Close Reading: “Everyday Use” an

“Everyday Use” is written by Alice Walker. This story is about one African American family with a mom with two daughters, that live in the country side. When both kids grow up the old daughter Dee went to college, and the younger one, Maggie,stayed home with her mother. From the story, main characters Dee and Maggie symbolize different culture style, Dee behave is selfishly and horribly trad her sister Maggie look like garbage, she made to the outside world, then lost her identity. But Maggie is so sweet loving girl, she carrying on tradition African American culture. Compare with other story “Recitatif” written by Toni Morrison, this story the main characters same as two girls--But they are both come from the sad family background, they are grow up together in the shelter,one woman’s name is Twyla, the other woman’s name is Roberta. The reason they are in the shelter, because Twyla’s mother danced all night along. Roberta’smother is always sick. Later two girls become good friends and they live together in the shelter, both girls do not have worm family to stay, but they trad each other like sister.

Alice Walker use her story “Everyday Use” main characters to tell reader what’s right and what’s wrong, also to show us how culture and history is our root. She builds up her main character Dee is smart and educated in the college, and her mother works so hard to help her to finish education. The mother is always proud of Dee, because she does not have much education for herself only about second grade. In other words, Dee finishes her mother’s dream. Her mother feels so good when her eldest daughter comes home. that’s why the story begins with a mother in front of her house waiting for her old daughter Dee to come home. Her mother put all her hope to Dee, because her mother thought Dee made it to the outside world to learn more things and carry on the family heritage to the world.

When Dee comes home, she tells her mother she changed her name to Wangero. The follow is mother with her daughter’s dialogue, “‘well,’ I say, ‘Dee,’ ‘No,Mama,’ she says, ‘Not Dee, Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo!’ ‘What happened to Dee?’‘She’s dead,’ Wangero said. ‘I couldn’t bear it any longer, being named after the people oppress me’” (Walker, 1534). From this passage, we can see Dee’smother is disappointed and tries to explain why her name is Dee, and she describes how her name links to the family tree. No matter how hard her mother tries to tell her this name is so important for the family history, Dee never changes her mind. She thinks she knows more than her mother, because she went to college. Dee’s mother does not know why going to college made Dee turn the other way. Dee tries to forget family history, and in this way Dee totally lost her African American identity. She doesn’t know who she is now. She rejects her own heritage; it makes her look like an outsider. After Dee left, Dee’s mother hugs her youngest daughter Maggie. They both sit on the front porch, to enjoy fresh air, and she wishes her younger daughter would be traditional person in marriage.

As well as, both stories main characters are women. the difference is story“Everyday use” the main characters are family members, a mother with her two daughters–Dee and Maggie. They are real sisters, but Dee never trad Maggie look like her sister. Toni Morrison’s story “Recitatif” the main characters are Twyla and Roberta, they are not sisters, but they are look like sister.

After Twyla and Roberta left the shelter, they don’t see each other for many years,even they live in the same town, each time they meet each other they feel different way, but they could not forget Maggie, an old woman work at shelter kitchen. Twyla remembers, “Maggie fell down there once. The kitchen woman with legs like parentheses. And the big girls laughed at her. We should have helped her up, I know, but we were scared of those girls with lipstick and eyebrow pencil. Maggie couldn’t talk. The kids said she had her tongue cut out, but I think she was just born that way: mute” (Morrison, 1404). This image follow both women in the life time, also Maggie’s story again and again through whole story it to symbolized violent. All the poor kids in the shelter without warm family,they feel lost in the world no one cares to live in the shelter, the old kids turnaround to pick disable old lady to make fun with. That’s why Roberta say: “Oh,Twyla, you know how it was in those days: black—white. You know how everything was” (Morrison,1411). We all know it is wrong to make fun with disable, for this reason Twylaand Roberta for they life time feel guilty about not help Maggie, Twyla always recalls, “I didn’t kick her; I didn’t join in with her gar girls and kick that lady, but I sure did want to. We watched and never tried to help her and never called for help. Maggie was my dancing mother. Deaf, I thought, and dumb.Nobody inside. Nobody who would hear you if you cried in the night” (Morrison,1414).This passage shows different deep meaning in the story, all the characters have sad thing cried in the night. Toni Morrison use character Maggie to show the real world social problems to the reader. Maggie is the sad person in the story to show the reader, also is the symbol could see Twyla and Roberta, they cried but could not to speak out to the outside world.

Over all, both authors want to bring out civil right movement to the reader, how society is change affect people’s life. both authors try to use stories to show different way about social problems in the society. As we know “Everyday Use” and “Recitatif” both stories main characters are women, but they trad each other different ways. Alice Walker’s story tell us how education make main character Dee lost her identity.  Toni Morrison’s story to show us how two girls become friends, they care each other for lifetime. In fact, all women live in the society always need face rough time, that’s why both story’s main characters all have many problems in they lifetime to struggles and conflicts. 

Close Reading: “Everyday Use” and “Recitatif”(读书笔记） Close Reading: “Everyday Use” and “Recitatif”(读书笔记）