You May Also Find These Documents Helpful
-
Mariyam Butt Prof. Camila Alvarez ENC 1102 MW 8:00-9:15 AM 26 September 2015 899 Words Essay 1 Characterization: Without a Second Thought Culture, tradition, and values: Does a baby learn about heritage from a mother’s womb? The knowledge of heritage initially develops as a person becomes aware of the family importance. More or less, “heritage” does play a significant role in shaping one’s personality; nevertheless, life does not always revolve around it. The fancy desires and colorful world leads to materialism. Thus, the environmental influences add a lot more to it.…
- 968 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
Alice Walker's "Everyday Use" is the story of a woman, referred to as Mama, and her two daughters, Maggie and Dee. Mama and Maggie live together in their small home in a rural area. Dee has gone to college in a big city and is coming for a visit. Maggie is painfully self conscious, "chin on chest, eyes on ground, feet in shuffle" with scars on her body from a house fire. Dee has always been scornful of her family's simple way of living and has been greatly influenced by her time away. Walker uses Maggie to explore the ideas of a family's heritage and history and, by contrasting her with Dee, voices a concern that in our search for our roots perhaps we are losing important aspects of our heritage.…
- 626 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
Maggie is physically and mentally scarred. Physically because the fire that had took place at the old house and mentally because of the opportunities that were given to her sister. Her older sister Dee was beautiful and confident and she had gotten to go to college and live life. Maggie is highly self-conscious. In “Everyday Use”, her mother compared the way she walked to that of a lame dog that had been run over by a car. Ever since the fire, Maggie had begun to walk with her chin on chest, eyes on the ground and feet in a shuffle. She had communication apprehension when it came to pretty much talking to anyone. Maggie had to accept the country life and endured a much more difficult youth than Dee. Despite her personality, Maggie still lived a justly satisfied and concrete life. She goes on sharing everyday chores between her and her mother. In the end, Maggie is just a modest girl living a submissive…
- 867 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
As the story begins, Maggie and her mother are extremely proud of who they are and where they come from. Dee, on the other hand, seems somewhat embarrassed to have the background of an African American. Maggie’s mother refers to her as “a large, big boned woman with rough,…
- 634 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
Dee, the eldest daughter, has ventured from the rural world she grew up in but never felt a part of. The story is set in the context of her returning home for the first time since she left for college. Maggie the younger daughter has never left home. As the story unfolds Dee's motives become apparent. She has come home to retrieve objects from her former life that are meaningful to her. She plans to incorporate them into her décor. Mama relates her sad attempt to find value in her family and claim her inheritance.…
- 1185 Words
- 5 Pages
Good Essays -
In the story “Everyday Use”, Dee is portrayed as a girl who “made it”. She was seen by her mother and Maggie as a talented girl. Her only flaw was her selfishness towards her younger sister Maggie. In the story, she pays a visit to Maggie and her mother and have dinner. After dinner, Dee goes rifling through a trunk and two quilts catch her eye. She demands her mother to hand them to her. Although they were to be passed onto Maggie, she allows Dee to keep the quilts. In the end, Dee gives the quilts back.…
- 622 Words
- 2 Pages
Good Essays -
With Mama being the mother of Dee and Maggie, she has already experienced a generation of their heritage before them. She has gone through tougher situations than they have. Mama has already been taught everything they will end up learning. She was able to go through everything before her daughters, which gives her prior knowledge, first-hand experiences, and lessons to spread the topic. Maggie displays a better understanding of the family’s heritage than Dee.…
- 617 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
In Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use,” Mama, the narrator of the story, is rather distant with her daughter Dee and dreams about reconciling with her on a television show. Specifically, she imagines Dee expressing gratitude for all that she has done for her, while embracing her (Mama) “with tears in her eyes (Walker 315).” It is obvious that Mama doesn’t understand her daughter’s life choice to adopt an African lifestyle and feels that Dee is rejecting her origins and family. Furthermore, the reader can see that Mama has a troublesome relationship with Dee by the amount of tension between them. This strained relationship becomes clear when Dee “went to the trunk at the foot of (Mama’s) bed and started rifling through it (Walker 320).” The narrator…
- 578 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
Walker allows the reader to see the story from Mama's point of view granting the ability to view both sides of how Maggie and Dee express their heritage. From the lines of the story Mama states," Pressed us to her with the serious way she read, to shove us away at just the moment, like dimwits...Often I fought off the temptation to shake her."(Walker 154), demonstrating her negative view of Dee. From Mama's point of view, Dee is yet to understand the true meaning of heritage shown by her lack of appreciation for her family. Mama grows to dislike how Dee treats her family and how she automatically believes she is superior due to the fact that she receives an education as the other members did not have this opportunity. From Mama's stand point in this story the reader is able to see the attributes that she does not like about Dee, and understand her decisions later in the narrative for these reasons. On the other side of the siblings, Mama's perspective reveals Maggie's short comings by pointing out how she is overly submissive and shy. The reader can clearly see that Mama grows to favor Maggie due to how quiet and compassionate she was growing up learning things from Grandma Dee as she grew. Maggie grows up in the shadow of Dee, but only because of how Dee would always take away the attention which leads Maggie to grow up more…
- 1094 Words
- 5 Pages
Better Essays -
The short story “Everyday Use”, by Alice walker, begins with a family of three: Maggie, Dee, and “Mama”(there mother). The author never reveals her actual name. However Dee being old enough to attend college leaves off to college. When she comes back from college, she begins to express herself in different ways, a way that is more liberal. By the authors description she is dressed differently, she talks differently, she even changed her name to Wangero. However she starts gathering things that her mother and her sister, Maggie, owned to express her heritage, she has the wrong idea of heritage, her heritage lied in her own name passed from her grandmother to her aunt to her. the name that she carried, Dee, was passed along for three generations, which she didn’t realize. The author shows symbolism and point of view throughout the story through the family’s name,Dee, the quilt, the house, and the mother explains the story where the author uses point of view. The objects that make Dee the person she is, are disrespectful, selfish, and self-centered.…
- 832 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
Heritage is important to most families because it is a value that is inherited, passed down from generations to generations. It includes inherited traditions, objects, culture, customs and practices. In the short story “Everyday Use”, Alice Walker explores this aspect of heritage with emphasize on the value of cultural heritage in the African American community in the late 1960s and in the early 1970s. The setting of “Everyday Use” took place in post-civil era when the African Americans were trying to find their own identity, which resulted to the formation of The Black Power Movement. The Black Power Movement was not only formed for social, economic and political change among African Americans but also to empower them to shun away from slavery…
- 1569 Words
- 7 Pages
Better Essays -
The short story “Everyday Use”, written by Alice Walker, is about an African-American mother and her two daughters. In this story, the character’s differing attitudes toward the quilts and other objects in the household become critical points of conflict. The main idea, the attitude, and cultural…
- 47 Words
- 1 Page
Satisfactory Essays -
The everyday use by Alice Walker was a good story. I thought that the characters were well described. The mother trying to make honest work. Almost belittling herself on what she can do because of other people don’t do it themselves. Almost modest at some points. The daughter Maggie being shy but did what her mother told her to do. I liked the mother. The other sister Dee very selfish. Kind of thought her as not liking what her mother did for a living, didn’t care about the heritage. But made a fool out of herself to like the little things for the man. I thought the mother character at the end was brilliant. That she could only have one. I identified with the mother at the most.…
- 280 Words
- 2 Pages
Satisfactory Essays -
Alice Walker's modern classic "Everyday Use" tells the story of a mother and her two daughters' conflicting ideas about their identities and ancestry. The mother narrates the story of the day one daughter, Dee, visits from college and clashes with the other daughter, Maggie, over the possession of some heirloom quilts.…
- 393 Words
- 2 Pages
Satisfactory Essays -
In the Alice Walker’s story “Everyday Use”, two sisters portray their contrasting family views on what they perceive to be heritage. The idea is that a quilt is a part of this family's history. They aren't just parts of cloth put together to make a blanket. The quilt symbolizes their ancestors' lives and tells a story with every single inch of cloth.…
- 608 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays