Every Day Use And Miss Brill
There is a lesson that can be learned about differentiating between fantasy and reality from the two short stories "Everyday Use," written by Alice Walker, and "Miss Brill," written by Katherine Mansfield. Dee and Miss Brill both lived in a fantasy world.
In the story, "Everyday Use," Mama was a big-boned woman with work-worn hands. Mama's extra weight would help insulate her during the winter months. Maggie, her daughter, was rather plain and simple. She had burn scars all over her body and walked like a three-legged dog. Dee, her other daughter, was light-skinned with pretty hair and a stylish figure. Dee came to visit one day and was wearing a long dress accompanied by allot of African jewelry. Dee did not want to admit her roots came from a poor family. Whether or not she was comfortable in that dress, she had to be socially acceptable, now that she was college educated. She went into the house and started taking things without even asking permission. When she started to grab the quilts, Mama stopped her and told her she had already promised Maggie the quilts. Dee threw a fit and mentioned that Maggie would probably use them instead of displaying them for their aesthetic value. Dee showed that her idealistic values meant more than the everyday needs of her family.
In the story "Miss Brill," the main character Miss Brill seemed to have no family. She was very naïve and did not communicate with anyone. On Sunday, Miss Brill would visit the park, and, in her mind, the people there would be in a play, in which she too, was an actress. She would eavesdrop on other people's conversation, thinking this gave her an active part in the discussion. She lived alone and had an odd relationship with her mink stole. She would use old-fashioned words like "sweet" and "dear" to an object that did not have life. She spoke of the stole's sad little eyes, instead of dead glass ones. Perhaps she was speaking of the stole's sad eyes as if they were her own, sad and alone. Miss
In the story, "Everyday Use," Mama was a big-boned woman with work-worn hands. Mama's extra weight would help insulate her during the winter months. Maggie, her daughter, was rather plain and simple. She had burn scars all over her body and walked like a three-legged dog. Dee, her other daughter, was light-skinned with pretty hair and a stylish figure. Dee came to visit one day and was wearing a long dress accompanied by allot of African jewelry. Dee did not want to admit her roots came from a poor family. Whether or not she was comfortable in that dress, she had to be socially acceptable, now that she was college educated. She went into the house and started taking things without even asking permission. When she started to grab the quilts, Mama stopped her and told her she had already promised Maggie the quilts. Dee threw a fit and mentioned that Maggie would probably use them instead of displaying them for their aesthetic value. Dee showed that her idealistic values meant more than the everyday needs of her family.
In the story "Miss Brill," the main character Miss Brill seemed to have no family. She was very naïve and did not communicate with anyone. On Sunday, Miss Brill would visit the park, and, in her mind, the people there would be in a play, in which she too, was an actress. She would eavesdrop on other people's conversation, thinking this gave her an active part in the discussion. She lived alone and had an odd relationship with her mink stole. She would use old-fashioned words like "sweet" and "dear" to an object that did not have life. She spoke of the stole's sad little eyes, instead of dead glass ones. Perhaps she was speaking of the stole's sad eyes as if they were her own, sad and alone. Miss