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Symbolism In Alice Walker's Everyday Use

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First of all, one of the many things that reveal Dee to the audience, is the characterization of her. Dee is disobedient. “She’s dead.” Wangero said. “I couldn’t bear it any longer being named after the people who oppress me.” Dee doesn’t want to carry a part of white people’s identity, which is her name, even this name is a family tradition that goes back until the Civil War. Therefore she changes her name to something that represents her own cultural background. She is the only one in the family who refuses her birthname and the only one who wants to name herself on her own. This characterization displays Dee’s contumacious nature. Dee’s self-governing attitudes can be seen through her actions while the previous house of them was burning

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