Literary Analysis “Everyday Use” In the story “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker, there are three main characters. The mother, youngest daughter Maggie, and Dee, the oldest daughter who is trying to leave her past behind while attempting to find herself and her African heritage as she thinks it should be. There has always been an unspoken jealousy between Mama and the oldest daughter. Dee is seeking a way out of the poverty and oppression of the times, so much, that while she was away at school she had changed her name to one that has an African meaning while omitting any trace of her current true history. Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo is Dee’s new name.
Twyla says that “my mother won’t like you putting me here”. Then Twyla is talking about that her mother has told her “that they never washed their hair and they smelled funny. Roberta sure did. Smell funny, I mean,” the assumptions one might make from this is that Twyla’s mother have a racist view about the other race, however this tell very little about which race the protagonists has. On the other hand during the first meeting between the protagonist’s mothers, it is Roberta’s mother who acts in a racist’s way; instead of shaking Twyla’s mother’s hand she looks down at both Twyla and her mother then grabs Roberta and walks away.
The DeRosier’s were also the ones who shattered her dreams of a perfect family by saying “We take you in because your parents don’t want you"(35). The DeRosier’s left April with a shame of her background and an even deeper shame for her parents. Even though the DeRosier’s did so much bad for April and her identity, they still did some good for her. They made such an horrible environment but April stayed strong and grew as a person. She even said “I could let the DeRosier’s suck out my dignity for now and I could pretend they had me where they wanted me.
When she moves to St. Louis and sees her mother for the first time, she is struck by her mother’s beauty. She thinks her mother is too beautiful to have children, and that is the reason why her mother sent her away. Marguerite thinks she is a “Black ugly girl”, at the same time, she is a girl full of imagination. She imagines once she puts her dream Easter dress on she will be a sweet little white girl with long and blond hair. She also imagines the conflict between her grandmother and the white dentist Dr. Lincoln after he said he would rather stick his hand in a dog’s mouth than treat Marguerite’s problem.
And as the story is set in the start 70’s where the Afro-Americans is fighting for their rights and identity, Mama is a kind of afraid of “letting Dee go”. She thinks that Dee may forget her actual values, by living with white people and their values. The reason why she changed her name was to be like hundred percent independent, with a totally new her, and a new life. Dee has broken the family circle by
With people tormenting her about her cousins who were teen moms, or her father who made a fool of his drunken self in public, the poor girl felt like nothing more than dirt, and she wanted to be thought of as flawless and beautiful. Edith dreamed of being a celebrity, she wished to be a perfect girl, and to live in a perfect world "in which only married women had babies, and in which men and women stayed married forever." The shacks in which Eddie grew up were less than desirable, and supposedly thought of as contemptible, by people of a higher social class. When Edith moved to the boarding house, with set meal times, she was quite ashamed to think of how people living in the shacks didn't have meal times, they simply found any food they could and ate by themselves when they were hungry. The potato-chip plant that Eddie worked at
Dee (Wangero) is the exact opposite to Maggie, she is lighter in complexion, looks down on the place where she was raised, spoiled, and well educated. The mother sees Dee’s attitude as a negative trait that she has acquired from the “city” and Maggie as a more positive example despite her shyness. I agree with the narrator on the perspective of both daughters. Dee’s arrogance is shown over and over by the way she dresses, hairstyle, and the fact that she has taken another name because she believes her given name is a slave name. In actuality this name was passed down from generation to generation, her aunt was named Dicie.
Dee appears to be the epitome for the African-American child of her time. She represents physical perfection, and even “her feet [were] always neat looking as if God himself had shaped them.” In relation to Maggie, she was “lighter…with nicer hair, and a fuller figure.” When Dee comes back to visit her mother and sister, her clothing is not representative of her cultural heritage. She was wearing “a dress down to the ground…earrings gold, [and] bracelets dangling.” Her mother was overwhelmed by the colors of her clothing. Despite the physical perfection, Dee’s connection with her true heritage is extraordinarily superficial. She is not willing to embrace her birth name Dee – a name that holds much familial and cultural significance.
In return for Annie's kindness, Lora takes in Annie and her daughter. Annie works as Lora's live-in housekeeper, bringing her light-skinned daughter along. A decade spans while Lora’s career goes into high gear and Annie is saddled with the responsibility of raising both girls. Exposed to the advantages of the white world, Sarah Jane (Susan Kohner) passes for white, causing her mother a great deal of heartache. Meanwhile, the grown up Susie (Sandra Dee), neglected by her mother, seeks consolation with her mother’s suitor.
Parents seek desirable husbands for their daughter and send her away to live with him and her in-laws’. Mothers start teaching their daughters at a young age how to cook, clean, and how their future husband should be taken care of. Once they are married they then take on the role of being a 24/7 housewife who does everything around the house while waiting on everyones hand and foot. The husbands then go finish college get a job and “bring home the money.” This a real life situation that is occurring everyday not only in India but also other parts of the world and my strongly believe that needs to change. I personally do not follow this “rule” because I want to have a great future with a career where I will be treated with respect by all including men.