Everyday Use Literary Analysis

Improved Essays
The story “Everyday Use” was published in 1973 and written by African American Womanist, Alice Walker. She is more famously known for her book, “The Color Purple”, but “Everyday Use” is in no way inferior. Throughout her books themes of struggles in black communities and how they affect African American women is a recurring idea. In some sense it is like an autobiography because she has lived through many situations in her books. The author likes to write about the struggles of black women, and how violence and racism against African American men has a trickle down effect to them. “Everyday Use” is different from her other stories in that she is just looking at the relationship of three women, not men. The story “Everyday Use” is Alice Walker’s …show more content…
All of them have different personalities and throughout the story Alice Walker shows how they react with each other and how family doesn’t always get along harmoniously. The narrator of the story is the mom of the two sisters. At the beginning of the story the mother dots over Dee, even imagining herself with Dee on a tv show, but as the story progresses and she sees how full of herself Dee is, and how willing Maggie is to put up with it so in the end she says no to Dee who wants quilts which are supposed to be Maggie’s marriage gift. The mom is described as “a large, big boned woman with rough, man working hands.” She even goes on to say, “I can kill and clean a hog as mercilessly as a man”. She is shown as a strong character with a bias to see both her daughters through rose colored …show more content…
The difference in appearances and names of the two sister actually symbolizes their personalities and ideals. For example, Dee’s new name which she tells her mother and sister “”No, Mama,” she says. “Not ‘Dee,’ Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo!”... “She’s dead,” Wangero said. “ I couldn’t bear it any longer, being named after the people who oppress me.””. This symbolizes Dee’s willful nature, but it also shows her lack of understanding of what she's doing. While she changed her name to become closer to her African ancestors, and to get rid of the racist shackles that plagued her, she inevitably distanced herself from her family. Dee’s whole way of dressing makes her stand

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    1. What do you know about the mother of the story? Mama is the narrator of the story who is a rather large lady who works very hard to support her family. She is brutally honest of both her daughters, Dee and Maggie. She also seems resentful of Dee’s education since she fantasizes about them reuniting with her on a television show where Dee is very appreciative of her.…

    • 916 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the story "Ordinary Use," by Alice Walker, the plot is extraordinarily impacted by Maggie and Dee, the two little girls of the storyteller. In spite of the fact that they are sisters and are brought up in a similar situation, Maggie and Dee are altogether different from each other; they think and act unmistakably. In addition, their clashing characters fill in as images to pass on the general subject of the story. From the earliest starting point, the storyteller uncovers the distinctions in the characters of Maggie and Dee. In this way, it is extremely hard to pinpoint likenesses between the two.…

    • 776 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Sisters from Story Everyday Use Alice Walker in her short story Everyday Use, published in 1973, brought us into house of Mrs. Johnson, black women living in the rural part of country. We are visiting her in the same time as her older daughter Dee. Through the mother’s eyes we see how her two daughters, although born and raised in the same house are different. They are different not only in their appearance, but also in their approach to life, family, everyday objects even their heritage. Unlike Dee, Maggie still lives in her mother’s house.…

    • 839 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    She is in search of something personal; something to which she feels connected, as she references the quilts being “….pieces of dress Grandma used to wear.” (Walker 320). In the beginning of the story, Dee is presented as an individual who is embarrassed of her history, as well as her family. The changing of her name is very significant, as it shows her to have now embraced who she is, and where she comes from. The quilts give Dee the chance to reconnect with something she has always been ashamed of, and even wanted to keep hidden, her…

    • 1054 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Family members share much of the same things in life. Children are born to the same mother, raised in the same house, and experience many of the same hardships. Dee and Maggie were born to a poor life that was filled with hardship. And, as they grew older their experiences led them down separate paths with separate mindsets. Dee and Maggie lived in a home that a was no better than a shack and had a hardened mother who worked through hard labor to provide.…

    • 731 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    However, there may be a deeper root to this problem; the switch from Dee to Wangero is fairly drastic and sudden, and must have had another reason. A theory that is common today with many kids who grow up to be nothing like their parents is that once they have control of their life, they make every effort to not be like their parents; they even go to extremes. This may be because of their desire to be their own person, or maybe because of another influence in their early life. ‘Wangero’ claims to have switched her name because she “couldn’t bear it any longer, being named after the people who oppressed [her].” (Walker 4)…

    • 1312 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    How a Mother sees her Daughters’ In “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker, Walker shows how a mother sees differences in her daughter’s characters. The mother has two daughters that she sees very differently. One daughter looks down on the way they live and how they lived, and the other is shy and kind. Walker shows that in relationships between a mother and two daughters can be challenging with the changes that happens when one leaves home and the other stays and grows up at home.…

    • 520 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Raising fists, protesting, bleeding, sweating, and crying, are just a glimpse of what you would witness back in the 1960s as African Americans were fighting to gain equality in America. In the short story “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker, the readers travel back to this time period where they meet an African-American family, Mama, Dee, and Maggie, who are trying to keep their legacy alive. Throughout the story Walker shows that Dee has a different way of viewing and respecting her heritage than her mother and sister do, which leads Mama to reject Dee’s way of thinking. To start, Dee seems to have a negative view of her family members. Dee is the only one in her family who was able to get a full education, which was due to Mama and their family’s church raising money to give her that magnificent opportunity; however, it is clear that Dee lacks much appreciation of it.…

    • 1356 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Now, on the other hand, Dee is what you would call an attractive woman. She has nice hair, a full figure, and takes care of herself in every aspect. For example, when their mother sees Dee, she explained, “Even her feet were always neat-looking.” In regards to their physical appearances, the contrast between the two is of a girl and a woman. To continue, the sisters possess exceptionally…

    • 520 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Both author’s of the stories “ The Red Convertible” and “Everyday Use” show the relationship of two different siblings. In “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker, you meet two siblings that are the complete opposite: Dee and Maggie. Dee is very selfish, egocentrics, and vain. As for Maggie, she is level headed, timid, and mellow. These sisters have a nonexistent relationship and could not compare to the story, “ The Red Convertible” by Louise Erdrich.…

    • 1191 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the 1970’s the African Americans made changes in their lives. They decided to finally live out their heritage instead of being ashamed for it. Alice walker’s acquainting short story “Everyday Use” exposes the misunderstanding of some of the 1970’s black society for its heritage through the character of Dee by her prideful and arrogant attitude. When Dee was younger she was not proud to come from her black heritage.…

    • 765 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Dee thinks that by changing her name to a more African name she is connecting with her true heritage. However as Mama explains, is the exact opposite of what she is doing, because her actual name, Dee has been passed down by many people within the family and has a great meaning in the family. In addition, Dee thinks that because the quilts her family has made are so precious they should be hung on walls, when the true reason the quilts were made was for everyday use. Mama and Maggie realize heritage is what their family has passed down to them, not what their name is or what they wear and how they dress. Dee is just trying to fit in with what she thinks is right.…

    • 819 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Strong, intricate characters are the very basis of every successful story or novel. It’s no wonder that the authors of these stories create powerful characters that evolve as the reader progresses through the story. For these reasons, characterization plays a tremendous role in not only the development of the story, but also the continued interest of the reader. As the readers, in order to achieve the full effect of characterization, we must pay close attention to the detail the author reveals about his or her characters in the way he or she presents them. We often miss the hidden meanings that these characters possess, which is why it’s crucial to dive deep into the character’s personalities and behaviors.…

    • 733 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Author Alice Walker, American author and feminist; or perhaps better known as a ‘womanist’, portrayed the varying aspects of her own life through the characters she detailed in “Everyday Use”. It can be argued that each character represents a different time in her life. At a young age she was timid and self conscious similar to Maggie, which she then divests as she becomes a confident young woman like Dee. Walker shared an odd, fragmented relationship with her own daughter, almost parallel to the one shared between Dee and the mother in the story. Many of the differences between the two stem from conflicting beliefs and differing preferences.…

    • 833 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    While away at school, Dee constructed a new heritage for herself and disowned her real roots. She returns from college with a new identity, and a new man. Dee believes that her name was adopted from white-culture; this makes her want to change her name. She takes up the name Wangero, and introduces her self as such. Dee does this, knowing that her name comes from a long line of women in her family.…

    • 758 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays