This point of view contributes to this story is multiple ways. Mama narrating this story helps to give the reader insight into the past of the characters. Mama was there for everything that happened in the lives of her two daughters, Dee and Maggie. She knows their personalities and how they feel about their heritage and lives. As a result of Mama’s knowledge of these important details, Mama is able to add a contrast between the past and the present.
However, only one out of the two sisters cares about her family more than herself. This is how Dee is different from Maggie and vice versa. There are a few similarities between Dee and Maggie. For instance, they both grew up in the same house (until Dee went to Augusta for schooling). They both would have had the same parents.
Since Dee became angered and defensive, this cause her need for attention to increase. She went off to college to impress her mother who only had a first-grade education. Dee wore beautiful clothes to impress her sister and to embrace her African heritage. She wants her sister to look up to her, and that is why she gave advice to her at the end of the story, so that she could be a role model for Maggie. Dee show that she wants her mother to proud of her because she is trying to fight the oppression her mother was just used to.
She has been like this, chin on chest, eyes on ground, feet in shuffle, ever since the fire that burned the other house to the ground”( 78 Walker). Dee has been always a good looking girl with neat feet, nice-black hair and a fuller figure and light weighted than Maggie. “ She was determined to stare down any disaster i n her efforts” ( 79 Walker). We can realize that the sisters were not alike and that they maybe did not have anything in common. But grandma Dee left them something special as her old quilts.
Dee is the daughter that gets everything she wants all the time. Dee manages to always look fashionable and keep up with the latest trends. Mama tells us that Maggie “thinks her sister has held life always in the palm of her hand, that ‘no’ is a word the world never learned to say to her.” She seems to be very materialistic and thinks she can have anything that she decides she wants. In lines 186-187, Dee says “That’s it! I knew there was something I wanted to ask you if I could have.” Dee knew the answer would be yes before she even asked.
In this case, a thought coming from Maggie herself is being described. She thinks of Dee as the sibling who has been always spoiled by her mother. The sibling whose mother is proud of her, but Maggie can’t get think the same of her. This means that Maggie’s envy towards Dee shows that a sister-relationship doesn’t exist between them. The other influential factor is her mother, for always comparing Maggie with Dee.
Maggie is a static character. She is shy and timid and remains that way throughout the entire story. Her motivation in the story is wanting to have the same opportunities or lifestyle as her sister. Maggie is a round character because she is affected by her environment. Maggie is jealous of her sister-She thinks her sister has held life always in the palm of one hand , that “no” is a world the world never learned to stay to her.
The point of view in the story “Everyday Use,” by Alice Walker plays a big part. Throughout the story, one of Mama’s daughters came to visit. The way Mama and Maggie see her is not in a very pleasant way. In fact, they are scared to tell her no when it comes to anything. From Mama’s perspective Dee seems like this rude, stuck up, spoiled child because she had the opportunity to go out and expand her education, while Mama and Maggie continued to live their lives on the farm.
The family leads a hard working, simple and minimalistic life that allows them just enough to get by. Mama is described as a “large, big-boned woman with rough, man-working hands” (Walker 418). Her day to day life doesn’t allow for the high standards of her eldest daughter Dee. Dee is described by Mama as being unappreciative and bratty. Mama makes is clear that the family’s socioeconomic status would never be good enough for the eldest daughter.
One could believe that this story is not about Dee/Wagnero coming home to visit but about Maggie who was the girl throughout the story who seemed humble and was thankful for just being able to be with her Momma. “Everyday Use” shows many different sides of the story from Momma point of view. It shows the love and fear a mother has the unconditional love for their child and always supporting them through any of their decisions or the fear of change that their child maybe going through. Alice Walker wrote this to inform her audience about a mother who has unconditional love for their children even if they do not appreciate or appreciates what the mother does for