ENG 102 Everyday Use 9/12/11 Pg. 174 Q. 2-4 2. Describe as fully as possible the lives of the mother, Dee, and Maggie prior to the events of the story. How are the following incidents from the past also reflected in the present actions: (a) Dee's hatred of the old house; (b) Dee's ability "to stare down any disaster"; (c) Maggie's burns from the fire; (d) the mother's having been "hooked in the side" while milking a cow; (e) Dee's refusal to accept a quilt wwhen she went away to college?
This is also the same reason why Maggie churns butter instead of going to the store and buying it. They don’t see a need to change, because it was good enough for the previous generations of their family. If it ain’t broke don’t fix it. The title “Everyday Use” refers to the quilts that are central in the main conflict of the story. The quilts
The quilts were an important part of the family tradition of quilt making. It was so important to Mama that when Dee asked for it she snatched it from her hands. When Mama gave the quilts to Maggie, she hoped Maggie would put it to everyday use. Maggie valued the quilts for what they mean as an individual. Maggie says she can’t remember Grandma Dee without the quilts.
When Dee finds out that the quilts were already given to her sister, Dee gets furious and believes that she deserves the quilts more than Maggie and that Maggie would not take care of them as well as she would. Poor Maggie says to her mother "She can have them Mama...I can 'member Grandma Dee without the quilts". Maggie is used to never getting anything. Throughout the entire story, it says that Maggie gives up many things so Dee can have what she needs or wants. Dee is quite ungrateful.
Direct characterization is when the narrator, in this case ‘Mama’, tells the reader what the character’s traits are. For instance, when Dee wants the quilts Mama says “I didn’t want to bring up how I had offered Dee (Wangero) a quilt when she went away to college. Then she had told me they were old-fashioned, out of style” (114). Dee leads Mama to think that she [Dee] is self-centered and judgmental of their heritage, represented by the quilts. By rejecting the quilts the first time Dee rejected their culture.
___________________________ the story also talks about enlightment due to schooling in that Dee realized, only after having learnt adequetly, the importance of one's past (Traditional Values) and thats when she decided to take it up to herself to preserve it despite her methods being "contrary" to those of the narrato _______________________________________________________________ In the short story "Everyday Use" the main conflict appears to be over which daughter will get the quilt. However, the underlying conflict is the two daughter’s competition for their mother's love. The quilt is a symbol of the mother's love and acceptance of her child and of the value that is placed on the relationship. The story is about two daughters. One daughter is intelligent, went off to college and has become successful.
In paragraph 70, line7, “She can have them, Mama,”...” I can ’member Grandma Dee without the quilts.” After read what Maggie said, suddenly I got the same feeling with Mama (Mrs. Johnson), in paragraph 75, line 7- When I looked at her like that something hit me in the top of my head and ran down to the soles of my feet… I did something I never had done before: hugged Maggie to me, then dragged her on into the room, snatched the quilts out of Miss Wangro’s hands and dumped them into Maggie’s lap. Mama perfectly sure that the quilts should give to Maggie; the most precious heritage should be given to someone who understand it and love it truthfully. This article has 4 characters; each of them has different personality. Mama (Mrs. Johnson) - the narrator of the story. She is not a pretty woman, in paragraph 5, first line “In real life I am a large, big-boned woman with rough, man-working hands.
The morality of women, and the sympathy of mothers for other mothers, such as slave mothers, is essential to Stowe’s anti-slavery approach. Throughout Uncle Tom's Cabin there is an underlying theme of the importance of the role of women in the mid-nineteenth century plantation culture. Instead of encouraging the belief that women are less than that of men she promotes the idea that they are more than a homemaker. This idea is that, as wives and mothers, women have the ability to shape the morals, values and actions of the men around them, and the power to influence the world as they know it. During the nineteenth century women were considered inferior and expected to be submissive to men; their place is meant to be in the home raising the children and managing the plantation.
Nanny felt by marrying Janie off to Logan, Janie would live to be free and Nanny would not have to worry so much and knew she would be well taken care of. Nanny is protecting Janie from getting a reputation like her mother, Leafy. Nanny goes on to explain what happened to Leafy: “Dat school teacher had done hid her in de woods all night long, and he had done raped mah baby and run on off just before day” (Hurston 19). Leafy became a drinker and would be out all hours of the night after Janie was born; therefore, Nanny is trying to keep Janie safe. Furthermore, Logan Killicks was also trying to protect Janie by listening to Nanny and wanted Janie to be happy and have a good reputation with what he had to offer.
In the beginning of the story, Dee comes to her mother's home with a much different appearance as an educated urban girl while her family members are as the backward sharecroppers at a remote village. The central conflict in the story is the quilt made by Maggie and Dee's mother, aunt (Big Dee), and grandmother. Dee insists on taking the quilt home to display in her home but Mrs. Johnson informs her that she promises to give the quilt to Maggie once she marries John Thomas (Walker 284). After Dee hears that the quilt has already been promised to Maggie, she is worried that if Maggie is using and touching the delicate quilt on a daily basis as a warm blanket and then