Everyday Use And My Papa's Waltz Analysis
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In Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use” and Theodore Roethke’s “My Papa’s Waltz”, both authors use their version of a parent-child relationship to convey feelings of disappointment, and romanization of their relationships, commonly through imagery and a large shift from a romanticized version of the parent-child relationship to the reality of a not so perfect parent-child relationship in both literary works that are contrary to the original thought of the stories. In Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use”, the protagonist, Mama, shows definite favor for her eldest daughter, Dee, over her youngest daughter, Maggie. Mama romanticizes Dee, through a vivid use of imagery, describing her body as something that is be preferred over Maggie’s body: “Dee is lighter than Maggie with nicer hair and a fuller figure…” (Walker 319). This quote shows how Mama favors Dee more than Maggie by pointing out her physical attributes like Maggie’s “… burn scares [that] [run] down her arms and legs” (Walker 318). Furthermore, Mama believes that Dee will be more successful daughter as she is the one who is pursuing a secondary education, and Maggie is not pursuing an education. Mama continually dismisses Maggie and treats her like an abomination, the daughter that she is ashamed of. Walker also uses irony to convey Momma’s eventual disappointment with Dee’s attitude towards her family. When Dee returns home from college she has completely changed her entire being, she adopted a new name, new mannerisms, and