A Psychological Analysis of Alice Walker's Everyday Use
The human mind is divided into three parts that make up the mind as a whole. These parts are necessary to have a complete mind, just as the members of a family are needed to make up the entire family. The use of components to equal a whole is often exercised in literature. Alice Walker's short story, "Everyday Use," contains the idea of family and of the mind, therefore her work can be evaluated through psychological methods. Through their actions, the characters symbolize the three different parts of the mind: the id, the ego, and the superego.
The first type of mind division, the id, "constantly strives to satisfy basic drives...[and] seeks immediate gratification" (Myers 379). In "Everyday Use," Dee's personality is equivalent to the id because she seeks her own personal gain and does not necessarily consider the consequences of her actions. Mama, the narrator in "Everyday Use," says that "Dee wanted nice things. She was determined to stare down any disaster in her efforts" (Walker 92). Dee strives for satisfaction in all she does; she will do everything in her power to get what she desires. The story recounts a situation in which Dee wants some quilts that were stiched by her grandmother, but Mama has already promised these treasures to Dee's sister, Maggie. Mama said that as she "[moved] up to touch the quilts. Dee moved back just enough so that [Mama] couldn't reach the quilts. They already belonged to [Dee]" (Walker 96). Mama explains that Dee is determined to gain possession of the quilts. Although the quilts belong to her mother, Dee has already mentally determined that the quilts belong to her. Dee's personality is comparable to the id branch of the...
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...The use of psychological strategies in the Walker's work shows that the characters are joined and create one unit, a family.
Works Cited
Alice Malsenior Walker: An Annotated Bibliography, 1968-1986. Eds. Louis H. Pratt and Donnell D. Pratt. Connecticut: Meckler Corporation, 1988.
Everyday Use: Alice Walker. Ed. Barbara T. Christian. New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, 1994.
Myers, David G. Exploring Psychology. Third edition. New York: Worth Publishing, 1996.
Walker, Alice. "Everyday Use." Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. Sixth edition. Eds. X.J. Dennedy and Dana Gioia. New York: Harper Collins, 1995.
http://www.dc.peachnet.edu/~shale/humanities/composition/handouts/sample/walker.html
http://www.luminarium.org/contemporary/alicew/
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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.
The worldwide population is approaching 7 billion and is expected to reach 9 billion by 2050 (Baird). This projected population number is down from a once predicted 16 billion (Baird) and while some are not concerned, others are worried about any increase in population. Population growth is discussed in the articles “Too Many People?” by Vanessa Baird; “Population Control: How Can There Possibly Be Too Many of Us?” by Frank Furedi; and “The Population Bomb Revisited,” by Paul R. Ehrlich and Anne H. Ehrlich. Baird and Furedi concur that a concern for population growth has been around since mathematician Thomas Malthus, in 1798, warned that overpopulation could lead to “the collapse of society” (Furedi). Furedi claims that too much human life is being used as an excuse, by population control supporters, for the world’s current and future problems. Baird tries to discover if “the current panic over population growth is reasonable.” For Ehrlich and Ehrlich the concern over population growth is very real, and they reinforce and support their book “calling attention to the demographic element in the human predicament” (Ehrlich and Ehrlich 63). While taking different approaches to their articles, the authors offer their perspectives on population growth, population control and the environmental impacts of a growing population.
Walker, Alice. “Everyday Use.” Literature: Reading Fiction, Poetry and Drama. Ed. Robert DiYanni. 6th ed. New York: McGraw Hill, 2007. 743-749.
DiYanni, Robert. "Literature, Reading Fiction, Poetry and Drama." Walker, Alice. Everyday Use. Boston: McGraw Hill, 1973. 743-749.
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 story "Everyday Use" the narrator is telling a story about her life and two daughters, who are named Dee and Maggie. The narrator is very strong willed, honest, compassionate and very concerned with the lives of her two daughters. Her daughter Dee is not content with her lifestyle and makes it hard on Maggie and the narrator. The narrator is trying to provide for her family the best way she can. The narrator is alone in raising the two daughters and later sends her daughter Dee to college. The longer the story goes on the more the narrator shows how intelligent and how much she loves her two daughters.
Thomas Malthus’ theory on population, proposed in “An Essay on the Principle of Population”, has had an influence on the strict society in “The Giver” by Lois Lowry. In his famous essay, Malthus makes his views on population and the availability of resources open to the public to increase awareness of potential threats to the world. His theory, known as The Malthusian Theory, developed due to his disagreement with positive theorists who believed in the growth of a future society. He differed in opinion, believing that the future society could not improve, but in fact go downhill; that is, unless the population was kept to a level of subsistence.
Walker, Alice. “Everyday Use.” Literature: Reading, Reacting, Writing, Compact. Ed. Laurie G. Kirszner., and Stephen R. Mandell
In “Everyday Use,” Alice Walker tells the story of a mother and her two daughters’ conflicting relationship based on identity and ancestry. Mama, the narrator of the story, describes herself as a strong, big-bonded woman, sometimes burdened by her daughters Dee and Maggie. Mama’s inner monologue demonstrates how slow she turned away from the external values of her older daughter in approval of internal values of her younger daughter. The story focuses on the bonds among the three women and their long-lasting inheritance, symbolized in the quilts each contrived together. This connection among generations remains strong until Mama’s older daughter Dee came to visit, after being away for some time. Dee’s arrival and lack of understanding of her history creates conflict, after she interrupts the true meaning of the family inheritance for her own desires. When Maggie suggests the quilt be given to her older sister, Mama began to see Maggie in a different light. Walker uses Maggie and Dee to suggest heritage holds deep significance.
A little over two hundred years ago a man by the name of Thomas Malthus wrote a document entitled “An Essay on the Principle of Population” which essentially stated that there is an imbalance between our ability to produce food and our ability to produce children. He said human beings are far better at making babies than they are at finding food for survival. His entire essay is based on these two assumptions. “ First, That food is necessary to the existence of man. And second, that the passion between the sexes is necessary and will remain nearly in its present state.” When taking into account what is said in this essay, it is obvious that his original analysis of population has been proven right. Today, in the twenty-first century, people still rely on food to live and stay healthy, and many people consume more food than ever before, especially here in the United States. In addition, the natural attractions between men and women exist more so today than they did in Malthus’s time. When discussing the issue of population, it is important to note that it is one of the most controversial issues facing the world today.
Schakel, Peter J., and Jack Ridl. The "Everyday Use." Approaching Literature: Writing, Reading, Thinking. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin, J.
Humankind will always have to overcome challenges. Three key challenges that we are currently facing and require immediate action are overpopulation, land use, as well as cultural conflicts. These issues have been prevalent topics in the media in recent years. Unless we start taking the steps to address these concerns, we will continue to see these topics in the media for years to come.
The story 'Everyday Use', written by Alice Walker, is a story of heritage, pride, and learning what kind of person you really are. In the exposition, the story opens with background information about Dee and Maggie's life, which is being told by Mama. The reader learns that Dee was the type of child that had received everything that she wanted, while Maggie was the complete opposite. The crisis, which occurs later in the story, happens when Dee all of a sudden comes home a different person than she was when she left. During the Climax, Mama realizes that she has often neglected her other child, Maggie, by always giving Dee what she wants. Therefore, in the resolution, Mama defends Maggie by telling Dee that she cannot have the household items that she wants just to show others, instead of putting them to use like Maggie.
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...
The world’s population has been growing faster and faster, which projects potential problems with maintaining world food and water supply, and altering biodiversity worldwide. Fortunately, there are practical and manageable ways to keep the world’s human population in check to make sure that overpopulation is avoided. According to the population reference bureau the world population is reaching close to 7,200,000,000 people and increasing fast. The University of Washington estimated the world population to reach a massive 11 billion people by 2100; this was even increased from the U.N.’s prediction in 2011 of 10.1 billion. The current rate of population growth could have a crippling impact on the future welfare of the human and the natural world in this century. There are about 78 million more births than deaths each year; this is alarmingly fast, even with most women having 2 or fewer children. That’s equivalent to the entire population of Germany every year.