ALICE WALKER - EVERDAY USE

Alice Walker - Everday Use



Alice Walker - Everday Use

In the short story, "Everyday Use", Alice Walker uses everyday articles that are the principle focus of the story and are discussed with great detail. The author reveals the emotional response of the characters in the story to these objects, to contrast the simple and implicit with fashion and craze. The main characters in this story are the narrator, "Mama," and the daughter, Maggie on one side; the other daughter, Dee, is on the other side.

All have antagonistic views on the worth of the different objects in their lives. Alice walker uses this conflict to make the point that the value of goods and people is more important than style. Dee is characterized as a controlling sibling who always wants to be the center of attention and is often referred to as the mistaken child.

Dee's sister Maggie is a shy girl who was the victim of a horrible house fire that left her with unpleasant burns. The two sisters are polar opposites in the way that inner beauty verse outer beauty is a factor. Dee of course has the outer beauty, as where Maggie is the one with the inner beauty. "A reader condemns the older, more worldly sister, Dee as 'shallow,' 'condescending,' and 'manipulative,' as overly concerned with style, fashion, and aesthetics, and thus is lacking a "true" understanding of her heritage" (Walker, Alice. 2001). Mama is the narrator who is in the middle of both of the sisters. Mama admits that Dee was a mistaken child and falls more kin to Maggie. Mama is characterized as a "big-boned woman with rough, man-working hands" (Walker, Alice. 2001)

Although nothing is said about Mama's husband, it is obvious that Mama has taken over the job of keeping the house and property up. Walker says that the two daughters mirror her own internal struggles as Walker had when she was a child. (Washington) Throughout this essay, I will prove that Dee gets caught up in material possessions that will, in turn, lead to her downfall. Dee never liked Maggie, and Maggie was always terribly afraid of Dee. The reader understands Maggie's fear when they ironically catch the feeling that the house was set on fire by Dee because she constantly talked about how much she hated the house. "Dee, I see her standing off under the sweet gum ...