Tension In the short stories “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker and “Two Kinds” by Amy Tan, the main theme involved is the prolonged tension between mother and daughter that threatens their relationship and strong bonds. In the story “Everyday Use”, Dee argues with her mother about family heritage. In “Two Kinds” the mother pushes her daughter to be the best pianist she could be, but the daughter misunderstands her mothers strict methods as harsh and severe. The mothers will to push her daughter to the limits cause their relationship to break down with the lightest chance of revival. Although the relationships between mother and daughter in both of these stories are distinctive, tension between mother and daughter results in a weakened bond between
…show more content…
Dee and her mother rarely got along with one another in the past so their relationship is pretty much on its last limbs. When Dee shows up at their home during a break from school, Maggie and their mother are taken by surprise. Mama dreams of there reunion as one worthy of being televised, but when the reunion actually happens Mama’s dream doesn’t turn in to a reality. When Dee comes home, she wears a bright orange dress and has changed her name to Wangero, claiming that her new name has more significance then her birth name that was passed down four generations. When Dee gets settled in, she asks her mother if she could have the butter churn top, and her mother agrees too, but when Dee asks her mother for the quilt Mama, grandmother and aunt made she refuses. This is the first time Mama has told Dee no about anything, but she couldn’t take it anymore and refused because she had promised them to Maggie. This adds even more fuel to the fire and causes an argument where Dee debates that Maggie could never take care of the quilts the way she could, but what Dee doesn’t know is that the quilts are meant to be used and thats how Mama justifies giving them to Maggie. An education barrier causes most of these problems between Dee and Mama. Dee was fortunate enough to be provided higher education whereas her mother only was in school until second grade. Because of this barrier Dee tends to act as if she is
Dee and her mother rarely got along with one another in the past so their relationship is pretty much on its last limbs. When Dee shows up at their home during a break from school, Maggie and their mother are taken by surprise. Mama dreams of there reunion as one worthy of being televised, but when the reunion actually happens Mama’s dream doesn’t turn in to a reality. When Dee comes home, she wears a bright orange dress and has changed her name to Wangero, claiming that her new name has more significance then her birth name that was passed down four generations. When Dee gets settled in, she asks her mother if she could have the butter churn top, and her mother agrees too, but when Dee asks her mother for the quilt Mama, grandmother and aunt made she refuses. This is the first time Mama has told Dee no about anything, but she couldn’t take it anymore and refused because she had promised them to Maggie. This adds even more fuel to the fire and causes an argument where Dee debates that Maggie could never take care of the quilts the way she could, but what Dee doesn’t know is that the quilts are meant to be used and thats how Mama justifies giving them to Maggie. An education barrier causes most of these problems between Dee and Mama. Dee was fortunate enough to be provided higher education whereas her mother only was in school until second grade. Because of this barrier Dee tends to act as if she is