"Everyday Use" by Alice Walker is an emotional and poignant story that revolves around a poor African American family living in rural Georgia. The story is told through the mother's perspective, which allows the reader an inside glimpse at the emotions and complex relationships within the small family. Walker juxtaposes the characters of Maggie and Dee, two sisters, whose lives and attitudes differ immensely. The sister's lives diverge onto very different paths, Maggie staying at home with her mother and Dee going away to school. Walker illustrates the distance, both intellectual and attitudinal, between Maggie and Dee and between Dee and her mother when she writes, "she used to read to us without pity; forcing words, lies, and other folks' habits, whole lives upon us two, sitting trapped and ignorant underneath her voice," here Walker conveys the superior and haughty attitude displayed by Dee, as well as the resentment both the mother and Maggie feel towards her (699). By the end of the reading I found myself sharing the mother and Maggie's loathing for Dee and her self-centered and spoiled ways. And I was pleased to see Maggie and her mother triumph in the end by standing up to Dee and not allowing her to have things her way. To me this demonstrates the strong familial bond between Maggie and her mother, as well as how Dee's selfishness only serves to eventually alienate her from her family.
Works Cited
Walker, Alice. "Everyday Use." Literacies. 2nd ed. Ed. Terence Brunk et al. New York: Norton, 2000. 697-705.
2 comments:
This is an excellent blog, and I couldn't agree with you more on this part of your blog: By the end of the reading I found myself sharing the mother and Maggie's loathing for Dee and her self-centered and spoiled ways. I absolutely hated Dee by the end of the story.
I would not agree that Dee is selfish. What about her advice to Maggie: "You ought to try to make something of yourself..."? She is maybe materialistic, rude and sometimes wrong, but she is trying to build HER OWN life, she has her unique identity, her opinion. And in spite of all those mistakes, these are HER mistakes and she will learn and move on. The most of evil happening in the world is because of people who trust others and do not have their own opinion.
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