Critique of Alice Walker's Everyday Use Story - Book Report/Review Example

Everyday Use The story is written by Alice Walker in the year 1973; Alice Walker was the youngest of her eight siblings, born in 1944 and became blind at the age of eight due to a BB shot by one of her brothers, with the passage of time and surgeries the scar was gone and she became the home coming queen; however, due to the incident she had to face a rather teasing and low-esteem childhood. Alice has been a gifted writer which was very well known by her mother and one of the last gifts she received from her was a type writer; since than Alice has written in many areas of children literature, poems, non-fiction and screen writing. In all she had written she had made her mark the most in novels and short stories. One of the short stories that are written by Alice Walker is “Everyday Use” (Bloom 163) The story is written at the time when new generation was emerging and it was hard for people especially to break through the horrors of their past and / or to emerge from the specter of inequality. The story is the element when the two most powerful horrors of anyone’s life come together. The story revolves around four main characters; Mama who is also the narrator of the story. She became a widow at an early age and had to raise her two daughters on her own; with little money and no education. Maggie is one of her daughters who is the shy one and lacks confidence. She is kind hearted and responsible as compared to her sister Dee. Most of her body parts were burned during a house fire and since then she likes to spend her time alone with less or no people around to see her. Dee who is the elder of the two siblings and had changed her name to Wangero, Dee is confident and had the opportunity to learn and get herself educated, she is confident and determined and has the urge to do something more for her family. The last of the characters is Hakim-a-Barber is the Arabic boyfriend and future husband of Dee. It was different times when stories like “Everyday Use” were written; it was the time of struggle and change; when the group of different and all ideologies existed together. Where peace was as important for some individuals as war for others; White men had taken over the regions and created groups like Black Panther and Black Muslims. This distinction of group can also be seen by the writer in the book under discussion. Quilt is the main element of the story; due to the presence of the quilt the story has emerged as a focus on women from different generations and their enduring legacies. The story has shown the generation gap by focusing on the close bond between Mama and her sister as compared to the two daughters Dee and Maggie. It is hard for Dee to understand her name and legacy and to understand the importance of the Quilt, which is a representation of all those years of hard-work undertaken by the mother to ensure that her daughters get a quality of life that she couldn’t have. She had to endure a lot of difficulties to reach to a place where they are today. The focus of the story is the Mama’s disappointment in her daughter at showing no respect to her past and her heritage; she is so ashamed that Dee has even changed her character name in the story. She is not worried about the antiques that are a representation of where they came from and what efforts took them to reach at a new phase in life. “Have you ever seen a lame animal, perhaps a dog run over by some careless person rich enough to own a car, sidle up to someone who is ignorant enough to be kind to him? This is the way my Maggie Walks…she knows she is not bright. Like good looks and money quickness passes her by” (Walker and Barbra 25) This is response by the Mama when Maggie asks her how she looks. She takes Maggie out in the yard and narrates these lines; the narrated are an explanation of Maggie’s pure nature and simplicity. Mama wants her daughter to be brave and wants her to be married one day. She only states these facts to Maggie so she could realize that everything will fade away one day, (talking with respect to the harsh and disappointing attitude of Dee towards their family heritage) and the only thing that will survive is how a person is honest. Another instance where the reflection of Dee is represented as a shameful child the book narrates and quoted “Well”, I say “Dee”; “No, Mama” she says, “Not ‘Dee’, Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo1”, “What happened to Dee? I wanted to Know, “She’s dead”, said Wangero, “I couldn’t bear it any longer being named after the people who oppress me”. (Beers 73) The statements were said when Dee comes to meet her mother after a long time and doesn’t accept herself in the name given to her by her family. Else she has no guilt in saying that she has killed Dee and given birth to Wangero because it was the need of the time. The story is all about people who in search of the world forget about themselves and their identities and they have no shame in doing so; they are deprived of the world’s acceptance that they would go any miles. This story is a depiction of the same topic the difference between two sisters and how they have adopted to the changing worlds. “A short story that was full of symbolism and imagery. I enjoyed this look into the life of a family that is learning what their heritage really is and how to use it” (Lori) Woks Cited Beers, Kylene. Holt Elements of Literature. Austin, TX: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 2003. Print. Bloom, Harold. Alice Walker. New York: Bloom's Literary Criticism, 2007. Print. Lori. "Lori (The United States)'s review of Everyday Use." Goodreads. Goodreads, Oct. 2009. Web. 9 June 2014. Walker, Alice, and Barbara Christian. Everyday Use. New Brunswick, N.J: Rutgers University Press, 1994. Print. Read More