A story’s point of view can reveal the emotions of one character or multiple characters. It can also make readers construct their own image of the character if there is little information. The first person point of view only reveals the side of one character, the narrator. The reader has to question the objective truth of the narrator because the other characters’ stories are not told. I reconstructed two passages from “Everyday Use” in Dee’s (the daughter) view instead of Mama, the narrator’s perspective. I want to show Dee’s perception of her family and the situation based on her known qualities and motives.
Passage 1
I open the door of the car. Unfortunately I am here. I need my family quilts. That is my only purpose for this visit. Well, I also want to persuade my family to leave the dump they call a home. I am wearing a long dress, despite the hot weather. It is full of yellows and oranges that reflect the sun. I am also wearing the prettiest bracelets that dangle every time I move. I can tell Mama likes it. Maybe if she finally leaves her way of life, she might be able to experience such treasures that I own. I have also changed my hair in two stylish long pigtails. The new black culture is here. Mama should try it. Maggie goes “Uhnnnh” at my appearance. What does that mean? Can’t she speak? I quickly call my boyfriend, “Wa-su-zo-Tean-o!” I need a distraction from this awkwardness. “Aslamalakin, my mother and sister!” He tries to hug Maggie, but she acts and looks weird. She is trembling and is that perspiration falling of her chin? Yuck! I ignore her and go back to the car to get my Palariod. I stoop down quickly and start taking pictures of Mama with Maggie sitting in front of the house. I do not exactly like the house ...
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... For example, I would not have understand the mother’s decision to give the quilt to her youngest daughter because of Dee’s dominant anger and persuasion. Dee would only focus on how the story affectes her and the narrow picture. The other family members could say what needed to be said but Dee would come back to rebuke the previous statement. However the original view does not show an in-debt analysis of Dee, since she is just a complicated character. Dee looks down on her surroundings, believing herself above them. Those feelings are more explicit in her point of view. These passages show unlike her mother, she does not want to honor and embrace her roots. Instead she remains in h
Works Cited
Walker, Alice. "Everyday Use". Prentice Hall Literature Portfolio Ital. Ed. Christy Desmet, D. Alexis Hart, Deborah Church Miller New Jersey: Pearson, 2007.278-283. Print.
Walker, Alice. "Everyday Use." Literature for Composition. Ed. Sylvan Barnet, William Burto, and William E. Cain. 10th ed. New York: Pearson, 2014. 1125-1131. Print.
... too, Maggie. It’s really a new day for us. But from the way you and Mama still live you’d never know it.” Instead of honoring and embracing her roots, she objectifies them and distances herself as a spectator of their lifestyle versus becoming a participant and learning her true heritage.
She showed favoritism to Dee a lot more than she should have. Dee always had things handed down to her and never did she once show a bit of appreciation; instead, we see what is most important to her, what motivates her that way, and how she changes through it all. Dee did not live with her family that much growing up. When she became of age Mama was able to send her away, so she could get a real education. I believe this gave Dee a push in the direction where she ended up.
...sents some discrepancies in how people value their family history. To some, family does not mean much at all but others are very much aware of their ancestors and the traits that they share in common. Some people use this self-awareness to better themselves while others find ways of exploiting it to satisfy their superficial needs. Dee is the type of individual that misuses her heritage. She is using it to fit in and attract the new religious group with which she has begun to associate. Maggie just seems oblivious, although the story does not allow the reader to know what she is thinking. The truth is that Maggie and her mother are living their heritage. This is the lesson that Dee's mother is trying to teach her; to accept and embrace who she is rather than continuously search for something she is not. She could search for her entire life and never be fulfilled.
She shows how this often harms people’s families, and also hurts livelihoods by convincing people to use things in a good or insecure manner. Alice Walker identifies much in “Everyday Use,” and these things are displayed through the title she selected. It draws people to the story, in craving what the story is about, and it also gives enough information to make the story interesting. Titles reflect a story and show how important it is for people to discuss the messages, certain lines, and conflicts in a story, and Alice Walker’s story really shows all three of these things. Overall, Alice Walker’s choice of “Everyday Use,” for her title, is correctly chosen because first it portrays differing ideas, is the indirect source of conflict, and last, it identifies the ‘good’ and the ‘bad.’
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.
Through having contrasting views from her family, Dee began to isolate herself from her old homelife, just like the main character in Araby’s obsession with Mangan's sister caused him to be blind towards his schooling and family. Dee’s mother had no education herself because she had grown up in a time of segregation when education was not seen as an important thing for females to have. Dee was somewhat ungrateful when granted the opportunity to study. This was shown by her mother saying “‘She washed us in a river ofma ke.believe, burned us with a lot of knowl edge we didn't necessarily need to know.’” This shows that after Dee began to think she was superior to her family because of her contrasting views and education, she began to isolate herself. Dee moving away from her family and abandoning her family's morals was similar to the way that the main character in Araby began to neglect and ignore all other components of his life after becoming infatuated with Mangan's sister. His responsibilities in his life seemed far less important than his study of his crush. This was clear when he stated things such as “I wished to annihilate the tedious intervening days. I chafed against the work of school,” or “I had hardly any patience with the serious work of life.” The distraction of his love for this girl led him to isolate himself and become blind to
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.
...nderstand each other’s view or just each other. Dee especially believes that these quilts are a representation of what has been discarded as trash just as her culture has, however what she doesn’t see is she was the first to disregard them just as she did her family.
Dee is unappreciative and disrespectful to her own mother and eventually, as with nearly everything; enough is enough and Mama stood up for herself, completely transforming herself as a character. It is necessary in life to treat others the way that you would like to be treated. This seems to be a saying that Mama lived by, but her daughter didn’t reciprocate back to her. “Everyday Use” teaches the reader many lessons of the importance of a family and how easily individuals could be shaped by the world around
Another reason I had feelings of anger for the character Dee, was that she was uneducated. Not the usual education, such as in college, because she had that, but the education of her heritage, or past. The second statement to her mother was when her mother says "Dee", Dee replied saying her new name Wangero, followed by the statement that Dee is dead and that she could no longer bear the name of the people that oppress her. At no point during the story was Dee oppressed or even mentioned being oppressed in the past. Then she tries to track back where her name came from, to show her mother it was a slave name or something along those lines. Her mother tracked it back as far as she could remember and no such thing was pointed out. To move on to another situation where Dee made herself look foolish and uneducated is, when they are leaving, she tells her mother that she just doesn't understand.
She tries to force "other folkways habits" on Mrs. Johnson and Maggie. In the story, you see how mama narrates that she pressed them in the serious way she reads, only to shove them away at the moment they seemed about to understand(10). Dee acts superior to her mom and Maggie and also treats them like dimwits because of their illiteracy. I think its best that one is intolerant of ignorance but understanding of illiteracy because they are different. In the story, Mrs. Johnson and Maggie are not portrayed as ignorant people, but illiterates who do not have the kind or experience Dee has.
Point of view is an essential element to a reader's comprehension of a story. The point of view shows how the narrator thinks, speaks, and feels about any particular situation. In Toni Cade Bambara's "The Lesson," the events are told through the eyes of a young, mischievous girl named Sylvia who lives in a lower class neighborhood. The reader gets a limited point of view of view because the events are told strictly by Sylvia. This fact can influence the reader to see things just as she does. The strong language gives an unfamiliar reader an illustration of how people in the city speak. Bambara does this to show the reader that kids from lower class neighborhoods are affected by their environment due to lack of education and discipline, that how different one part of society is from another, and that kids learn from experience. We also get an insight of Sylvia’s feisty, rebellious nature and her lack of respect towards people with an education.
Walker, Alice. "Everyday Use." Harper Anthology of Fiction. Ed. Sylvan Barnet. New York: Harper Collins, 1991.
"Everyday Use" is a short story written by Alice Walker. Walker did a wonderful job illustrating her characters. There are all types of characters in this short story from round to static. Her use of simple symbolism prompts the reader to take a deeper look into the story. Walker’s humble way of conveying the theme makes the reader take a second look at him or herself. Walker did an excellent job in writing this story, so she could warn people of what might happen if they do not live properly.