Hello,this is critical essay on Alice Walker's "Everyday Use"
Topic: Demonstrate that Mama changes most. address what each character was like before. what brought about any change, and what each character was like after.
After I read my paper again. I don't think my paper answer the questions well. Do I show any evidence of what each character like before and after. Please give me some advices. Thank you very much!
The story "Everyday Use" by Alice Walker is about a single mother and her two daughters, Dee and Maggie. Dee is the family's proud. She is beautiful, smart and educated, on the other hand, Maggie is simple, low confident and her skin burned severely in a house fire. Alice Walker uses Mama as the narrator in the "Everyday Use" to describe these two characters, Maggie and Dee, to show us two different views of culture and tradition heritage during 1970's. There was a movement by Africa American to learn about their Africa heritage. However, Mama changed most towards to the end of the story. She starts to realize that Maggie is the one who truly understands and appreciates her heritage at the end of the story.
Dee is a character that doesn't know what her really heritage is, nor truly appreciates her heritage. She left home when she was young, and trying to find a different kind of life from the life of poverty which she had been born. She succeeded of what she tried to do, but she doesn't appreciate what her family did for her. For example, Mama and Maggie raises money from church to support Dee finishes her school; Walker describes as "... we raised the money, the church and me, to send her to Augusta school" (560). But what is Dee's response of what her family did for her. She feels ashamed of her family because the situation of her family. Their house is not fancy. In fact it is in a pasture. Her mama and sister are uneducated. Once she writes a note to Mama, it says "that no matter where we "choose" to live, she will manage to com see us. But she will never bring her friends" (560). This shows Dee also is selfish character. Another time where Dee shows selfishness is she always wants nice things. Walker describes as " A yellow organdy dress to wear to her graduation from high school; black pumps to match a green suit she'd , made from an old suit somebody gave me" (560). Moreover, she comes back to visit her mama and sister after a long interval with her new name-Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo; she tells her mama the old "Dee" is dead. She has new name that more approach her Africa heritage and she thinks "Dee" is a slavery name. In fact, Dee is her family name that after her Grandma Dee. Furthermore, Dee is materialistic and superficial. She requests everything she wants. She asks mama for dasher, churn top and quilts. All she wants is to display them and show other people her Africa root while mama and Maggie using them every day in life.
Unlike her sister Dee, Maggie is a character that understands her root and appreciates her heritage. Compare to Dee, Maggie is totally opposite. Maggie is less attractive than Dee. Mama says "She knows she is not bright. Like good looks and money, quickness passed her by" (560). She also is very shy and low self confident. Author describes her as "She will stand hopelessly in corners homely and ashamed of the burn scars down her arms and legs..." (559). Moreover, author also says "Have you ever seen a lame animal, perhaps a dog run over by some careless person rich enough to own a cars, sidle up to someone who is ignorant enough to be kind to him? That is the way my Maggie walks. She has been like this, chin on chests, eyes on ground, feet in shuffle, ever since the fire that burned the other house to the ground" (560). Sometimes, Maggie envies and awes her sister Dee. She thinks Dee is a person that "has held life always in the palm of one hand, that "no" is a word the world never learned to say to her" (559). Maggie gives everything when Dee asks for. Even when Dee ask mama for quilt which mama promise to give Maggie when she marries to John Thomas. Maggie says to mama "she can have them, Mama" (564) when Dee asks mama for quilt. However, Maggie may be shy, scarred, low confident, uneducated and not as smart as Dee, but this doesn't affect her any less understand her heritage. Maggie knows how to use them and respect them.
Mama is a dynamic character in the story. Mama has made an important realization in the end of the story; she understands her two daughters clearly. Mama is a very nice woman; she describes herself as "I am a large. Big boned woman with rough, man working hands...I can kill and clean a hog as mercilessly as a man. My fat keeps me hot in zero weather..." (559). Mama loves both of her daughters, but she expects more from Dee because she feels disconnected from Dee. For instance, Mama hopes Dee "is embracing [her] with tears in her eyes. [Dee] pins on [Mama's] dress a large orchid, even though [Dee] has told [Mama] once that she thinks orchids are tacky flowers" (559). However, Mama describes "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 just like when I am in church and the spirit of good touches me and I get happy and shout. I did something I never had done before: hugged Maggie to me, then dragged her on in to the room, snatched the quilts out of Miss Wangero's hands and dumped to them into Maggie;s lap..."(565) when Maggie tells Mama that Dee can have the quilts. Mama knows Dee is going to hang the quilts and show them off in her room if she has them while Maggie is going to use them every day. Mama's choose of giving the quilts to Maggie represents an important change of her character. She recognizes she has done everything to Dee that she has necessary to do and she cannot changes Dee any more. Mama also notices that Maggie is the one who understands and appreciates her heritage.
It is very important to understand our truly heritages. Our heritages are part of who we are. Our parents pass down the heritages. When we learn more about our heritages we learn more about ourselves and our family. It also gives us a better chance to understand who we really are.
