Types Of Conflict Inalice Walkers Everyday Use

961 Words4 Pages
At the beginning of Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use” the mother describes both of her daughters. Maggie is the plainer looking and dumber sister and Dee is the smarter and prettier one. While Maggie and the mother are at the house a car shows up with Dee and a strange man. Dee introduces him and tells them that she has changed her name to Wangero. After they eat dinner Dee asks the mother if she can have some quilts that her grandmother had knitted. The mother says that those are for Maggie when she gets married. Maggie overhears and says Dee can have them. With this, a wave of emotions come over the mother, she hugs Maggie and gives the quilts to her. There are many levels of conflict between the two sisters, Dee and Maggie, in Walker’s “Everyday Use”. Maggie is the younger, more humble sister who is normal looking and is not as smart as Dee. She lives at home with the mother and seems to have a lower self-esteem and not too much pride with herself. She is ashamed of her burns that happened to her when their first caught on fire and burnt down. He demeanor can be judged by the way she walks, her feet shuffling with her chin on her chest and her eyes on the ground. Dee is the older, self-absorbed sister who is better looking and has more intelligence than Maggie. She always wants things to go her way and to be the center of attention. She has more formal education than Maggie and is more likely to show off or brag. One of the root causes for conflict could be the speculation that Dee started the fire in the old house because she hated it. This is the fire that caused Maggie to be burned and disfigured on her arms and other parts of her body. If Dee did start the fire, it shows she had a mean intent and did not care if anything happened to her sister. Maggie could have in the back of her mind that Dee did indeed cause the

More about Types Of Conflict Inalice Walkers Everyday Use

Open Document