Everyday Use By Alice Walker

"Everyday Use"

The story "Everyday Use", written by Alice Walker, is a story of heritage, pride, and learning what kind of person you really are. In the exposition, the story opens with background information about Dee and Maggie's life, which is being told by Mama. The reader learns that Dee was the type of child that got everything and had everything that she wanted, while Maggie was the complete opposite. The crisis, which occurs later in the story, happens when Dee all of a sudden comes home a different person than she was when she left. During the Climax, Mama realizes that she has often neglected her other child, Maggie, by always giving Dee what she wants. Therefore, in the resolution, Mama defends Maggie by telling Dee that she cannot have the household items that she wants just to show others, instead of putting them to use like Maggie.

The main character in the story "Everyday Use" would have to be Mama, without a doubt. Although she doesn't change like Dee does, Mama changes a great deal. Mama would also have to be the main character because she narrates the story. At the beginning of the story, Mama sounds like she does not have a lot of confidence in herself. For example, she states that "But that was a mistake. I know even before I wake up. Who ever knew a Johnson with a quick tongue? Who can even imagine me looking a strange

white man in the eye? It seems to me I have talked to them always with one foot raised in flight, with my head turned in whichever way is farthest from them." (89). Mama is the type of person that is proud of her past and what her ancestors have accomplished, but does not understand the direction that her daughter Dee is going in. Mama could be defined as a round character in the story because of the change she undergoes at the end. Mama's goes through a dramatic change in the story when she gets up the nerve to tell her aggressive, non-hesitant daughter "No", and gives her other daughter Maggie, who has often been on the bad end of things, the household items for her marriage.

Dee could probably be