"Everyday Use," written by Alice Walker is a short story published in 1973 about a black woman living in the Deep South with one her two daughters. The story highlights that Mrs. Johnson or "mama" and her daughter Maggie still live a traditional rural southern lifestyle. The theme of this short story is the character's connections to their ancestral roots. Dee, one of Mrs. Johnson’s daughters, beliefs her values of her culture are placed on some old quits and other objects around the home.
Alice Walkers short story has many representations of her own culture through each main character in “Everyday Use”. Maggie suffered burn scares from a childhood accident that left her disfigured and very self-conscious of her image. She felt unattractive and lost from the after affects of her burn scars. Like Walker, and her childhood, she experienced an accident similar, which left her with scars and a sense of rejection from her peers. At a young age Walker was shot in the right eye by a bb gun, which left her permanently blind in one eye with a scar. After this traumatic experience Ms. Walker was able to reflect the suffering she went through as a child into a story that represents her past. The theme of this young child and her lost self-conscious relates directly to Walker and her childhood experiences.
Like Dee in the short story, Alice Walker came from a poverty stricken lifestyle that left her striving for education and exploration of her heritage. In the short story Dee is the character that finds the value of the old quits priceless after her return home from school. She believes that this "artwork" represents family traditions and is something that should be valued, not destroyed. Dee represents the idea of what preserving heritage really means to her. Alice Walker has fought for her heritage through the Civil Rights Movement and shares ideas of preserving her lost African culture.
As for the third character in the short story, "mama", Walker is closely relatable. Mama is levelheaded, strong, independent woman who takes great pride in her life. She is able to teach a lesson in each of her incidents as well as trust her instincts and knows what she believes. She is not willing to sub come to the new style, but understands who she is and what her life represents. She illustrates the idea of how living the same lifestyle with no growth has affected the culture that her children have grown up to see.
At the beginning of this short story, “mama” explains that she is a hardworking woman who is big-boned with “man-working hands.” She can do a male’s job on the farm and is proud that she has that kind of power to get what needs to be done. She goes on to explain that she is suppose to be the way her daughter wants her to be, “…a hundred pounds lighter, my skin like a uncooked barley pancake. My hair glistens in the hot bright lights” (Walker 24). Like we have learned in class, women have been faced with a gender role identity. In this time of day, women are supposed to be delicate and let a man take care of all the hard work. Mama in “Everyday Use” exemplifies that woman are more than capable to do handy work around the farm as well as take care of herself and her family. Our lives have been socially constructed from our society as well as our graphical location. Alice Walker makes a statement in her short story that woman, although many times put into gender roles, have the ability to be powerful. She has guided this story away from essentialism in that, Mama, is nowhere defined to what it means to be a woman.
Alice Walker is affecting her culture through the short story "Everyday Use" when she brings up with question of what it means to preserve ones heritage. The question of whether or not the quits represents ones heritage and how that heritage should be preserved for future generations to appreciate. "Everyday Use" is not only about using the quit till it is rags but asks the question of Alice Walkers heritage and how people choose to honor that heritage. It brings up the question of using something everyday and making it meaningful or preserving it and displaying it as a symbol of what heritage means.
Lauren Brous
Walker, Alice, and Barbara Christian. Everyday Use. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers UP,
1994.
“Everyday Use” by Alice Walker seems like a very good book. I like how you related the book to her real life. It showed me how passionate she is about the events that occurred in her life and how she wants her readers to understand how she felt during her tramatic events in her life. I feel as though your description on the short stories was very choppy. In the first paragraph you started off explaining what the book was about and then had a sentence about the themes and then continued with the plot. It just did not flow too well. I would have rather learned what the stories were about then a separate paragraph about the themes and how they relate to what we have discussed in class. Your paragraph on “Mama” was really good. You did a good job on realating the theme to class. I agree that women have had to work really hard and gender roles are also an important theme we have discussed in class. I think you could have also expanded on the themes in the stories, but overall you did a great job and Alice Walker seems like a very inspirational women.
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ReplyDelete"Everyday Use," is part of In Love and Trouble, which contains a collection of Walker's short stories. This story is about a black woman living in the Deep South with one her two daughters. We find out in the beginning that Maggie, one of the daughters, has burn scars down her arms and legs from a house fire. She is described by her mother as unattractive and unintelligent. Dee, the other daughter, has come back for school to visit. We find out that Dee has always hated her home life and reflects how she might have been the one to set the house on fire. While away Dee has seemed to adopt a new idea of fashion for modern African-American women. She has been so greatly influenced by this new culture that she has changed her name to Wangero. During their family meal she recalls that she has come home to ask for a few items that seems to have value and history. She asks for a butter churn as well as some quilts her grandmother had made by hand. She seems to pretend that these items have sentimental value to her and her new found heritage. The issue that we find in this short story is that Wangero demands the handmade quilts that her mother had already promised her sister Maggie. She lashes out saying that Maggie will never appreciate the quilts and will use them till they are rags. Wangero only wants to display the quilts like artwork, which seems to confuse her mother. Mama likes the idea better that Maggie will actually use the quits, for which they were intended for. After not allowing her to steal these quilts from underneath her own sister Wangero takes off, telling her mother that she does not understand her own heritage. She ends with suggesting that Maggie needs to try and make something of herself. As Wangero leaves, we get an image of Mama and Maggie enjoying their lives with a sense of relief that the visit is over.
ReplyDeleteLauren Brous
"Everyday Life" seems like a well-written book i like your analysis of it. I like how she writes based on experiences of her own life.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate the themes that you stated her work is on. For example, when you talked about gender role identity.
You say that Alice came from a poverty stricken life. Can you give me some examples of oppression that she and other African-American women in her time had to go through?
Oppression is apparent in Walkers life in multiple ways. She first off, as I am sure you have heard by now, was shot in the eye when she was younger by her brother. It took her a while and a lot of reconstruction of herself to get out of the depression she was in. She was harassed by her peers and put down for her physical and mental state of being. She was able to pull through that oppression and gain a hold of her life becoming popular and queen of her high school. Another example of oppression that Walker felt through her life was when she became the first legally married inter-racial couple in Missisippi. Walker faced many threats through out her life because of this that it became something that was heavily troublesome to deal with. One more example of oppression she faced was when she decided to have an abortion. Although she knew she was faced with this decision it did not go over lightly. She was depressed for sometime after feeling anxiety as well as cruel treatment from her cultural surrounds that left her with a lot of mental pressure. Alice Walker has been faced with multiple accounts of oppression that any African-American woman could have faced.
ReplyDelete'Everyday Use' is a great short story that exemplifies different mother-daughter relationships and how they are founded on principles of heritage and tradition. Dee (Wangero) and Maggie grew up in the same home but grew into two vastly different people. Dee seems very materialistic while Maggie seems family oriented and ready to begin a life in marriage. Both sisters appear to have very different ideas about their heritage. How do you think tradition and heritage is represented in this short story?
ReplyDeleteI guess I got a little confused when reading your post. Maybe I didn't get what you were trying to get across. I understand about how the quilt can be used for everyday or how it can either be displayed or cherished as artwork, but how does this fit in with the main character, and Alice, having "deformities" or her insecurities with the burn scars she has?
ReplyDelete"Everyday use" sounds like a great book explaining a woman's quest to be appreciated as much as a man doing the same work. I like how she took control of her situation and worked hard instead of letting the social construction change her actions. I like how you related the characters to part of Walker's personality and ideas. This story shows that it is possible to go against what is expected of us to become better and stronger.
ReplyDelete-Regan Aurich
Ofelia Flores- Tradition and heritage are both represented in this short story through the quilt and the life style the family lives. Mama and Maggie seem to find that heritage is important but portray it in a different way then what how Dee thinks about it. Mama and Maggie seem to live in peace, understanding their heritage as it applies to them at their home and with their belongings. They both take great pride in their lives that they have and are grateful for their surroundsings. Where as Dee thinks that heritage is more realistic and finds that she needs to be taking things from her home to show that she is proud of her heritage. I believe that no matter what heritage you have, it is your own personal way of connecting with it that makes it so strong.
ReplyDeleteRegan Aurich- She is truly an inspiring woman and my favorite part about her is how she shows everyone that they can be more then what society tells them they "need" to be. She is an amazing person who seems to change so many lives!Thanks for your comment!
Brittany Ellison- Sorry about the confusion. The reason it fits in with the main characters is because this story talks about heritage and what it means to each character. For mama and maggie, they both felt as though the quit should be used for everyday use and that was how they showed their appreciation for their heritage. As for Dee, she felt that the quits should be displayed as artwork because it was something that was "important" to her and what she felt acknowledge her heritage.As for Alice and the deformities, that only relates directly to the character Maggie, because she too had an accident that left her feeling self conscious about her image. So from Alice's experiences she was able to create a character similar to her and her childhood issues she faced.I hope this clears things up a little and again sorry for the confusion.
Lauren Brous
I love what Alice Walker does with her literature. She does not hesitate to write from her experiences in life. As a writer, this is still something really hard for me to do. She does it with such conviction. Everyday Use sounds like a book I would enjoy. I loved The Color Purple and the way she engages her readers with tales of personality and oppression.
ReplyDeleteI also like the strong feminist themes about how women can do just as much work as men. During those times, that is a hard theme to portray.
Overall, great job!
Like you said she doesn't hesitate to write about her own experiences and this is my favorite part about her. She is so open to allowing people into her life and helping those around her grow just like she did. She incorporates so much of her life into her work that is what makes reading what she has to say really touch the heart. Thanks for the comment!!
ReplyDeleteLauren Brous
You did a really great job in your blog I like the background very much. It seems to me that "everyday use" is an interesting story to read. Based on your information, alice walker is trying to use the character in her story to reflect her self. They share the same experience of struggling in their life because of physical appearance. I also like the part you relate the character "mama" to the motherhood we learned in class. She has the feature of strong independent to be a good mom. Great job.
ReplyDeleteI liked your blog and thought it did well to exemplify Walker's character as a writer. You nicely related the stories to Walker’s life when you connected her scaring childhood experiences with the self-consciousness Maggie has and Walker’s value of heritage incorporated in the story’s quilts. It is very apparent she writes from experience. I saw you related a couple class themes to Walker's works but could motherhood also be one of them? I'm assuming you meant quilt and not quit in "Everyday Use". There are some grammatical errors, but overall your blogging was well done. I really liked your theme colors and the overall blog layout. I thought it contributed to the Alice Walker you portray; a soft but serious woman.
ReplyDeleteGuo JunLiang,
ReplyDeleteYes, "Everyday Use" does portray a lot of her own life and the struggles she went through. I think that Alice Walker takes a lot of her own experiences and incorporates them into her story lines make he short stories, novels and poems so realistic. This is one of my favorite aspects of her writing. It allows the reader to engage with what she has to say and feel as though they can change their life for the better just as Alice Walker has done. "Mama" is a great character in this short story and her powerful motherhood is exemplified in it. She works harder then most for what she wants yet is caring and loving.
Kory O'Hara-Hanley,
Motherhood is definitely a theme that "Everyday Use" portrays. She does a great job at leading the family while also showing her soft side and truly caring for both of her children. She goes outside of the roles set upon her to make sure her family is as well off as they can be. Mama is an amazing character in this short story that represents many themes we have learned during our Women's Studies course. Alice Walkers ability to relate characters to her own life is what makes her work so strong.
Thanks for the comments!
Lauren Brous
Thank you for taking the time to answer all of your comments. I know it is hard work to keep track of it all and respond in a sufficient manner. I do have to agree with some of the students that at times your post was confusing and lacked a full discussion of the connection to themes in the class. A sentence here and there is not enough for you to fully develop your ideas.
ReplyDeleteOverall you really used the space to include biographical information, images, and book covers. It looks chock full of stuff, if even a little bit too full of stuff!
Good use of quotes and references to the book.