Conflicts in “Everyday Use” by Alice walker
The short story appropriately named “Everyday Use” was written by Alice walker, a proud African-American author and activist. In this short story the character Mama is the character shown from many different angles making her the round character. She’s portrayed as a strong individual, not only mentally but physically as well. She’s a single mother so being physically and emotionally strong comes in well fitted. There may be controversy on who is the flat character of the story, but for the sake of trucking along we’ll point out possibly the least accepted character to be a hindrance to others, Maggie. Maggie, being one of the two mentioned daughters of mama, is a sweet, kind-hearted, simpleminded …show more content…
As for supporting characters there is Dee, who is arguably the most accepted flat character due to her arrogance and condescending attitude towards other people. The other supporting character is Asalamalakim, who insists Mama should call him Hakim-a-barber for ease. To the rest of the analyzers Hakim might be the flat character as well because his presence makes everything have an awkward feel for everyone. Hakim-a-barber is portrayed as a Muslim “wanna-be”, practicing very ignorant and stereotypical exercises, he insists on not eating collard greens or pork, but Mama recalls the Muslim that she lives fairly near to don’t actually put this into practice and is might just be more of a volunteer exercise. “Everyday Use” takes place in Mama’s house within the late 1960’s or early 1970’s a time of turmoil between African-American and the Caucasians, where African-Americans and striving to reformulate themselves and gain a political status in the American Society. The plot the story unravels the ignorance of the entire family towards their heritage’s history and education. Promptly the readers begin see the following conflicts: Man vs Man and Man vs Himself, where …show more content…
Maggie was hesitant to greet her sister and her partner. Maggie intended on running back into the house to prevent being seen. This forces Mama to grip Maggie and push her to be polite. At this point it is clear Maggie is not fond of the idea of seeing Dee and Barber, and this causes an awkward feel to arise in the situation, where as if Maggie was just a little more inviting she wouldn’t be a wall for anyone to cross over. Barber tries multiple times to get on the good side of Maggie, but she rejects him each time eventually making him give up on her entirely. This did not help because Mama already didn’t like Barber’s attendance here, but now the situation was awkwardly enhanced with this little quarrel between these two on the side. Maggie wasn’t only a problem for Barber, but for Dee and Mama as well. With Dee its clear Maggie is jealous and envious of Dee all while being at awe with her as well. When Dee asks Mama if she could keep the quilts, Maggie was the reason why she wasn’t allowed to have them. Maggie is seen in very few ways, and one way is that she’s easily intimidated, and because of this, she is more likely to be the conflict for everyone. When Maggie frailly offers the quilts to Dee, this made it even harder for Dee to have
The short story appropriately named “Everyday Use” was written by Alice walker, a proud African-American author and activist. In this short story the character Mama is the character shown from many different angles making her the round character. She’s portrayed as a strong individual, not only mentally but physically as well. She’s a single mother so being physically and emotionally strong comes in well fitted. There may be controversy on who is the flat character of the story, but for the sake of trucking along we’ll point out possibly the least accepted character to be a hindrance to others, Maggie. Maggie, being one of the two mentioned daughters of mama, is a sweet, kind-hearted, simpleminded …show more content…
As for supporting characters there is Dee, who is arguably the most accepted flat character due to her arrogance and condescending attitude towards other people. The other supporting character is Asalamalakim, who insists Mama should call him Hakim-a-barber for ease. To the rest of the analyzers Hakim might be the flat character as well because his presence makes everything have an awkward feel for everyone. Hakim-a-barber is portrayed as a Muslim “wanna-be”, practicing very ignorant and stereotypical exercises, he insists on not eating collard greens or pork, but Mama recalls the Muslim that she lives fairly near to don’t actually put this into practice and is might just be more of a volunteer exercise. “Everyday Use” takes place in Mama’s house within the late 1960’s or early 1970’s a time of turmoil between African-American and the Caucasians, where African-Americans and striving to reformulate themselves and gain a political status in the American Society. The plot the story unravels the ignorance of the entire family towards their heritage’s history and education. Promptly the readers begin see the following conflicts: Man vs Man and Man vs Himself, where …show more content…
Maggie was hesitant to greet her sister and her partner. Maggie intended on running back into the house to prevent being seen. This forces Mama to grip Maggie and push her to be polite. At this point it is clear Maggie is not fond of the idea of seeing Dee and Barber, and this causes an awkward feel to arise in the situation, where as if Maggie was just a little more inviting she wouldn’t be a wall for anyone to cross over. Barber tries multiple times to get on the good side of Maggie, but she rejects him each time eventually making him give up on her entirely. This did not help because Mama already didn’t like Barber’s attendance here, but now the situation was awkwardly enhanced with this little quarrel between these two on the side. Maggie wasn’t only a problem for Barber, but for Dee and Mama as well. With Dee its clear Maggie is jealous and envious of Dee all while being at awe with her as well. When Dee asks Mama if she could keep the quilts, Maggie was the reason why she wasn’t allowed to have them. Maggie is seen in very few ways, and one way is that she’s easily intimidated, and because of this, she is more likely to be the conflict for everyone. When Maggie frailly offers the quilts to Dee, this made it even harder for Dee to have