Everyday Use

In the story “Everyday Use”, Alice Walker explores the importance of culture and heritage, emphasizing that they should not be seen as mere history but as a living presence from the past. The narrative centers around the conflict between two African American cultures, personified by the two sisters, Dee and Maggie. Mama, their mother, is…

“Everyday Use” by Alice Walker, written in 1944, narrates the story of black family composed of a Mother and her two daughters: Maggie and Dee. Dee is the oldest one. A point that we can easily notice as the story is developed is that Maggie is extremely jealous of her sister. She believes that her…

By reading Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use,” the reader sees poetic language throughout the entire short story. With her use of poetic language, Walker confronts the dynamics of a Black American family, “Everyday Use” gives a portrayal of strong, single black woman who raised her daughters independently. Walker deepens the descriptions in this story by intertwining…

The story “Everyday Use” written by Alice Walker, a famous African American author, is a story where the whole meaning of the story is completely dependent on how different these two sisters are. Often time children raised together in the same household, then logic may dictate that these children will most likely have a similar…

Perhaps unlike any other country on Earth, the construct of race plays an integral part of our existence, Racial identity heavily influences one’s reality, worldview and lived experiences. More importantly, race is a fundamental element in how individuals perceive themselves and one another. Historically, the notions and perceptions associated with Black people and black culture…

A theme is a very important aspect to analyze in any story, A theme is an idea that is repeated throughout a story that holds meaning and importance. In a story, themes not only help the reader relate to text on a personal level, but also assist the reader in fully understanding the characters and…

How Far She Went (Mary Hood, 1984) and Everyday Use are both well written short stories featuring a mother figure who critiques the actions of a young woman. However, they differ in the manner that the reader is shown qualities of each character, with the former using an indirect method, and the latter employing a…

In the short story “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker is a story about a mother and her two daughters in which one comes back home to visit the family. The history behind the author is she is a highly acclaimed novelist. She experienced her first collection of poetry, in which was published in 1968. The…

Furthermore, having an education assisted in evolving Dee’s character socially. For example, when Mama talks about Dee in the beginning, she mentions how she was sure Dee hated them. Mama states, “I used to think she hated Maggie, too. But that was before we raised money, the church and me, to send her to Augusta…

In Alice Walker’s short story “Everyday Use”, we see the differences between the relationship a mother has with her two daughters. A surface level reading will reveal the obvious, that the mother finally ends up rejecting the ostensible values of the daughter she has always treated better than the other and as a result was…