Alice Walker's "Everyday Use Essay

There could have been many reasons Dee was the way she was. Had the roles been reversed, and Maggie was the better - treated child, would she have turned out like Dee? Maybe Dee’s privileged childhood is what had caused her to be so stuck - up. Or maybe it had just been her personality working with her education. Regardless, Mama saw how Dee was and began to become disenchanted with her. She learned to appreciate the loyal and kind child she had at home with her, instead of worrying about Dee

` Although Mama stood up for Maggie during the attempted claiming of the quilt when Mama describes Dee we can see that she almost excuses Dee for being the way she is. This notion is made apparent as Mama starts by describing

Likewise, Walker compares Dee and Maggie directly and indirectly through her use of similes and metaphors: “Maggie’s brain is like an elephant’s.” (Walker 130)Dee, who came from the same family as Maggie went out into the world and came back as a changed person. Her new found knowledge of the world led her to believe that her heritage is materialistic. Unlike Dee Maggie’s sense of culture has not been tainted by the other world, Maggie believes in her way of life as the culture they belong to. Walker uses Mama to present the challenge of maintaining one’s heritage.

Before discussing each sister’s point of view on heritage, one must first touch on their characters since it influences their personal definitions of the topic. Mama begins her narration in the yard, where she and Maggie are waiting for “her.” “Her” is later named Dee, who is coming home for a visit. Mama establishes Dee as her more educated daughter filled with confidence and sophistication, and someone who is not afraid nor hesitate to look anyone in the eye (Walker 1). She further portrays her eldest as a goddess-like woman with lighter skin, “nicer hair and a fuller figure” and feet that “were always neat-looking, as if God himself had shaped them with a certain style” (2). Mama creates distance by introducing Dee simply as “her.” Though this may be the case, there seems to be a kind of admiration in her tone as she describes her eldest

Although the reader is blind with the disrespect Dee is portrayed of having, the whole story is in Mama’s words and thoughts. Mama portrayed Dee to be making fun of her heritage and being disrespectful, when really that is what Mama thinks. In the beginning of the story Dee was taking pictures of the house. Mama might have thought she would show her friends these pictures to speak negatively about, but Dee might have loved what the house looked like and wanted to show it off. By reading Susan Farrell’s re-evaluation, Farrell makes me realize that Mama is disappointed in herself. Mama is jealous of Dee because Dee is secretly what Mama would like to be. Farrell point out to the reader that Dee could be the sweetest person in the world and care so much about her family and heritage, but the reader would never know because the reader just sees what Mama sees. The reader assumes Dee is thinking exactly what Mama is thinking, and that may not be the case. In the end, Mama shows some of the same traits she admired about Dee. While eating dinner Dee shows much interest in the benches made by hand and the churn and top made by her Uncle Bobby. Then Dee becomes attracted to the quilts in the other room. Even though there are multiple

She has lived the experience of being a black woman at a time when this meant double jeopardy or dual discrimination, and she remained strong. Interestingly one could argue that Walker reflects herself in all of her characters in this short story to an extent - there is a "Dee" and a "Maggie" and a "Mama" side to her that she expresses through their voices, words, actions and persons. Perhaps what this story presents, therefore, is the different sides of ourselves that we all have - for every confident person has a shyer side, and so on.

When Walker introduces Dee her outer appearance give an idea about her personality. “The dress is so loud it hurts my eyes…I feel my whole face warming from the heat waves it throws out (Walker 473). Walker’s use of imagery describing Dee’s looks indicates what the reader should expect about the personality. When Dee’s see the simple life her mother and sister are living she shows off her wealthy and modern life. But mama accepts her appearance, she accepts because of her success and for the values education she upheld. Maggie feels jealous and envy seeing her sister live a wealthy life but she does not accept it Walker shows that in her expression “Uhnnh. As mama interacts with dee throughout her visit, she learns that her daughter has changes

She refers to her ability to “kill and clean a hog as mercilessly as a man” in a boastful and proud way. She knows her past has shaped her to be the woman she is and is at peace with the individual she has become. Her eldest daughter Dee is a polar opposite to her mother who, from an early age, has rejected the life and circumstances in which she was brought up. We are made aware of this through Mama referring to the time their first house burnt down and that Dee “hated that house.” As a child Dee wanted to make a different life for herself, she wanted nice clothes, nice shoes, and she wanted an education, something her mother lacked. She showed disdain for her surroundings in the way she read to her mother and sister by “forcing words, lies, other folks’ habits, whole lives upon us two.” Further reinforcing Dee’s rejection of her past was Mama remember Dee telling her and Maggie that she would always visit the family home, but she will never bring her

“Dee is lighter than Maggie, with nicer hair and fuller figure.”(Page 49 paragraph 2:52) Dee is well-educated and Maggie is not that bright. Again Dee is self serving; Maggie is humble. Dee really does not respect where she comes from until she comes down from college after years to visit her mother and sister. When she come visit her perspective on heritage, motivation, and personalities change. Maggie on the other hand stays static through the whole story.

Mama and Maggie love Dee, because she is a daughter and sister, but like any family, there is conflict between these characters. Mama shows Dee as someone who others were “impressed with her they worshiped the well-turned phrase, the cute shape, the scalding humor that erupted like bubbles in Iye” (Wakler, p.29) but also as someone who criticizes deeply and without hesitation. Dee was constantly searching for the meaning of her life, whether it was through clothing or social life, but in doing so, leaving her family behind. With Dee running off to begin her life, she left wounds with Mama and Maggie, so that in her return, there would be friction. Mama and Maggie searched for Dee’s approval and even admired her for chasing life so fervently, despite that they both had chosen to live simple lives at home, but Dee does not care for giving her approval nor she does care that her mother and sister want it.

In reality it is her family heritage that defines who she is. In addition to the conflict amongst their personalities, Dee also wants to take two of the quilts in Mama’s trunk. This prompts Maggie to stomp out of the house, which is the first show of raw emotion we see from her in the story. Mama tries to explain to Dee that the quilts were already promised to Maggie and Dee is outraged. She cannot fathom why her mother would let Maggie have the quilts.

In the beginning of the story, Mama dreams that she and Dee are finally reunited on a television show. “Sometimes I dream a dream in which Dee and I are suddenly brought together on a TV program…but of course all this does not show on television. I am the way my daughter would want me to be” (pg. 104). In the dream Mama is slim and fair skinned, but in reality, she is large with working hands. Mama feels like she doesn’t live up to what Dee wishes she was like. She wants to make Dee happy, and this shows later on in the story when she tries to make her other daughter, Maggie, stay and get along with Dee when she comes. “Maggie attempts to make a dash for the house, in her shuffling way, but I stay her with my hand. “‘Come back here,’ I say. And she stops and tries to dig a well in the sand with her toe.” (pg. 105). When Mama sees Dee’s new Afrocentric identity, she tries to accept i. For

According to the story, Mama described each one of her girls- referring to Maggie as the more caring and family oriented one, and Dee, as the more assertive, yet educated daughter. In the story, Dee is returning to her hometown, with a friend who she referred to as, Hakim-a-barber. We are not sure if

When Dee socialized with people who grew up differently that she did it was like everything her mom had taught her was wrong. “You ought to try to make something of yourself, too Maggie, it’s really a new day for us (Walker). But from the way you and Momma still live you’d never know it (Walker). When Dee came home from college both Momma and Maggie noticed the difference in her, the way she walked the way she dressed, and the way she was toward them. Mama disapproves of the strange man’s presence and is equally disapproving of Dee’s dress and appearance (Walker). Dee wanted to get enough evidence of her family heritage because she was so strong headed that her family had slavery roots and she wanted to show that off to everyone. She tried to take her moms top of her churn where she made butter including the quilts, she never took shots of them without making sure the house was included (Walker). Dee also decided to change her name from Dee to something that wasn’t slave-name related to

The reader can also learn about the girls from how they treat others. Just like everything else, they are opposites. Dee "would always look anyone in the eye. Hesitation was no part of her nature"(92) while Maggie walks "chin on chest, eyes on ground, feet in shuffle"(94). Mama also knows that while her sister is there Maggie will be nervous and "stand hopelessly in corners, homely and ashamed of the burns scars down her arms and legs"(92). While Maggie has always felt inferior, Dee seems haughty and kind of has a superiority complex. Dee is also implied to be manipulative. Dee would read to her mother and Maggie knowing it was literature beyond their comprehension just so she could show off. "She used to read to us without pit; forcing words, lies, other folks' habits, whole lives upon us two. She washed us in a river of make-believe, burned us with a lot of knowledge we didn't necessarily need to know"(94). The phrase "She read to them" is repeated when talking about Dee around her friends and boys that wanted to date her (95). However, in this context, it is hardly