Knowledge is not always power because the more you know does not necessarily mean you understand what you have learned. In the short story “Everyday Use”, education seemed to make a rift in the relationship not only between the mother and the daughter, but also between the sisters. Dee was one to always try and outsmart her family members always seeking answers knowing no one knew. It was mama who eventually got the community together to help send Dee to school so her daughter would be happy and satisfied. The values of heritage seem to have been lost with the gain of knowledge when Dee has gone to college.
While in her mother’s eyes, she only supported her daughter and craved the absolute best for her child. Schwind-Pawlak presents this argument poorly due to her change of heart towards the end of the essay. She does not stick to her beginning argument which causes the opposition to lack stability. The two authors support their arguments by providing evidence. The supporting evidence of the two essay’s help reveal the hardships teenagers face while dealing with their parents.
At the time that Eva had to departure for England, she had a sense of what was going on around her however she never really understood the bigger picture, the main reason why she was being sent away. Eva questions her mother about why Karla and Heinrich aren’t being sent away too. Helga tries to explain to Eva why any “good parent” would send their children away if there was a place that would take them in; they want to protect their children. Eva asks Helga :”Cant you and Vati protect me?’ Helga answers, ”Only by sending you away” (6). Eva is perplexed about the whole situation; how is she safe with complete strangers?
Finally, the young character realizes that social classes can’t be mixed together. First, Rosaura is shocked by how she’s close to her mom when she ‘’feels her arms stiffen.’’ (15) It shows to Rosaura how her family values are important to her and she also sees the difference between the two
The mother doesn’t understand the daughter’s life, and this failure to understand leads to her to distrust her daughter. Dee sees her new persona as liberating, whereas the mother sees it as a rejection of her family and her origins. Dee indeed rejects her family by changing her name to “Wangero”, “she’s dead”, she responded when asked “what happen to Dee” (28). Later, Dee tried to get stuff from the house like the bench, the butter chunk, just as decorative objects but her mother sees those “objects” as a symbol, as a living proof of her family, her tradition. The mother wants her daughter to see those precious objects that way too.
Connie fails to realize the great danger she takes on while over exaggerating her appearance and attitude. Her sister on the other hand conducts herself as a more modest girl and is the ideal vision of a “good” girl. Connie was in constant discord with her family because they did not approve of her actions but she cared less for she continued on with her conceited, selfish ways. "Why don't you keep your room clean like your sister? How've you got your hair fixed—what the hell stinks?
Firstly, Sommers stated how she tries to teach her daughters to be optimistic. Secondly, Sommers stated of how she wants the students to use themselves as sources.” Finally, at the end of the essay Sommers writes, "Having the courage to live with uncertainty, ambiguity, even doubt, we can walk into all of those fields of writing.” Sommers stated how she tries to teach her daughter to be optimistic. The writer states that,”Despite the sheer facts of her life, despite the accumulation of grim knowable data,” her mother was optimistic. Sommers tell the reader of how her family fled from Germany when she was thirteen and how her grandparents were killed by Nazis. Sommers is trying to teach her daughters that there is more out there and that they can be optimistic, despite what may be going on in our lives.
First, she is a naive girl, who is basically taken advantage of by an older man. Then her family is turned against her, because of her alleged actions. Since her family doesn't understand the relationship that she and Pete share they accuse her of things that she did not do. The friction between her and her family forces her out, but with nowhere to go she must fend for herself anyway necessary on the streets. The situation that Maggie ends up in is not her fault, but the faults of the actions, or inactions of the people around her.
During this process her daughter’s destiny goes astray from what she had envisioned for her and blamed herself for the outcome. Although, to some it may seem that she took the easy way out, this mother battles herself all the while asking herself what she could have done differently. Her daughter Emily was brought into the world during “The Great Depression”. Not too soon afterward, her father walked out on Emily and her mother and had left them to fend for themselves. The mother found a job that would help provide for them.
She does not always think of her children first. For example, when the possibility arises that she might leave her husband for Robert, she does not even consider her children. But Madame Ratignolle reminds her to “think of the children . . .