Although the quilts at the present moment in the story were stored, they were being saved as a wedding present for the younger Maggie. When Dee showed up in the story and started requesting (demanding) to have certain pieces of Mama’s (and Maggie’s) house, it rubbed me the wrong way. This character in the story is introduced as the long lost sister/daughter who basically shunned the family homestead but is now coming back to gather the same memories, not for the tools that they are, but for decoration. Although it can be argued that her intentions may be good, and in trying to keep
Lena’s mother is dead and Marie’s left the family when she was a child. Despite the fact that Marie’s friends and father don’t approve, Lena and Marie become friends. They provide each other with an outlet to discuss issues and feelings they haven’t been able to express before. Lena has a secret about her home life and Marie can’t help her no matter how much she wants to. The author, Jacqueline Woodson, does a tremendous job at flipping stereotypes and allowing others to walk in someone else’s shoes.
This narrative is full of symbolism. The quilts in everyday day use are the main symbols, and they represent the connection of heritage and the family. Dee just wants the quilts to hang them; she says that Maggie, her sister cannot comprehend her heritage and she is not capable of appreciating these quilts, although she does that when she memorizes her Grandma Dee having the quilts. Thoughtfully, Maggie decides to give Dee the quilts so as not to initiate a conflict. Maggie is appreciates her heritage whenever she uses the quilts, with heritage she means the natives she came from.
The two quilts were pieced together by Grandma Dee and Big Dee, the narrator’s mother and sister, and made with the scraps from the dresses of Grandma Dee and bits and pieces of Grandpa Jarrell’s shirts and Great Grandpa Ezra’s faded blue piece from the uniform he wore in the Civil War. The mother must decipher which daughter is deserving of the quilts based on her daughter’s plans of use. Dee in the story planned to
Shawn M. Henry Dr. Jerry Giddens English 111 February 9, 2010 In this book There Eyes Were Watching God written by Zora Neale Hurston the main character Jaine Crawford is searching for love through relationships. These relationships were between herself, Nanny, Logan Killicks, Joe Starks, and Vergible Woods known as Tea Cake. Her grandmother referred to as Nanny took care of her when Janie’s mother ran away. They lived in a house on the land of Mrs. Washburn, Nanny’s white boss. Growing up Janie played with Mrs. Washburn’s children and wore their old clothes.
Mama finally stands up to Dee and realizes the beauty in Maggie. Mama is a simple woman. She has worked hard her entire life and has done the best to support her family. Although Mama may not agree with Dee, it seems as if she is caught up in Dee’s opinions and behavior. Almost as if she wants to be enough for Dee because she knows she never has been.
Women did not want to express too much concern with the way they felt about the growing emptiness inside of them for they feared people would think of them as a failure. Women began filling these roles as houswives at a very young age so much so that by the end of the 1950s the average marrying age was 20 (Bowles, 2011, 4.3). Women began, at this period, using college as a means for obtaining a husband rather than as a stepping stone to a career. The perception by many was that they attended college to get their “Mrs” degree. Betty Friedan revealed what her and other women like her had kept secret for so long, that they are human beings and deserve better
Everyday Use In “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker, which takes place in the 1960’s when tradition was very important; Mama was put into the position where she had to choose between which two daughters to give the family air loom quilts that had been passed down by her mother. When Dee pays an unexpected visit requesting the quilts, Mama decides to give them to Maggie because she will keep the family tradition. Mama is a traditional southern black woman who lives in a very old shack-like house that has holes in the walls where the windows would be. She lives in the racist south and is intimidated and unaccustomed to white people and is cut off from the mainstream society. Like many black women of her time she was uneducated because her school
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.
Many women probably did not even know how to write because their were neglected from their studies or were probably always to busy doing what ever their husbands wanted them to do. Rich's life was different she knew something had to change and that is the main reason why she decided to write about it. I would consider her as a model to all the other women at the time, her essay should have been a way to encourage other women to get off their buts, stop washing dishes, stop having kids, get their life together and start studying! The sad part of this is that till this day not many women are being recognized for their hard studies, and it has been almost thirty four years since this has come out to the public. This failure to consider what women need from their college experience in order to succeed is, as Rich says, part of the old belief that women's primary goal is or should be marriage--and that "[t]oo much intelligence or intensity may make [them] unmarriageable" (215).