Thursday, November 15, 2007
Everyday Use
"Everyday Use" is about a mother and her two daughters. Just like a typical relationship between sisters, I sense some jealousy between the two. Maggie is one of the sisters that is very shy and quiet. I believe she is this way because she was left with burns from a fire that happened a while back. Dee is the other sister that doesnt live with them, and may be seen as the one closer to the mother. However, Dee is going through a change. She is know under the Muslim religion. And I think that's what Alice Walker wants us to recognize, "change". But is it change for the better or change for the worst. I don't know. But at the end the mother changes and opens up to Maggie, even though it seems like she shut her down most of her life. Was this a significance? Leave me some comments.
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Since Dee doesn't change during the course of events in the story, the changes we are concerned about are those wse see in Maggie and her mother. Following are my comments from another blog, which may help give you a context for those changes. See also my comments on Danny's and Andrea Deangelo's blogs.
If you look closely, the mother's relationship with Dee is quite conflicted, and she is actually much closer to Maggie, in character. Consider the dreams she has involving Dee, and also the final scene (Maggie and the mother on the porch as Dee leaves). Also, connsider the contrast between Dee and Maggie as characters. This should lead to a discussion of one of the important themes of the story, heritage. But, again, this concept is ambiguous in the story. Through the interactions among the three main characters, Walker explores the complex and perhaps contradictory noitions of "heritage." There are, at any rate, at least two perspectives on heritage that the story presents. One represented best by Dee, and the other be Maggie and her mother.
Consider especially scenes--the dialogue and character interaction--involing the butter churn and the quilt. Also consider the symbolic value of these itmes, as they relate to concepts of heritage. Consider also the story's title.
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