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Walker Everyday Use
Alice Walker explores the emergence of Black pride and empowerment in "Everyday Use." Through the contrast between the two sisters Dee and Maggie, the author illustrates the social transformation from oppression to civil rights. The narrator of the story, a hard-working mother, watches as her two daughters grow up in to strikingly different women. Their differences are emblematic of the political changes taking place throughout the African-American community in the early 1960s. Dee, who comes home from school one day with a new Africanised name, criticizes her mother and sister for being "backwards" and for denying their "heritage." Her youthful zeal is both ironic and immature, as it is really mama and Maggie who remain closely connected to their family traditions.
Tradition and family is symbolized in "Everyday Use" by the quilt. Quilts are tapestries pieced together of patchwork from discarded garments or pieces of what would otherwise be scraps. To mama and Maggie, the quilts are practical items. Their sentimental value is poignant but in an everyday, concrete way. Mama and Maggie's values are simple, their goals mundane yet uplifting at the same time. Dee, on the other hand, is full of spunk and ambition. She views the quilts as if they were anthropological artifacts, remnants not of her grandmother but from some lost civilization. Dee, renamed Wangero, wanted to hang the quilts on the wall like art. Her desire parallels her creative streak and her wacky way of dressing.
The conflict of characters in "Everyday Use" helps Walker execute her central theme of the remarkable changes taking place in the Black community in America. Dee offers hope that the next generation of African-Americans do not live with the scourge of poverty. However, her hopes are not necessarily grounded in reality and the author portrays Dee as being idealistic and naive. Maggie remains close to her mother and to the day-to-day realities of Black life in America. Through their contrast, Walker suggests a balanced, realistic appreciation for African-American life.
Walker's "Everyday Use" examines a generation clash a family. What Dee (Wangero) implies mother sister " understand" "heritage"? Why suddenly important Dee? Part II: O'Brien's "Going After Cacciato" focuses experience Paul Berlin Vietnam War. Walker's "Everyday Use" Alice Walker's short story "Everyday Use" depicts the two very different life paths of the daughters of the main character. The mother's older daughter Dee is a very ambitious young woman, and the mother notes
Instead, Wangero continues to only see that her name is a reminder that African-Americans were denied their authentic names. "I couldn't bear it any longer, being named after the people who oppress me" (53). Walker is not by any means condemning the Black Power movement when she challenges Wangero's viewpoint. Instead, she is questioning that part of this movement that does not acknowledge and, more importantly, respect the scores of
Everyday Use by Alice Walker The thematic richness of "Everyday Use" is made possible by the perceptive, and flexible voice of the first-person narrator. It is the mother's viewpoint that permits the reader to understand both Dee and Maggie. Seen from a distance, both young women seem stereotypical - one a smart but rather ruthless college girl, the other a sweet but ineffectual homebody. The close scrutiny of the mother redeems
'" (Walker, 236) The making of the quilts is another symbol for the way in which the daughter and the mother differ in their views of tradition. The quilt is also strongly associated with the African-American tradition and therefore all the more significant. While the mother and Maggie are capable of actually making the quilts, Dee or Wangero is obsessed with having them and possessing them as a symbol of her
Everyday Use by a. Walker Order Alice Walker There have and are well-known authors that literature students are introduced to and discussed because of the intensity, reasons, persona, and literary devices that the authors add to works they publish. Using writing techniques, like Alice Walker has done in "Everyday Use" she originally wrote in 1973, she sets the scene from a place in her time when she was living life and facing
Dee is not interested in family history; she is interested in making an artistic statement. The discussion of the butter churn is merely a prelude to the big event over the quilts. The quilts are sewn together of fabrics from ancestors' clothing. This association makes them important reminders of family to Maggie and Mama. However, these two see the practical or everyday value of the items as well. Mama intends