Everyday Use by Alice Walker

712 Words2 Pages

Everyday Use by Alice Walker

“Everyday Use” by Alice Walker, is a story of a black family composed of a mother and her two daughters: Maggie and Dee. Walker does an excellent job illustrating her characters. There are all types of characters in this short story from round to static. Dee is a flat character, yet Walker uses Dee’s character to warn people of what might happen if they do not live properly. Walker describes Dee’s character as arrogant and selfish, and through Dee’s character one is allowed to perceive the wicked effect of an egotistical world.

Dee is portrayed as a light-skinned black person who feels as though she is better than everyone else because her waist is small, her skin is light, she has a nice grade of hair, and she is somewhat educated. Dee believes she is too good for her family, and she is in a hurry to get out of the country to a more suitable life style. She wrote to her mother saying “no matter where we ‘choose’ to live, she [Dee] will manage to come see us. But she will never bring her friends”(Walker 92). It is apparent that Dee is ashamed of her family, and what they represent.

However, Dee’s character is allowed to slightly change throughout the story. She says she will never bring any of her friends home, yet when she arrives at the house she is accompanied by a gentleman. She also went from denying her upbringing to wanting to take a piece of it back to the city with her in order to show off where she came from. Dee tells he...

The Peplos Kore
725 Words | 2 Pages
The religion of this culture group involved many gods. Unlike the present-day United States of America where the running of the country depends on the separation of church and state, religion, including the pleasing of the gods, heavily influenced the government of the ancient Greeks. Of all the gods they had, the most important gods of this religion emerged
Read More
Everyday Use by Alice Walker
952 Words | 2 Pages
In "Everyday Use" by Alice Walker, Walker shows differences in human character, just by the way they act towards family members. The main character in the story, Mother, has two daughters that she treats very differently, and they treat her differently. One daughter looks down on Mother in a condescending manner, and the other is obedient and kind. In "Everyday Use", Walker shows that in relationships between a mother and daughters, adaptation to change can sometimes be very hard, which leads to pride and protecting what one has accomplished, and finally shows how un-appreciation can hinder these relationships.
Read More
Dee Walker's Character In Everyday Use By Alice Walker
1110 Words | 3 Pages
While reading this there were some animosity toward Dee because of what type of character she was. The animosity was caused by the numerous comments and actions that occurred in the story. She was very selfish, uneducated, and very unappreciative of where she came from. Dee carried herself in a very ridiculous way. Among Dee’s family she is the object of jealousy, awe, and agitation, meanwhile she searches for her purpose and sense of self. Dee and her judgmental nature has an effect on Mama and Maggie, her younger sister. Although she across as being arrogant and insensitive, Mama sees he strive to know more and do more. Dee also portray as being a condensing type person because no matter where Mama and Maggie lived she still kept her commitment to come and visit. When Dee comes to visit she tells Maggie and Mama that she has changed her because Dee had died when she left for college. Dee changed her name to Wangoero, which come across as being an attention seeking ploy who still keeps the selfishness of Dee. With Dee changing her name to Wangoero she wants to reclaim her heritage and honor
Read More
Alice Walker's "Everyday Use"
530 Words | 2 Pages
An interesting thing about Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use” is the fact that it seems to be told from the Mama’s eyes, rather than from one of the, arguably, main characters. This only allows the reader to see Mama’s bias in the entire situation. Because of this bias between her children, the reader can see the stark contrast of the two sisters. Alice tries to portray the importance of embracing heritage and the vulgarity of disregarding the purpose of things for one’s own pleasure.
Read More
Symbolism in Everyday Use by Alice Walker
953 Words | 2 Pages
In “Everyday Use” Alice Walker used symbolism throughout the story. Symbolism is an object that has a special meaning for person. For example, Puerto Rican flag have one star and the star represent one colonies of United State. It also has three stripes. The stripes represent when you United State freedom us from Spain. The Egyptians use symbols to communicate by writing. Symbols are use in math equations, shape and sets of numbers. In the equation 1+2-4=-1, the symbols - is use for subtraction or to show a negative number, and the symbol + is use for addition.
Read More
Characterisms And Symbolism In Everyday Use By Alice Walker
741 Words | 2 Pages
Alice Walker as a novelist, poet, short story writer, activist and feminist has built a well-known reputation worldwide. In her short story Everyday Use it is one of her popular and wonderful short stories in which she addresses the predicament of African and Americans who were struggling to define their personal identities in cultural terms. The story goes around some issues of heritage which construct a conflict between the characters of the story, each with different point of views. Walker's use of symbol of "quilt" and the difference of understanding the legacy of family, between Mama and Maggi with Dee, creates a
Read More
Raymond Carver Everyday Use Analysis
524 Words | 2 Pages
As the visit of Dee is prolonged the mother because less and less loving of her. The mother starts to describe her as a shallow person that fancies showing off her heritage. This is ironic because it was previously stated that she hated her old lifestyle. “…a look of concentration on her face as she watched the last dingy gray board of the house fall toward the red-hot brick chimney…..She had hated the house much.” This statement was used to describe Dee after the house was burned down during a fire. This is important because it shows that Dee’s double standard. It stresses that she hated where she and was going to do anything to get out and change herself. But after she achieved what she wanted her view changed and she seemed to enjoy showing off her heritage. This greatly differs from Maggie who was loyal to her heritage and lifestyle the whole
Read More
Compare And Contrast High School And College
1954 Words | 4 Pages
Living with my parents wasn’t ideal for me in high school, but quite frankly, it saved me a lot of time and money. My parents, Andrew and Sherrie Lejcher allowed me to live at home free of charge. Each month they paid the utility bill, allowed me to eat their food and picked up anything that I needed upon my request free of charge. While going to high school and living at home, I didn’t need to worry about putting together a budget since everything was being paid for by my parents. Since everything was paid for by my parents, I had the freedom to go out and spend money. My friends and I would often go to movies, out of town parties and restaurants such as Perkins, Buffalo Wild Wings or even China Star. When I lived at my parents, I had limited responsibilities around the house and were fairly easy to complete in a timely fashion. Each weekend I had the duties of cleaning up dog feces, vacuuming the basement, cleaning the bathrooms and making sure my room was in line. Although the list of chores were easy, they had to be done right each and every time, otherwise my father would get upset and make me complete hard labor such as stacking wood, weeding out the garden and stacking cement blocks in hope of building an effective retaining wall. I went to Pine Island High School here in Minnesota and the teachers there rarely gave out assignments over the
Read More
The Reformation: The Period Of The Protestant Reformation
1143 Words | 3 Pages
While he was studying and learning the scriptures he became exceedingly fearful of God and was quite concerned about how he would ever be forgiven for his sins. This weighed heavily on him to the point that he became eccentric in his attempts and methods to be forgiven. He eventually left for Wittenberg and became a theology lecturer while he was studying for his doctorate. It was that during this time his manner of thinking started to change. He started to read and interpret the scriptures on his own instead of blindly following the message that the church preaches about it. One day while working on a lecture he came across the phrase “the just shall live by faith,” (Christ pp195) which transformed the way he thought about God and the good works doctrine of the church. He now started to believe that God was a just and a benevolent God, and that forgiveness did not depend on his own righteousness. He started to see that humankind could not be righteous because we were prone to sin from the beginning and that all it took was for one to place his faith in Jesus Christ and God would pronounce that sinner
Read More
Google's Impact on Our Cognitive Process
1365 Words | 3 Pages
Carr refers to how his friends reading habits have changed as “Even a blog post of more than three or four paragraphs is too much to absorb. I skim it.” (54). Reading has evolved from procuring and memorizing information for we have every opportunity to get that information as many times as
Read More
The Protestant Reformation
2541 Words | 6 Pages
The Protestant Reformation: What it was, why it happened and why it was necessary. The Protestant Reformation has been called "the most momentous upheaval in the history of Christianity." It was a parting of the ways for two large groups of Christians who differed in their approach to the worship of Christ. At the time, the Protestant reformers saw the church- the Catholic church, or the "universal church- " as lacking in its ways. The church was corrupt then, all the way up to the pope, and had lost touch with the people of Europe. The leaders of the Reformation sought to reform the church and its teachings according to the Scriptures and the writings of the Apostles. They sought to simplify the church by returning to its roots, roots long lost by the Catholic church at the time, or so the reformers believed. After the fall of the Roman Empire, life in Europe declined rapidly into the Dark Ages. The Dark Ages were a time of misery and darkness. There were only two socioeconomic classes: the very rich nobility or the very poor peasants. Small kingdoms popped up everywhere, and were constantly at war with one another. Whole libraries were destroyed, and the only people who remained literate were the clergy of the Christian church. Life became such a struggle to survive that, for a period of five hundred years, very little artwork or literature was produced by the whole of Europe. Eventually, around the year 1000, the conditions in Europe began to get better. This marked the beginning of the Middle Ages. The Crusades began as an effort to revitalize the spirits of the people. However, things still weren't very good. Plagues ravaged the land, carried by rodents and destroying whole villages. With th...
Read More
Symbolism in the Short Story "Everyday Use"
571 Words | 2 Pages
Alice Walker is a well-known African- American writer known for published fiction, poetry, and biography. She received a number of awards for many of her publications. One of Walker's best short stories titled "Everyday Use," tells the story of a mother and her two daughters' conflicting ideas about their heritage. The mother narrates the story of the visit by her daughter, Dee. She is an educated woman who now lives in the city, visiting from college. She starts a conflict with the other daughter, Maggie over the possession of the heirloom quilts. Maggie still lives the lifestyle of her ancestors; she deserves the right of the quilts. This story explores heritage by using symbolism of the daughters' actions, family items, and tradition.
Read More
The Character of Dee in Alice Walker's Everyday Use
894 Words | 2 Pages
Dee's physical beauty can be defined as one of her biggest assets. The fact that Maggie sees Dee "with a mixture of envy and awe" (409) cues the reader to Dee's favorable appearance. The simplistic way in which Walker states that "Dee is lighter than Maggie, with nicer hair and a fuller figure" (410) gives the reader the idea that Dee's beauty has made it easier for her to be accepted outside her family in society. We are left with the impression that Dee's appearance is above average. Walker plays on Dee's physical beauty to contrast the homeliness of Maggie and her mother. Walker goes so far as to describe her feet as "always neat-looking, as if God himself had shaped them with a certain style" (411). In describing Dee's feet, Walker is giving the impression of perfection from head to toe. Dee's outward beauty has "made her transition from poor farm girl to that of an educated, middle-class black woman possible" (Allen-Polley 11). Needless to say, Dee doesn't seem comfortable with her past and therefore has a difficult time accepting her future. It is as though she is not really connected with her family anymore. She simply needs them to fulfill their positions in her recreated past.
Read More
Alice walker
1099 Words | 3 Pages
The story makes clear that Dee is equally confused about the nature of her inheritance both from her immediate family and from the larger black tradition. Dee struggles to move beyond the limited world of her youth, and it shines through by her materialistic attitude and hardship she gives her family. Given the self centeredness and aesthetic appeal she gives, Dee still has a lot of learning to do, and still has to understand herself and will do so from the future experiences in her life.
Read More
Comparing Highschool and College
1155 Words | 3 Pages
Both high school and college make a certain commitment to each student. They are committed to provide the students with remarkable opportunities to pursue and enhance their education. For example, scholarships, loans, and financial aid can provide the student with an opportunity to pursue his or her education, no matter what their financial status is.
Read More

Open Document

Wait a second!

Everyday Use by Alice Walker

The Peplos Kore