What Do You Know About The Mother Of The Story Analysis

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.

2. When we have a first-person narrator, we have to decide if she is reliable or unreliable. Do you trust this narrator? Why or why not? I trust the narrator because she tells the story from her point of view and how she viewed things that she has experienced in her life. No other person can capture or tell a story for another person for they did not truly experienced their life for them.

3.
…show more content…
What assumptions does the narrator have about her daughters? Do you agree? Why?
Maggie who was severely burned as a child is very shy and is insecure about her appearances. Maggie is jealous of her sister Dee because she thinks Dee has been given an easy life. Dee who is the oldest sister is more confident and believes she is better than the living in which she endured. Mama takes this as Dee is rejecting her origin and her heritage. I agree with Mama because throughout the story Dee shows that she is ungrateful, but I also think that mother is overprotective of Maggie. Maggie can be much stronger if she wants to and can speak her mind, but I believe that the mother shelters her too much to where Maggie never had a chance to speak up on her own. 4. How would the story be different if it were told from Dee/Wangero’s perspective? I believe Dee/Wangero would have told the story as though she was better than her mother and sister. She would have stated that her mother and sister were probably fools for the way they live and that they were crazy for not trying to do “better” as if they do not live a happy life, but the mother and Maggie are very much happy for the way they live. 5. Mama and Dee/Wangero have different ideas about personal development. What are they? What are the consequences of their differences? Mama believes as long as you grow as a person while still loving who you are is a great achievement in itself. She believes that you do not have to change who you are in order to be happy, yet one daughter does not understand this and disconnects from her family. Dee believes that you should not accept the lifestyle and name in which your oppressor has given you and that you should accept your true heritage such as an African American should accept and live by the ways that of an African. Dee/Wangero truly does not understand her heritage and therefore does not receive the quilts from her mother (who offered Dee the quilts before she went off to college). Instead the mother gives the quilts to Maggie who she knows will use them in her everyday uses for that what the quilts were made for. 6. Based on your answers to all of the above, offer your opinion of Mama’s decision to give the quilt to Maggie. I believe that the mother did right by choosing to give the quilts to Maggie instead of Dee. Dee does not really appreciate her heritage. She is too ashamed of where she comes from, yet Mama believes that Maggie will appreciate the quilts and use the quilts in her everyday uses for that what was the quilts was made for. 7. How does Walker define heritage? Walker defines heritage as a family background that one shall not be ashamed of. Dee being that she has basically gotten everything that her mother could give her, she is ashamed of where she comes from so she tries taking on a new heritage by changing her name and the way she dresses, yet the new heritages in which Dee claims is empty because she does truly understand the obstacles and battles in which her family had to overcome in order for her to have the lifestyle

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Everyday Use Isn’t Just About Quilts Dee is the type of child who has always gotten what she wanted. Maggie is the child that has always been considered a sort of underdog. We learn these things about the two siblings as the story begins. The narrator, Ms. Johnson the girl’s mother, reveals this as the reader looks into her thoughts. She a tough woman who doesn’t draw a lot of attention to herself.…

    • 1202 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Maggie and Dee are near polar opposite girls. Raised under the same roof in the same manner, but still so completely different. Detailing why exactly that is, here’s my essay on the matter. Differences between Maggie and Dee can’t go without being noticed. Maggie is absolutely a more carefree, childish girl while Dee evidently considers herself a more “sophisticated” person.…

    • 390 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    " She thinks her sister has held life always in the palm of one hand, that "no" is a word never learned to say to her" [297]. Dee appears to be more materialistic than Maggie. She is said to be "lighter" than her sister and "with nicer hair and a fuller figure". Dee only wanted the nice items…

    • 269 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Second, Mama needs to stop letting Dee talk about Maggie. For proof, Every time Dee says something negative about Maggie, Mama should slap her. For more proof, Mama should not allow Dee to talk about Maggie, unless it is something positive. Maggie is the stronger sister, Dee is responsible for the house fire, and Mama needs to protect Maggie from Dee’s bullying. If Dee changes her attitude, her family will be happy.…

    • 429 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Maggie: A Girl of the Streets by Stephen Crane is a book that was written in 1893 that approaches the question of gender and class roles in the late nineteenth century America. Maggie, the novel lead, is a lonely character and the only one to ever truly love throughout the entire novel. Whether she was simply in love with the dream of a better life or actually in love with Pete is irrelevant. The girl was a dreamer, and she dreamed only of escaping the harsh world she was destined to live in since her birth. As an immigrant in New York in the late nineteenth century, Maggie and her family were all in line to follow the immigrants before them.…

    • 1407 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Everyday Use Theme Essay

    • 1349 Words
    • 6 Pages

    In the short story, “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker, she develops her characters in the story by using a sense of rejection to bring out who they truly are. When someone feels as they aren’t welcome and aren’t the same, it can push them to pursue something different or want to change how they are perceived. Although not all of the characters in the story changed, but they all have felt denial and disdain, in one form or another. I believe Alice Walker used this sense of rejection to show how the characters really felt and show their development into who they became.…

    • 1349 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Maggie And Dee

    • 615 Words
    • 3 Pages

    However, being so different, the two sisters are also similar in a few ways. They both are interested in their heritage and want to learn more about it. Maggie stayed home to learn more about her heritage, while Dee went away to school to learn more about it. “While most readers see Mama and Maggie as having a "true" sense of heritage as opposed to Dee's false or shallow understanding of the past, both Mama and Dee are blind to particular aspects of heritage” (Farrell). Both sisters care tremendously for their mother and their mother cared deeply about both of them.…

    • 615 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Several critics have pointed out how Mama describes herself and Maggie as victims, and Dee as a selfish, insensitive person. According to Wayne Booth, author of The Rhetoric of Fiction, explains that “the fact that Mrs. Johnson is both narrator and character … has a powerful effect on our perception of Dee” (Booth). It is fair to say that Mama and Maggie’s characters do make you feel sympathy for them; however, I’m sure no one wants to be them if they had a…

    • 1765 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    When siblings grow up together and are raised in the same family, people tend to think they will grow up to have common traits and similarities, however, this is not the case in the story “Everyday Use” as Maggie and Dee end up being very different. By using the Psychoanalytic Theory the following conclusions were made. Sisters, Maggie and Dee, were raised by the same mother, but end up having two very different personalities and actions. Their adult personality is the result of the emotional experiences they had while growing up. Maggie is very quiet and shy and Dee is outgoing and outspoken.…

    • 352 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Maggie is a story of the progression and effects of poverty and oppression. The narrative is predominantly based on the perspectives of a brother and sister who both face difficulties stemming from their upbringing, social standing, and life choices. A particular scene that stood out among others was when Maggie returned to Pete, and he was ashamed of her; therefore, he cast her away saying “Oh, go teh hell” (Crane, 45).…

    • 388 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Maggie who is not as smart as Dee seems to be more like her mom who didn't get the education she wish to receive. “Sometimes Maggie reads to me. She stumbles along good-naturally but can't see well. She knows she is not bright” (l. 77-78).…

    • 348 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Dee was a girl who liked pretty things, and got her educated. Dee’s mother got the money by raising money and church. Dee was lighter and with nice hair and fuller figure comparing to Maggie. While she was going to school, she started using big confusing words towards her family to make them feel like…

    • 472 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    She understands that heritage and memories are more than what can be held in one’s hand. “I can ‘member Grandma Dee without the quilts.” (321) Perhaps she just didn’t like conflicts, but every story needs a hero, and by her stepping up to the plate, having been portrayed as the dumb one, the author uses her offer as a transitioning point in the story. Mrs. Johnson was now going to have to make an outright decision as to what she was going to do. The small voice of Maggie served to intensify the tone of the…

    • 795 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Mama Everyday Use

    • 693 Words
    • 3 Pages

    1. The story is mainly told in first person, and Mama is the story teller. Mama is the mother of both Dee and Maggie. Her physical characteristics consist of being black, large, and big-boned. This black woman is unlike any other in that she voluntarily takes on tasks fit for man and enjoys them.…

    • 693 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Since, Maggie is a burnt victim, this highlights her personality as being afraid, embarrassed and a quiet person. First, Maggie is afraid of life; she is not prepare for the real world. There is a reason why she still lives with her Mama. The fact she has little education make her more afraid and a depended of her mother.…

    • 813 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays