Everyday Use by Alice Walker - Book Report/Review Example

Everyday use In "Everyday Use”, Alice Walker gives an account of the experiences of two sisters, Dee and Maggie. Dee wants tohave the quilts made by her grandmother as an art to identify her with her culture. Maggie, on the other hand, wants to have them because she treasures her grandmother very much. The mother had to intervene and solve the conflict between the two sisters. The common elements of the Walker’s story include family life and the conflict between siblings. The story narrated by Walker relates to the real life encounters of college students. When children go to study in colleges, they return home with different views and interests. The new environment influences their tastes, preferences, ideas and identity. The new friends an individual makes also enables one to able to adapt new lifestyles such the dressing code and eating habits. In school, teenagers from different parts of the country are admitted thus bringing together different culture. A student is therefore given an opportunity to learn and try to adapt whichever they prefer. At school, a student can also learn to love and appreciate the uniqueness of their background and much more learn how to cherish it (Guerin et al 4). When she was young, Dee hated her home, and, in particular, the house they stayed. She even confessed to her mother that she would never bring her friends to her place. After Dee had gone to school, all this changed. Her mother and sister were amazed to see the woman who came home. She came back accompanied by a man and she actually took the photos her mother, sister, house, cow, and everything around. In the house, she wanted to carry most of the things; the churn top made by her uncle, the dasher her aunt and grandmother’s quilts. She even admired the benches her dad had made. Everything from her past life is artistic and wants them to be part of life. When she had them in the past, she did not see their value. Dee changes her name to Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo because she no longer wants to be referred the same to the people who greatly oppressed them. Her mother cannot also trace the history of the name (Guerin et al 7). School life and the new environment definitely change an individual. It is evident from Walker’s story. Dee had indifferent views about her home before she joined school. She hated her home and could not bring home friends. Her sister did not even think her sister had friends. Out there in school she meets people from different places, and this brings new ideas, passion and interests about her home. She sees art in the things around her home unlike in the past when she felt they were awful. She wants to be associated with them and even goes ahead to take pictures of them. She wants to carry some of them too. Her dress code has changed too. Her mother did not expect to see her with a long dress like the one she wore when she came home. Her attitude about her mother and sister has changed, and she even wants her sister to get out and feel the beauty of nature. She tells her to go out in order to learn more (Guerin et al 9). This is common in most teenagers when they go to colleges. Out there a student meets other students from varying parts of the country. When at school, people interact and learn a lot from one another. Experiences and culture are exchanged. A student gets to understand different religious beliefs and from there they adapt whichever lifestyle they prefer. In college, one is able to identify the uniqueness of their background. A person is able to see how the other students are actually admiring their background and end up proud of their roots instead. Other physical attributes are adapted by a person if they appeal to them, for example, the dressing code (Guerin et al 10). Every individual has a mental picture and a role model of which they want to be like. A person will imitate most of that person character including dressing code, for example if a person is fond of celebs, they will adapt their dressing code and the taste of their music. A is like can also turn to a hobby, for example, someone with water phobia can be influenced by friends who love swimming to love swimming too. If a person makes friends with an artist they fall in love with the beauty and thus will see beauty and uniqueness in every object they come across. Colleges tend to exploit someone’s capabilities thus enabling them to come up with new ideas, lifestyles and beliefs. Colleges also influence and sometimes alter the value system of an individual. A situation where a student has friends who use drugs, they end up adapting their behavior without knowing. There is always a battle inside one self about following the new ideas, change and maintain that progressive thoughts against antithetical forces of tradition, stability and holding on to the past. Change always scares everybody because the future becomes uncertain. Sometimes change calls for sacrificing something that is so dear to an individual and thus makes it harder. The past, the tradition or even the stability are always the opposite of the change, the new ideas, but they drag someone down. A person gets conflicted interests in spite of knowing what they want actually. At any real situation and individual has to face the centripetal and centrifugal forces both interacting. The past allows one to see the comfort they are losing and thus make the mind resist change. The change has blurred vision which scares an individual thus making them very scared (Guerin et al 12). An idea is a body that reflects the social needs and wills of an individual, class, group or culture. He bases his idea on apolitical system in which and uses the term ideology to refer to way in which members of a particular social group view the world. Ideological becoming is developing self-way of viewing the world in which a person develops their own ideas. Language and literature provide ways for interaction among people and platforms for the society to judge them. Every person makes a choice of what language to use; that language identifies peoples different social standing. Ideological becoming only occurs in an ideological environment (Guerin et al 15). The human conscious only comes into contact with the reality through ideological world. The ideological environment can be any social gathering such as the classroom, workplace or family. The ideological environment is diverse and presents various exciting opportunities and possibilities. Personal growth is realized by allowing the different ideas to merge. The behavior of an individual is determined by the interrelations of ideas. Tension and conflict allow growth in an individual. The forces of ideas are released through uttering. Representation and interpretation display the dialogism, resolutions, tensions and reformation of any language. The speaker and the listener are presented to new world of ideas in a dialogue (Guerin et al 17). Listening, speaking and understanding are subjective acts according to Yachting since somebody has to go back and forth to conceptualize. Literature language is thus heterogeneous and stratified. Stratification is seen across genres and within genres of language. The genres come in various ways which include the different social classes, geographical ideas, and professional groups. Language differs in many diverse ways thus making it heterogeneous. It shows social differences between the past and the best, represents various epochs, different social groups such as classes, schools or circles (Guerin et al 18). The heterogeneity of language intersects various platforms. It relates to Walkers everyday use by showing the Dee character change. In college Dee met different people who changed her view of her background. The new ideas and culture has enabled her to be able to identify with her past and, in fact, become prouder of it. She wants to be identified with her unique background. Her mother and her sister still remain in the same place and thus have no new ideas to make them grow. Dee thinks it would be much better for her sister especially to go out of home so that she can have new ideas to aid her in cherishing her world (Guerin et al 20). Freud’s theory of personality comprises of three elements, the Id, ego, and superego. The Id is the primary concept which enables one to satisfy their desires, need and wants. Ego links one to the reality while superego guards morality. Dee’s mother uses her ego to be able to provide for her children. She does tough jobs. Hakim, a barber, is guided by his superego and thus cannot eat pork since he believes it is not clean. In conclusion, a person behavior is influenced by the environment they live. New ideas facilitate a new language which in turn represents the social standing. A student will talk and behave as student; a politician will always have political ideas. Thoughts usher someone into the ideological environment they belong since they determine the language. Works Cited Guerin Wilfred, Labour Earle, Morgan Lee, Reesman Jeanne C. and Willingham John Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature. 6th Ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2011. Print. Read More