Everyday Use Character Analysis Essay

Tuten shows her readers that what Dee wants is superficial and that Maggie has a better understanding of heritage. Susan Farrell states in her article that in the story, Mama’s views of Maggie are not accurate. She makes the point that perhaps Mama’s views of Dee are not accurate either, because the story is told from Mama point of view and we never hear Dee’s side of the story (179). Farrell believes that Mama views Dee as a sort of goddess, she may even envy her. Susan states that, “Dee inspires in Mama a type of awe and fear more suitable to the advent of a goddess that the love one might expect a mother to feel for a returning daughter” (180). Later in the article, Farrell makes the point that what Mama’s thinks Dee wants may not actually be what she wants. This could just be a perception of what Dee wants. Farrell also points out other instances in the story that shows Dees actions contradicting Mama’s thoughts.

Momma's point of view defines how she feels about her daughters and the degrees of separation that exist between the two girls. Momma describes Maggie as a partially educated child who does not look as appealing as her older sister. Maggie was burned in a house fire that left her scared all over her body. She does not wear revealing clothes, nor does she attract men as Dee does. Dee, on the other hand, is described as an educated young woman who is ready to take on any and every adventure. Momma says that Dee used to read to her and Maggie without pity (94). She describes Dee as the stylish child; she always prepared dresses out of momma's old suits and is always up on the current style. Momma likes the different qualities Dee possesses, but she is slightly threatened because they are unfamiliar to her. From the description that momma gives of her daughters the reader can feel the differences that exist in her thoughts about her daughters.

     In this story, Dee is completely unappreciative. One can get the feeling that the mother in the story had worked long and hard rearing her daughters, and has even gotten Dee into college somehow. Dee returns with her college education and new personality trying to preach to her mother and sister about what they are doing wrong. Plenty of times Dee spoke down to her mother and little sister, Maggie.

Dee’s selfishness is also portrayed by her cultured verbal skills. Dee can talk her way through anything. Dee often manipulates others with her verbal skills. This is shown when she reads to her mother and sister “without pity; forcing words, lies, other folks’ habits, whole lives upon us, sitting trapped and ignorant underneath her voice” (Walker 289). This statement further demonstrates the fact that Dee’s family feels inferior to her. Mama describes the situation as if Dee has some kind of power over her family because she is scholarly and her family is not. Dee uses her education to make Mama and Maggie feel less important without, necessarily meaning to.

While Maggie was a very shy person who loved her mother and liked their way of living and didn't wanted to travel away like Dee did. Mama was an uneducated woman but was confident about herself and liked her way of living and she looked about herself as a hero that she was very poor but she was able to well educate her children and to make them not to be like her and she was tough person who worked anything to get money for her children just to make them better than her and well

     Pride is the theme that seems to separate this family the most. It's having pride versus not having it. Maggie doesn't have it. She does not speak for herself when Dee wants the quilts. She lets mama speak for her. Like a scalded dog, she hides behind Mama when Dee arrives. Mama compares Maggie to a "Lame animal…run over by a car…"(Walker 88). Pride mostly comes from respect and she doesn't get much. Dee maybe has too much pride. This probably comes from "the world not knowing how to say no to her." She has looks and she's what one would describe as

The disparity of the outward imageries by Mama is a small manifestation of her cloaked animosity and resentment as compared to her hyperbolic soliloquies. Even in her dreams she says Dee wants her to be “a hundred pounds lighter, [her] skin like an uncooked barley pancake; [her] hair [glistening] in the hot bright lights” (60). Mama refers to Dee being embarrassed and ashamed of her mother’s appearance. Mama indicates that she can never be what Dee wants her to be in stating “Who ever knew a Johnson with a quick tongue” (60); rhetoric corroborated by Mama’s admission that she “never had an education [herself]. After second grade the school was closed down” (61). However, Mama shunned Dee’s quick tongue, acquired from her education; Mama recalls “[Dee] used to read to [them] without

Mama shows favoritism towards Maggie because of her disability. Maggie’s disability allows Mama to become closer with Maggie instead of Dee. Dee wanted to be sent off to school to get away from the rural and deficiency lifestyle. Mama and Maggie gain a close bond while Dee is away. Maggie appreciated their heritage and did not mind staying with Mama and doing household work. Mama’s viewpoint on Maggie is more appreciative than her views on Dee.

She is protective, and loving to Maggie. Mama realizes that Dee who is lighter skinned, and with other physical attributes admired by others will fare better in life, although she acknowledges some of Dee's flaws to herself. She also recognizes that Dee is better able to care for herself.

The behavior of overlooking her sister's, Maggie, and Mama's feelings since her childhood to the present indicates Dee's character as a person who disregards others. Mama ponders that while the house where they used to live burned to the ground; Maggie was burning, her "hair smoking and dress falling off her in little black papery flakes." Although she saw that Maggie needed her sister's aid, Dee stood "off under the sweet gum tree" at a distance (87). Walker reveals that Mama still finds Dee carrying her self-centeredness when she excludes herself from the pictures and "never [took] a shot without making sure the house is included" (89). Dee wants to capture the signs of poverty from her past so that she can show how much success she has gained in spite of being poor to her friends. Dee is so egotistical that she declares her sister is "backward enough to put [the quilts] to everyday use" (91) whereas she considers herself smart and would appreciate the quilts by hanging them. Her coldness and lack of concern make

Dee?s character in the story is a direct relation to any number of people in society that do not know or are confused about their heritage. She is struggling to create an identity for herself, and is confused as to what it encompasses. She grasps at African tradition and culture, yet fails to acknowledge her own African American culture. This happened all over America, particularly in the North, in the 1960?s, following the civil rights movement. Dee is misconstruing her heritage as material goods, as opposed to her ancestor?s habits and way of life. This may be due in part to her leaving her hometown and becoming an educated, sophisticated young woman. Dee?s direct heritage is that of African Americans.

Dee however, always thought she was too proud to live with what her Mother provided for her. She still loved her Mother, no doubt, but she said things like "She wrote me once that no matter where we "choose" to live, she will manage to come see us" (415). Another way that Dee thought she was too proud for what her Mother provided for her was when she changed her name. She felt that it was too below her, and that it did not even deserve to be associated with a living person. After she tells her Mother her new name, and her Mother asked her what happened to her old one, she said that "She's dead…I couldn't bear it any longer, being named after the people who oppress me" (416). With this statement, Dee sums up everything she thinks about her history and her Mother. She feels that the only way that she could change herself and her background is by changing her name, or killing her other

The mother in this story, who is also the narrator, is a strong independent woman. The mother, while waiting for Dee to arrive for a visit, remembers Dee as very resentful and ashamed of her family history. She secretly wishes that Dee

Dee is misunderstood, she is a string educated black woman who stands up for herself. To some people this power is seen in a more negative way rather than a positive way. Dee is very educated in her heritage and she scorns her mother and sister for not understanding their heritage (Watkins 403). Mama and Maggie see Dee as being hurtful towards them. She probably just wants them to know that there is something better out there for them.

Dee doesn’t care for following in her mother’s footsteps. She is driven to be someone to shed her identity leaves her with no moral qualms. When the family’s’ first house had burned down, Mama watches Dee staring hard into the flames. “Why don’t you dance around the ashes?”(316) These are Mama’s own words and they lead the reader to ponder Dee’s morals. “Being situated outside of time and the laws of logic, the Id also disavows value judgments, and, consequently, fails to recognize the difference between good and evil.” (Moreira) She seems to lack sympathy and compassion, for a home lost seeing it as a fresh start; she hated the house, whereas Mama and Maggie lost everything.