in whichever way is farthest from them”(155). This statement reveals the narrator’s fear of whites and explains her meek, timid character. Growing up before the Civil Rights era obviously had a profound impact on