Essay On Symbolism In Everyday Use By Alice Walker

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On most occasions, most of the objects or persons have its own symbolism in a community for example: the objects that were used in the story “everyday use” by Alice Walker such as the quilts, the dasher, and the butter churn. Each one has its own symbolism for example the quilts meant family and past generations that were still remembered. The roughness and the finger prints left in the dasher meant being able to touch the loved ones that once used that same object. All this objects can symbolize greater objects then they appear to be, they also symbolize history, love, and appreciation which is necessary for use because without our history we are nothing. In the short story, a woman named Mrs. Johnson has had a rough life trying to …show more content…
Out of all those objects she wanted the quilts more because they were made by hand by her grandma Dee and by her great grandma Ezra. After moments of arguing about who the quilts really belonged to, mama Johnson decided that Maggie was her true representation of heritage, later wangero(Dee) left mad because she didn’t get to have the quilts and left without looking back and with a big smile Maggie and her mom stayed outside chewing on a dip of snuff. Dee, “angered by what looks like a life of oppression in her family, makes her want to change her past and construct a history of her own”(1) and she is so naïve as what it is to her heritage that she tries to forget where she came from and what her roots are. Bringing with her a new friend named hakim-a-barber that also changes his background to a muslin’s for similar reasons. Dee and hakim-a-barber have made attempts to leave their history behind and move on with their new identity. The other daughter Maggie who’s burned skin in both arms and legs meant that she has gone through a lot in her life and all those events have put so much pressure on her that she’s become so fragile and timid represented a strong woman fighting for survival between a mother that does not understand her and a sister whose thoughts are only about her health and what comes for her. “Mama Johnson is looking at Maggie “hard” and sees something in her …show more content…
The outdoors is a place of freedom whereas the interior of the house offers restraint and discomfort”. And it shows that the house would make her feel like she was in a cage not been able to move freely. As personal experience this is something that some or all the tens go through sometime having things to do at home and sometimes nothing but being at home all the time can suffocate us, this is why some go out to party and some just stay at front yard of their house. Important symbols exist throughout “everyday use”. While every symbol that was used in this story is different in its own way, most symbolize love between the families and generations, others symbolize the heritage that was left to them from their ancestors, and others represent the appreciation they once or still have for what they still have and for what comes next. All the characters that came out in “everyday use” such as Maggie, Dee, and Mama Johnson have had a great impact in this short

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