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A Mother's Love in Everyday Use

            No matter how well you choose to raise your children you will never be certain of the outcome. Alice Walker writes "Everyday Use " she reveal the new found life of Mama eldest daughter Dee who ends up living more of a lavish lifestyle in a well develop area where as Maggie and Mama continues to live their simple life on the farm. In "Everyday Use " Alice Walker portrays favoritism that occurs between the two sisters by their mother and the conflicts that arise from it. Alice Walker inserts symbols to characterize the personalities of the characters. .
             In "Everyday Use,"" the author illustrates the significance of the yard and how it personalizes Mama's character. In Mama's eyes the yard meant more to her than just a physical yard. The yard itself symbolizes a sense of unity that brings the family together. Mama's attitude towards the yard shows how appreciative she has become to grown up on the yard with her family. The yard brings forth a comfort zone where Mama feels at peace and a part of something. "A yard like this is more comfortable than most people know. It is not just a yard. It is like an extended living room " (Walker 810). Mama compares the yard to a living room to express the togetherness she loves. By expressing how she feels it represent Mama as a family orientated person. The yard also molds Mama to characterize her traditions and beliefs, in which she passes the knowledge to her two daughters. Mama treats the yard with value, the same way she would treat her living room. "When the hard clay is swept clean as a floor " (Walker 810). Mama symbolizes the clay, as the floor figure of the living room that needs to be kept clean. The fact that Mama treats the yard with respect shows that she values the yard and respects it by doing so she treat it with care. This describes Mama as someone who takes care of her things especially those that have symbolic meaning towards it. Throughout the story the author use the quilt to express Mama personality.


Essays Related to A Mother's Love in Everyday Use

1. Everyday Use

"Everyday Use" In "Everyday Use," Alice Walker navigates the cultural gap between a mother and her two daughters. ... Maggie, the younger of the two sisters, was badly burned when the house they used to live in caught fire. ... Dee finally arrives at the house, beginning the start of the epic battle for the love of a mother. ... "She'd probably be backward enough to put them to everyday use." ... Dee, never having any want or need seemingly ungratified, allows material things to come between her and the love of her family. ...

  • Word Count: 578
  • Approx Pages: 2
  • Grade Level: High School

2. Mothers in Everyday Use and Two Kinds

In the stories "Everyday Use " and "Two Kinds,"" the parents heavily try to influence their children's future in order for them to be successful. ... The relationship between the mother and her two children in "Everyday Use"" brings two separate and almost opposite mother-daughter relationships into play. ... In "Everyday Use"," Dee and her sister Maggie are exact opposites. ... As the story goes on in "Everyday Use"," Mama's realization of her deep relationship with Maggie becomes evident to her and the turning point happens when Mama begins to devalue her relationship with Dee. ......

  • Word Count: 1114
  • Approx Pages: 4
  • Has Bibliography

3. Everyday Use

Everyday Use In the short story "Everyday Use" by Alice Walker the title ties into the issues about the quilts. ... Dee feels she deserves them more because she won't put them to everyday use. ... Dee actually is putting the quilts to everyday use also by having them displayed for their appearance. ... Even though the mother speaks for Maggie, Maggie seems to have more of a love and respect for her heritage than her sister. ... Dee has broken away from the family and made a new life for herself, Maggie is still at home being loved by her mother. ...

  • Word Count: 648
  • Approx Pages: 3
  • Grade Level: High School

4. Theme in Everyday Use

In "Everyday Use" Alice Walker reveals a conflict between a mother, Mrs. ... Johnson also knows and loves each one of her daughters equally. ... But to her mother, the name "Dee" is symbolic of family unity. ... True heritage lies within the hearts of everyday love and respect for the past. ... "Everyday Use" Literature: An Introduction to Reading and Writing. 6th Ed. ...

  • Word Count: 416
  • Approx Pages: 2
  • Grade Level: High School

5. Everyday Use

Mother and Daughter relationships The story "Everyday Use" by Alice Walker (329-335) show us how mother hood and daughter relationships are different. ... Maggie was a lot like her mother and not as bright as Dee. ... Her Maggie clean the house and love where they live and it's the simple things that make Maggie and her mother happy. ... Dee ounce made use of a old suit that never got use out of. ... Walker lets us see the mother daughter relations between Maggie and Dee, and growing up and making choices as we see with Dee and the hatred Dee had and how low self-este...

  • Word Count: 913
  • Approx Pages: 4
  • Grade Level: High School

6. Everyday Use by Alice Walker

Everyday Use By Alice Walker The place where you hang your hat, where the heart is, is a link to the past, and through its door one walks into the future: home can be many things t one person. ... In "Everyday Use", Alice Walker explores the importance of home to a family of three women in Georgia. This story is told from the eyes of Mama, Dee and Maggie's mother. Walker uses Mama to characterize her daughters and herself in an unbiased light that only a mother could love or know. ... Her mother "offered her a qulit when she went away for college. ...

  • Word Count: 877
  • Approx Pages: 4
  • Grade Level: High School

7. Narration of "Everyday Use"

Alice Walker's short story "Everyday use" tells the story of a mother and her two daughter's conflicts and differences in opinions. ... "Everyday Use" is narrated by a woman who describes herself as "a large, big-boned woman with rough, man-working hands" (Walker 654). ... The first -person narrator makes "Everyday Use" have a strong theme and perception of the characters. ... Yet the mother's knowingness of her daughters shows their true characters. ... The author probably did this on purpose so the audience could see the unselfish love the mother has for her children. ...

  • Word Count: 936
  • Approx Pages: 4
  • Grade Level: High School

8. Everyday Use

She only wanted them to use as decorations in her fancy home. ... She was delighted that they still used them. The food really didn't have a great value to the author or Maggie because they were so used to eating it everyday. But Dee really did love the food, it seems as if she had missed it the way she talked about how good the sweet potatoes and the chitlins and cornbread was. ... Maggie and her mother live in a simple old southern kind of culture. ...

  • Word Count: 722
  • Approx Pages: 3
  • Grade Level: High School

9. Heritage in Everyday Use

In Everyday Use, a story written by Alice Walker, many intertwining pieces of heritage are knit throughout the tale of a low-income black family. ... Johnson loved the old artifact, yet she loved Dee that much more. ... She loved her and her mother's lifestyle even though it may have been rough at times and very simplistic. ... They loved each other's presence and they loved all of the history in their small home. ... Dee made this comment to her mother at the end of the story, "You just don't understand your heritage". ...

  • Word Count: 734
  • Approx Pages: 3
  • Grade Level: High School

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