Self Identity In Alice Walker's Everyday Use

(Walker 1229). Dee also shouts, “She’d probably be backward enough to put them to everyday use.” (Walker 1229). The mother feels shocked, and takes the quilts away from Dee. The mother knows that Dee will never value the old quilts.

It was Education that separated Dee from her family, but it has also detached Dee from a true sense of inner self. With arrogant ideals and educational opportunities, one can loss the sense of heritage, family, and self. These feelings can only be provided by family. What was problematic is the story was that Dee has no admiration for anything around her but herself. This resulted in the alimentation from her family and ancestral roots.

She says, " If for thy father asked, say thou hadst none; And for thy mother, she alas is poor, which caused her thus to send thee out of door (22-24). Begging for forgiveness from her readers she suggests that she just did not have the talent to amount to her own expectations. Most could never imagine the feeling of your soul; unfiltered and genuine being displayed for the world to see and criticize. Anne Bradstreet 's poem gives a unique innuendo into both her personal character and our own. It lends a voice to the emotions she experiences throughout her ordeal and gives the reader opportunity to relate emotionally to her

In the short story “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker. Dee thinks it is okay to separate from her family heritage. Dee shows ignorance and shame to her culture. She abandons her past with her family by changing her name, telling her family ”Not Dee, Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo!”(61) She had no appreciation toward anything she had growing up.

(O’Neill 948). Mary was very much ashamed of her home and her husband hated calling people and receiving them. She also states that her husband never wanted a home so she never had no place to attached herself to and a place to be comfortable

I would have been free!" (240). This event showcases that when Ammu begins to focus on her own wish to be free of society’s constrictions, she no longer can prioritize the needs of her children, and in fact begins to view them as a

Just something she had grabbed up to drape her dreams over” (Hurston 72). Janie figures out that Joe is not the man she had married when the “image of Jody tumbled down” she begins to understand that Joe was not at all significant to her because he never cared for her and instead he was a bad influence. Janie figures out that he “never was the flesh and blood figure of her dreams” the life she desires of with Joe Starks, is an allusion and Janie’s dreams are once again crushed. Janie is deceived by Joe because he represents empty dreams for Janie, he was a “drape [for] her dreams” Joe took advantage of Janie and manipulates her to do excessive labour for him in the store and constantly silences her. Furthermore, Joe Starks never treats Janie with respect as he views her as an object and spends his time commanding her.

The imagery of the ‘sour air’ encompassing her represents a miasma of rejection from society, who pressure her to conform to a single way of life. Whilst some say that looking through a Bell Jar gives her a distorted perception of society and the pressure she receives is a fiction of her own imagination, one must look only at her relationship with her mother to realize she is victimized by her harsh society. In specific it reminds us of the toxic environment set up by her mother who tells her "I knew you'd decide to be all right again". It’s shocking to the reader who is able to sympathize with Esther’s clear internal struggles, yet her own mother sees it only as a nuisance. The extended metaphor within this novel and the fragmentary structure we so often see in Plath’s work presents the depth of mental disorder but more importantly brings a harsh light to the society that never understood or even tried

By this point, Ophelia has lost her father and Hamlet. It becomes clear she is questioning her choices at this point and deeply regrets certain actions taken. Allison A. Chapman, in her article titled “Ophelia’s ‘Old Lauds”: Madness and Hagiography in Hamlet,” discusses Ophelia’s spiral to demise. Chapman points out that “trying to submit to her father and to be a good potential wife for Hamlet has brought her nothing” except “shattering grief and madness” (Chapman 123). Looking back, Ophelia remarks, “how should I your true-love know/

She then wish her “babe had ne’er been born”, this phrase suggests how regretful and sorrowful the woman is as she was unable to work, and no welfare was provided at the time. She also couldn’t ask her friends for help as the society was very rejecting towards single mothers. Instead she needs to weep and beg “on a stranger’s knee”. However, the main reason she regrets having the child is due to the state and condition she is currently in. The child would not be be nurtured in a decent living standard and may be harmful to the child’s childhood.

In “Everyday Use,” by Alice Walker the story brings a theme about sister rivalry. The two sisters, Maggie and Dee think differently about their culture, making them become apart from each other. Maggie is the shy and nervous sister while Dee is the confident and selfish sister. The quilt is what they valued different because it was a symbol for heritage for Dee ,but Maggie knows her heritage and she can remember it. The story makes the sister realizing their own self by having a conflict about the quilt.

Alice Malsenior was born in Eatonton Georgia on February 9, 1944 she being the eight and youngest child of Minnie Tallulah grant and Willie lee walker, her parent were sharecropper. When she about eight years old her and brother were playing with BB guns her brother accidently shot her in the eye, leaving her blind in her right eye. Considering that happening, she became a shy person and she felt like individuals really did not understand the person she was. In result to that, she fell in love with ready and writing, especially poetry. As she got older, she went on to Spellman College in Atlanta Georgia.

Alice Walker’s short story “Everyday Use” involves a conflict between two sisters and their desire for a family quilt. Each sister has a reason for wanting the quilt but Maggie deserves it more. She needs it because she will use it unlike Dee who will hang it up for others to view. Dee was being conceded when she said, “Maggie can’t appreciate these quilts,” when really, she is the one who would never appreciate them. Maggie will use the quilts “for when she marries John Thomas” as Mama said.

To what extent does someone's culture inform the way they view that world and others? I think that culture consistently informs the way people view the world and others. Let's hope that everyone is supportive of their culture. In the short story, “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker, Maggie is a great example of someone that support her culture and informs the way that she sees the world and others.