Crafting a well-developed character in a short story takes extreme talent. Compared to novels, where, in some cases, authors may use chapters to build someone’s profile, a single sentence can make or break the strength or weakness of a person’s personality. Authors have to utilize dialogue, diction and tone of their creation to display the traits of the characters. In Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use,” she constructs Dee Johnson’s character based on the emotional descriptions and anecdotal content from her mother’s point of view. Mrs. Johnson is preparing for her daughter’s arrival. In some cases, a parent may be excited or hopeful for their child to return from school. They cannot wait to bask in the presence of a person they raised, and they are interested to hear what new adventures or stories their child may have to share with them. Mrs. Johnson seems she is preparing for scrutiny, as she describes how clean she has made the yard for her eldest daughter. Dee’s shy sister, Maggie, seems fearful of her return. It is clear it is deeper than …show more content…
She cannot bear the fact that something did not go how she wanted it to. She is not remorseful about the way she treats her family, and it is clear her happiness is more important than being a sensible person with emotions. As she left, Maggie finally cracked a smile, a sign of peaceful rejoice of Dee’s departure. It is unfair the way Dee has always alienated her family, and it is uncertain where she gets her conceited attitude from. In essence, Alice Walker displayed Dee Johnson as careless, vain and selfish. Dee showed no true emotion to her family, as if they were not related. She was only worried about things that made her happy and did not care what bridges she burned receiving that happiness. Alice Walker used a great deal of dialogue and intriguing diction to show how complex Dee’s personality
Dee still has yet to educate her family but counties to make fun of them and chastise them about not having the cognitive ability that she us. Dee moved toward other traditions and went again her own traditions involving her on family, in resulting in quest if trying to link into her “African
Ms. Johnson then introduces a new character who will be arriving at the home shortly, Dee. She is Ms. Johnson’s other daughter who is described as having a less than ideal relationship with her family. Dee is described by her mother as independent and fearless, differing from her sister, Maggie, who is portrayed as awkward and less attractive than her sister. When Dee arrives, she is wearing a flamboyant dress and looks put together. Ms. Johnson displays shock when she sees her daughter, and is even more shocked to hear that Dee has changed
Looking at the story with Dee telling it would allow access to her thoughts so that the reader can understand why she is the way she is. It would allow the reader to access the deeper meaning to certain actions she takes and why she says the things she says. The point of view in a story determines so much for the reader including their feelings towards a certain character, in this case,
Dee is also really selfish which makes her have tension between her family since she only cares about herself. Throughout the story, there were a lot of conflicts between Dee and her family which shows with the quilt incident, butter churn controversy and lastly different views on heritage. One of the main conflicts in Everyday Use is the quilt incident. The conflict started when Wangero (Dee) came out with two quilts that had been pieced by Grandma Dee and big Dee.
She doesn 't know how hard life is with her sister and mother. Dee only cares about what she wants and she talks down on her family. She believes her sister could not use the quilts in a way she thought they should be used. " Maggie can 't appreciate these quilts!" she said.
Maggie has a very bad relationship with her bigger sister Dee with jealousy and hatred. Mama always thinks that Maggie lives an unfair life but Maggie never said that. “Maggie asked me mama when Dee ever had friends” (Walker, 317, 14), this quote shows how Maggie is jalousie from Dee, actually dee has friends. When Maggie sees stuff she doesn’t like she hides it and doesn’t talk but when she knew that Dee wanted to take the quilt that mama promised to give her she dropped the plates and smashes the kitchen door very hard.
In conclusion,Alice Walker used two characters to carry out a deeper meaning of a short story. It showed similarities and differences to my family, and the family in “Everyday use”. Also it show how maggie and Dee are two very different characters. Maggie and Dee didn 't share a bond with each other throughout their,but I am glad my brothers and I
People always suggest others to be themselves. To not care about what others have to say about you. People try to ignore society 's opinion about them, not realizing the importance it plays in identity. For a person to feel identified, they must have similarities or differences, and some type of involvement. Identity involves a combination of how you see yourself and how others see you.
Then we are on the stage and Dee is embracing me with tears in her eyes.” Her dream shows how the mother dreams of a better relationship with her daughter than the one she has. Dee seems to be embarrassed by her mother and where she comes from. The author shows this when she talks about the burning of their house. She seemed happy to see her house burn down, “Why don’t you do a dance around the ashes?
A simple powerful story of a rural family that contains a returned changed daughter leaves a family in surprise. “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker demonstrates that the theme of the story that consists different views of heritage by using literary elements like characterization, imagery, and settings. Each literary element holds a strong value to define the meaning of heritage from different perspectives of the characters. Alice Walker demonstrates it by Mama, Maggie, and Dee by how they each value their heritage by the things that they have left from their ancestors. To start of with, characterization is the highlights and explanation of the details of a character (“Definition and Examples of Literary Terms Characterization”).
In the beginning of the story the narrator who is the mom is waiting for her daughter named dee. She waits in the garden with Maggie. She knows that Maggie and dee do not get along. She imagines a big nice family reunion in her head.
In the short story, “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker, their are two distinct characters who are very different from each other. These characters have many different motivations, personalities, and points of views with respect to preserving their heritage. The narrator, Mama, looks at them both with different views. Dee and Maggie are two completely different people. Dee has different motivations than Maggie.
Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use” illustrates Dee’s struggle for identity by placing her quest for a new identity against her family’s desire for maintaining culture and heritage. In the beginning, the narrator, who is the mother of Dee, mentions some details about Dee; how she “...wanted nice things… She was determined to stare down any disaster in her efforts… At sixteen, she had a style of her own: and (she) knew what style was.” Providing evidence to the thesis, she was obviously trying exceptionally hard to find for herself a sense of identity. She wanted items her family couldn’t afford, so she worked hard to gain these, and she found a sense of identity from them, but it also pushed her farther away from her family.
In the short stories we have read there have been numerous themes. The impact of tradition, the value of heritage, the importance of family, the divide between social classes, and the presence of love are all ideas that can be found in the stories we have read. Short stories have managed to encapture the importance and true meaning of life in just a few sentences by imposing on the readers themes we can all relate to. A common theme presented in Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use” and Toni Cade Bambara’s “The Lesson” is the power of knowledge and education. In “Everyday Use,” two sister Dee and Maggie have different views on how they should preserve and honor their heritage.
The Two sisters are raised the exact same way, but have two different effects on the way they want to express their now different cultures. Maggie wanted to express her culture in the way that her mother taught it, but Dee wanted to express her culture differently because she wasn’t appreciative of the one she was raised in. Dee was not happy with the farm life; she chose the city life over it. Her family ashamed her as she explains that she changed her name, “I couldn’t bear it any longer, being named after the people who oppress me.” (Walker 63).