Everyday Use By Alice Walker

The beginning of the story involved a lot of characterizing on the youngest sister Maggie. Before her older sister Dee arrived at the house, her actions showed that she was scared to see her sister. “Maggie will be nervous until after her sister goes: she will stand hopelessly in corners, homely and ashamed of the burn scars down her arms and legs, eying her sister with a mixture of envy and awe. She thinks her sister has held life always in the palm of one hand, that "no" is a word the world never learned to say to her” said the mother.

In the short story “Everyday Use” By Alice Walker, Mama’s personality is very critical of herself and her daughters. She often feels insecure about herself and unappreciated from Dee who she send away to Augusta for school. Mama is strong, loving and sincere and wants nothing but the best for Maggie and Dee. Mama comes from a poor family and worked hard for her children.

In the short story called “Everyday Use,” by Alice Walker, the mother daughter conflict theme is portrayed throughout the whole story. The oldest daughter Dee constantly believes that she is better than the rest of the family causing a family feud about who gets the cherished quilt. Dee has always been on a pedestal over her family and she soon finds out that it is no longer the case. Once she finds this out conflict arises. The biggest conflict lies between Mama and Dee. This is clearly illustrated by Dee’s high standards, selfish behavior, and lack of knowledge about her family’s heritage.

In “Everyday Use”, the major conflict is between Mama and her daughter, Dee. In this story, Mama has always felt an indifference toward her daughter, Dee. Dee was ashamed of her heritage because of this feeling a rift was placed in-between Mama, Maggie, and Dee. Mama even wishes to be on one of the TV shows were the child tells the parent how they would not be where they are without the help that their parents gave them (Walker 1).

“Everyday Use” by Alice Walker, is a story of a black family composed of a mother and her two daughters: Maggie and Dee. Walker does an excellent job illustrating her characters. There are all types of characters in this short story from round to static. Dee is a flat character, yet Walker uses Dee’s character to warn people of what might happen if they do not live properly. Walker describes Dee’s character as arrogant and selfish, and through Dee’s character one is allowed to perceive the wicked effect of an egotistical world.

From cultures to opinions, from sizes to emotions, many families have similarities and differences. These characteristics make every family special. One special family is in “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker. While having many difficulties, this family still focuses on heritage, similar to my own family that has its own difficulties. Comparing my family to the family in “Everyday Use” , we have similarities and differences regarding unity, helpfulness, and humility.

Maggie and Dee are absolute opposites of each other, therefore their mother attempts to keep the welcoming type of relationship between her two daughters, but the daughters continue to stay apart. When Dee came home with Hakim-a-Barber, “Maggie attempts to make a dash for the house, in her shuffling way, but I stay her with my hand.” Through Maggie trying to runaway from seeing her sister, it shows she does not want anything to do with her sister, yet the mother is making an effort in keeping them

The character of Mama in the short story “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker endures through intense times and takes advantage of what she has. She is a lady that tells things how they are, only plain truth. She can be entertaining now and again and intense at others. She is self-portrayed as “a large, huge boned, women with rough, man-working

Mothers are great people to have in young children’s lives. Maggie’s and Dee’s mother kills cows for them to have food on the table. She makes sure she can cook and be strong for her daughters. No matter what problem they have, their mama makes sure they are safe. Their Mama and mine share the similarities of how hardworking our mothers are. Since I am the first child, it was just me and my mother in one apartment where she worked two jobs to make a living. Then when my sister came along, my mother went back to college to get a better job. She put us before herself and she was just 30 years old. The mother in “Everyday Use” has a favorite child, and it is Dee. The difference between my mother and Dee’s mother is that my mother did not have a favorite. My mother treated her daughters with equal respect and equal amounts of

She only speaks when she if first spoken to throughout the story, and Mama believes that she is not as intelligent as Dee is. If Mama believed that Maggie intellectually on the same level as Dee, then she would have tried to give her the same advantages that Dee received. The town was able to raise enough money to send Dee to college but no efforts were being made to help Maggie if she wished to pursue college as well. The accident should have caused Mama to show more compassion and caregiving to Maggie, but instead, these feelings are just skipped over in Mama’s mind. Furthermore, Dee does not admire Mama’s way of life but chooses to appreciate her heritage more than Maggie or Mama. The need to know exactly where she came from and how far back their family goes seems to be of more importance than relishing the little time they had together. This greater appreciation is revealed in an situation when Mama’s greater love for Dee fell short: when Dee demanded the quilts. Dee believed that the quilts should be hung and admired and never used for warmth because of their significance. This argument subsided with Maggie telling Mama that she could give the quilts to Dee in order to satisfy her. Mama stands up for Maggie, maybe for the first time, and refuses to let Dee have the quilts. From this point, there is a chance for change

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

Momma's point of view defines how she feels about her daughters and the degrees of separation that exist between the two girls. Momma describes Maggie as a partially educated child who does not look as appealing as her older sister. Maggie was burned in a house fire that left her scared all over her body. She does not wear revealing clothes, nor does she attract men as Dee does. Dee, on the other hand, is described as an educated young woman who is ready to take on any and every adventure. Momma says that Dee used to read to her and Maggie without pity (94). She describes Dee as the stylish child; she always prepared dresses out of momma's old suits and is always up on the current style. Momma likes the different qualities Dee possesses, but she is slightly threatened because they are unfamiliar to her. From the description that momma gives of her daughters the reader can feel the differences that exist in her thoughts about her daughters.

Maggie the younger sister lived with her mother and liked the life of her living with her mother. Dee didn't like that poor old-fashioned life and she wants to be rich and to forget about this poor family and to live her actual way of life as an African-American. Mama liked their way of life and didn't want to change it and also Maggie liked it and didn't want to change it.

Maggie and Dee have completely different physical appearances than each other. Maggie has a thin body figure, and her arms and legs are scarred from the house fire. Maggie is jealous of Dee’s beauty, and she seems to be ashamed of the way she looks. Mama says, “Maggie will be nervous until after her sister goes: she will stand hopelessly in corners, homely and ashamed of the burn scars down her arms and legs, eyeing her

Mama’s issue seems to be her low-self-esteem. One example of this is when she describes herself of being man-like and large. “I am a large, big.boned woman with rough, man.working hands” (Walker, 5). The way Mama views herself physically affects her internally and the decisions she made in her life regarding both of her daughters lead back to her inner conflict. Mama tries to steer the readers away from herself because she doesn’t consider herself much of anything. However, the way she physically describes herself is not what she hopes to be. For example, in Mama’s dream, she is on a television show with her older daughter Dee and she is a hundred pounds lighter with nicer hair. “… a hundred pounds lighter, my skin like an uncooked barley pancake. My hair glistens in the hot bright lights” (Walker 5). This shows the inner struggle Mama faces with the way she views herself. Her insecurity has led her to want to look like other people; she does not particular like the way she looks but must endure it. Mama’s other issue is her lack of worldliness. Mama knows her place and knows not to look directly into someone’s eyes. One example of this is her fear