She is concerned with herself and she seems to only come home to take things back with her, including things like a butter dish and dasher. When she decides she wants the quilts, she sees no reason why she should not have them, noting "Maggie can't appreciate these quilts!" (1427). Mama suddenly realizes how selfish Dee is when she thinks she deserves certain things because she thinks she can appreciate them more than anyone else can. She moved away to become enlightened and returned a snob. She wants to use every experience, past and present, to enhance her feigned future. She does not care about her family in the least and Maggie's handing over the quilts demonstrates this to the fullest. "Everyday Use" should remain in the literary cannon because of Walker's unique style. Walker presents realistic characters and embellishes her stories with symbols that help drive her points home. The quilts are an important symbol because they represent heritage and how each girl responds to that notion. Maggie's "defects" are also a symbol of her seeming lack. Elisabeth Piedmont-Marton writes, "Maggie's own scarred body resembles the faded patches of the quilt, where stitching resembles healing. She is literally making something of herself everyday, just like she and her mother make things everyday" (Piedmont). Maggie is likened to "a lame animal, perhaps a dog run over by some careless person" (Walker 1423) and she hangs her head as she walks. She is "not bright" (1423) while Dee is outgoing and lovely. Maggie appears to be the weakest person in the story but she emerges strong. We might be drawn to Dee initially but we soon learn that the old adage of judging a book by its cover is true. Each daughter's view regarding the quilts cause mama to see them in a new and honest light. Mama realizes this as she places the quilts in Maggie's arms. She is...
Walker examines family ties that grow stretched and strained after neglect. Dee secretly despises where she came from but also loves the fact that she overcame her oppressed life. Her shame is a stark contrast to Mama and Maggie's desire to stay right where they are. Heritage, too, is one of those things that Dee can be proud of as long as she does not have to be mired in the thick of it. She wants to be on the outside looking in as demonstrated with her desire to hang the quilts on the wall as opposed to using them for that which they were made. These issues will always be relevant in our society because we are human. Dee was not wrong for wanting a better life; however, she was wrong for harboring such a resentful attitude toward those she left behind. Sometimes the desire to be better and achieve destroys humanity. Maggie is one of those types of people that society will overlook because she is not lovely or outgoing but she demonstrates that being lovely or outgoing are worthless if one does not have the humanity to respect others.
Life Lessons in "Everyday Use" and "The Story of an Hour" Man never seems to learn everything he wants because it seems with every generation, the same lessons need to be learned all over again. Experience is the best teacher, as we all know, but it is interesting to see how some things have changed over the years while others have not. Modernity allows people to have more freedom, as we
Cultural Impacts in Everyday Use The objective of this study is to examine the work of Alice Walker entitled "Everyday Use" and the how culture impacts values and material objects and the manner in which culture in reality impacts people and their lifestyle. The work of Alice Walker entitled "Everyday Use" examines the connotations of culture on material objects. The story involves a woman named Dee who is disgusted with what she
After reading the short story, “Everyday Use”, one can get the impression that educational backgrounds can affect the way an individual will grow up. The narrator’s education did not go far because in second grade, because her school closed. Therefore, she grew up working instead of learning to be able to take care of herself and her children. On the other hand, her daughter, Dee, grew up with education and went
And, of course, the main reason why I cited this passage, the images used to give Maggie some "roundness" as a fictional character, the fact that she is compared to a lame animal, an injured dog. The reader finds out that she was burned badly in a fire. The point that Walker is driving home is, Maggie and Dee come from the same place, but are, indeed, two different
All of this is done with a specific purpose in mind: "The landlord told all the people who were in the inn about the craze of his guest, the watching of the armor, and the dubbing ceremony he contemplated" (Cervantes, chapter III). To the innkeeper and his guests, Don Quixote's imagination is a spectacle and a way for them to entertain themselves at someone else's expense. They do not
There was a great deal of lively discussion about certain sentences, and students enjoyed spotting obviously outrageous, unsupported opinions presented as facts in some of the newspaper articles. Comparison The lessons that used group activities seemed to generate the most student excitement and involvement. The written poetry lesson plan that encouraged the most student creativity and personal engagement seemed to be the most exciting for the students, and felt the least
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