Preview

Relationships In Everyday Use By Alice Walker

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
903 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Relationships In Everyday Use By Alice Walker
Mothers …some say, “You can’t live with them!” Our society cannot live without them. We would not be here without our mothers. However, many mothers have forgotten they were daughters first. Mothers and daughters have an interesting relationship. Throughout the years and in many cultures, mothers and daughters have had a symbiotic, co-dependency. Some are close relationships; others have a love/hate relationship .

In Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use”, the mother narrates this story about a conflict between her two daughters, Dee and Maggie, and herself . Mama describes herself as a hard worker that was able to do the work of men. She works all day outside. Mama mentions that she only went to 2nd grade in school. However her oldest daughter Dee was able to go to college. When Dee returns home, she has a new appearance and beliefs that are contradictory to Mama’s way of life. The conflict between Mama, Dee, and Maggie is manifested in a fight over who gets to keep the family quilts. …show more content…
The backstory involves Lorelai being from a prominent Hartford, Connecticut family who finds herself at odds with the expectations of her parents, Emily and Richard Gilmore. Lorelai was quite rebellious and becomes pregnant at the age of 16. The television series begins 15 years later when Lorelai needs her parents to help pay for Rory’s tuition to Chilton, a private school in Hartford. Emily agrees to pay for Rory’s tuition only if Lorelai and Rory agree to weekly Friday night
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    What Is Everyday Use Maggie's Heritage
    • 626 Words
    • 3 Pages

    What Is Everyday Use Maggie's Heritage

    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
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Everyday Use By Alice Walker Summary
    • 634 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Everyday Use By Alice Walker Summary

    This form of redemption takes place as an epiphany: You realize that what can save you isn't out there, but has been nearby all along, beside you, even in you, but never noticed, never heard, or never given a second thought” (Whitsitt 43). One instance of Dee’s attitude and loss of heritage is when they are all about to eat and she notices the hand-stitched quilts, which belong to Maggie, and demands that they be given to her. The attitude she has about wanting the quilts shows that she is a selfish person, and she obviously has no respect for her sister or mother or she wouldn’t have caused such an altercation. The quilts can symbolize many different events, but the true meaning of the quilts can only be decided from the readers’ past experiences. “The story shifts abruptly to the past tense immediately after Dee declares that she has changed her name. Up until now, Mama has been caught in the tension between her annoyance with Dee and her instinctive desire to be "the way my daughter would want me to be." Yet when Dee goes so far as to disown her family identity, Mama reaches a watershed”(Tuten…

    • 634 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Eveyday Use
    • 1185 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Eveyday Use

    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
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Everyday Use Analysis Essay Example
    • 1709 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Everyday Use Analysis Essay Example

    Alice Walker's "Everyday Use" is a short story about the clash between a mother and daughter. Dee is the child returning home to visit. The visit is not exactly pleasant and ends after a stand-off between her and Mama. Many readers see Mama as finally standing up for her own ideals while also refusing to conform to the rules Dee wishes her to follow. Dee follows different rules of society and religion than her mother does in order to become her own person. The rules Dee follows are shallow compared to the old-fashioned ways of her mother.…

    • 1709 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Mathilde vs. Dee
    • 622 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Mathilde vs. Dee

    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
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Everyday Use By Alice Walker Analysis Essay
    • 1375 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Everyday Use By Alice Walker Analysis Essay

    The story begins with Mama and Maggie waiting for the arrival of Dee, who had moved away to attend a college in Augusta. She was the first, and only one from her family to receive that level of higher education. Dee’s decision to attend school caused a deeper separation gap between her family and her. When Dee arrived, and is stepping out of the car, their mom observes…

    • 1375 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Symbols In Everyday Use
    • 617 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Symbols In Everyday Use

    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
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Everyday Use Character Analysis
    • 738 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Everyday Use Character Analysis

    Dee is a force in the family, but she is arrogant and condescending towards Mama and her sister. Dee, too, is full of resentment about everything. She hates the way she grew up. She hates their family home. She hates that her mother was more like a man than a woman. She hates that Mama and Maggie aren't as smart and "stylish" as her. Yet, when Dee becomes captivated by the “Back to Africa” movement, suddenly her family's own heritage becomes something popular rather than a source of embarrassment. She returns home demanding the family quilts not for sentimental reasons, but because they now considered “special” and is shocked when Mama denies her of them. Dee's potential narration would be a delusional one, as even she with her self-confidence denies her connection to her family, is swayed by society's views of culture and popularity and even takes on her own new persona as Wangero.…

    • 738 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Conflict over Heritage "Everyday Use"
    • 934 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Conflict over Heritage "Everyday Use"

    Alice Walker starts her story of "Everyday Use" by introducing Mama. Readers get a visual of a middle-aged woman outside on her front lawn waiting for her daughter to arrive. Mama 's appearance is conservative and very comfortable looking in her overalls or flannel nightgowns. It is explained that Mama is a "large, big-boned woman with rough, man-working hands. (107)" These descriptions of Mama make the readers of this story imagine that Mama is actually a real person with real feelings and emotions. Mama begins her dialogue by explaining that her daughter and she do not exactly see eye-to-eye. She explains this and also the differences between her two different in a comical mood, but also provides this information in a non-biased tone. Dee (Wangero) arrives in the middle of the story. Readers immediately distinguish that there are extreme differences between Mama 's and Dee 's appearances. Mama uses expression such as, "A dress so loud it hurts my eyes. (109)" and "I feel my whole face warming from the heat waves it throws out. (109)", to explain Dee 's appearance in Mama‘s eyes. In this Mama informs the readers that Dee definitely has a bright and very colorful sense of style. The differences in Mama 's and Dee 's appearance shows what kind of place Dee came from. It also shows how Dee 's appearance has changed considering how Mama reacts to her new clothing and hairstyle. Later in the story Dee shows herself as a person who acts like she is fully devoted to her new…

    • 934 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Sonny's Blues
    • 718 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Sonny's Blues

    In “Everyday Use”, Alice Walker depicts many differences between culture and present day life by using Dee and Mama. Dee is a materialistic girl that lives for a modern and innovative way of life. She only sees her African roots and culture as an appeal. Mama is Dee’s mother, who is an African woman that knows the significance of their heritage and appreciates the importanc of what it means to them. These two characters consistently have conflicting ideas on how they should incorperate their heritage in modern life. This was shown when Dee asked for the quilts that were made from generation to generation from Mama. Those quilts even dated back to the Civil War. The quilts are important because they are one of Mama and their family’s few treasures and Dee wanted to hang them up on the wall like a museum piece. At the same time Mama actually promisesd Maggie, Dee’s sister, the quilts. Maggie gives the quilts to Dee but Mama snatches the quilts from Dee’s hands to prevent her from taking them and hangs them. Mama and Maggie value the quits because they remind of family while Dee only cares for its artistic value. At the end of the story, Dee leaves with her boyfriend to college while Mama and Maggie simply cannot stop her and watch her depart. This scene shows just how much Mama wants Dee to appreciate her heritage but just cannot stop Dee’s…

    • 718 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Essay On Everyday Use By Alice Walker
    • 579 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Essay On Everyday Use By Alice Walker

    The preservation of one’s cultural history is something that everyone must decide how to handle. In the short story Everyday Use by Alice Walker, two characters have different ways of preserving their history and culture. Dee and Maggie, sisters, have different personalities, motivations, and views on society. This may seem unusual considering they grew up in the same house, and they were raised by the same person; one might compare these girls to two different sides of the same coin. Their different views on life alter the way each of them act.…

    • 579 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    English POV essay
    • 1094 Words
    • 5 Pages

    English POV essay

    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
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Everyday Use By Alice Walker Essay
    • 809 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Everyday Use By Alice Walker Essay

    Have you ever not seen eye to eye with your mother? In Alice Walker’s short story “Everyday Use”, we are shown how many of the choices we make and the things we value create our identity. This story focuses on two characters, mama and her daughter Dee (Wangero), who struggle to see the same way about their heritage. Dee wants the things made by her grandmother, to not admire it as an artifact, but rather to remake it. She wants to take them, and change them to match her lifestyle as it is today. She loves them for the way they look. Mama, on the other hand, views the things from her mother as artifacts. She loves the items more than how they look. She admires the quilts because of their everyday use. Transformations take place between these characters. Dee’s transformation is more external than it is internal. She shows her transformation in the way she speaks, the clothes she wears, and her judgement. Mama’s transformation is more internal. She begins to see Dee’s real thoughts, and she stands up against her. When she takes the quilts away from Dee, she doesn’t only stand up for herself, but Maggie, as…

    • 809 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Alice Walker Heritage
    • 951 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Alice Walker Heritage

    The story clearly endorses Mama's simple, unsophisticated view of heritage, and shows disdain for Dee's materialistic connection to her heritage. This is demonstrated from the outset of the short story, we learn very quickly that the mother (narrator) has inherited many customs and traditions from her ancestors. She describes herself as "a large big-boned woman with rough man-working hands" (485). She also describes here various abilities including, " I can kill and clean a hog as mercilessly as a man…I can work outside all day, breaking ice to get water for washing. I can eat pork liver cooked over the open fire minutes after it comes steaming from the hog. One winter I knocked a bull calf straight in the brain between the eyes with a sledgehammer and had the meat hung up to chill by nightfall." (485) While these feats are not extraordinary, Walker exemplifies what Mother has learned from her ancestors, and that being resilient and tough is a part of her heritage. Mother is very proud of her abilities and…

    • 951 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Reaction to Everyday Use
    • 1446 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Reaction to Everyday Use

    Everyday Use is a short story written by Alice Walker about a family of three, Mama, the narrator, Maggie her youngest daughter, and Dee, her eldest daughter. Both daughters are completely different, Maggie is a simpler person and Dee is high maintenance. Dee has always the home she was brought up in and everything to do with her childhood. She always wanted more and Mama gave her the best she could. One day, years after Dee has gone off to college, she returns to visit Mama and Maggie’s new home (the other had been burnt down when Dee was still living with them), and she brings along a man, possibly her husband. When Dee returns she has changed her name and has come hoping to retrieve certain family heirlooms. Walker uses different literary tools to tell this story in a way that makes the audience think about what she is trying to tell the audience.…

    • 1446 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More

Related Topics