Maggie and Dee; Two Sisters, Two Worlds Essay - 1084 Words

February 24, 2010 Maggie and Dee; Two Sisters, Two Worlds The genuine appreciation of heritage and family is the focus of Alice Walker’s â€Å"Everyday Use†. Dee and Maggie’s characters are the vessels that Walker uses to demonstrate the difference between appreciating possessions for their usefulness as well as their personal significance and their contrasting value as a trendy, materialistic connection. There is a palpable difference between Maggie and Dee, both in physical appearance as well as in personality traits and their treatment of the personal artifacts that come into play within the story is very telling of this. Maggie, who is self-conscious of her appearance, and will â€Å"stand hopelessly in corners, homely and ashamed of†¦show more content†¦Maggie who knows how to quilt and chewed checkerberry snuff, already knows what her life has to offer. Her knowledge of her future is derived from her knowledge of her ancestry. There appears to be no rancor in her acceptance of this. When the climactic scene occurs and Dee asks â€Å"Can I have these quilts?† (145), Maggie’s first implied reaction is one of surprise and anger; â€Å"I heard something fall in the kitchen, and a minute later the kitchen door slammed† (145). But as someone â€Å"never used to winning anything, or having anything reserved for her† (146), Maggie succumbs and offers to let Dee have them. Although â€Å"Maggie knows how to quilt† (146), she is able to comprehend the deeper personal value of the quilts, and states that she â€Å"can ‘member Grandma Dee without the quilts†(146). Despite their value as an item of everyday use, the quilts are meaningful to Maggie, much in the way they are to her mother who remembers having quilted them with Big Dee. The scraps, the bits and pieces and â€Å"one teeny faded blue piece, about the size of a penny matchbox, that was from Great Grandpa Ezra’s uniform that he wore in t he Civil War.† (145) hold deep significance to Maggie. Dee, on the other hand, is portrayed in a very different light by Walker. Commencing with her physical appearance; â€Å"Dee is lighter than Maggie, with nicer hair and a fuller figure† (141). However, their differences do not end there. Dee is intelligent,Show MoreRelatedCharacter Analysis of Maggie Johnson in Everyday Use by Alice Walker1498 Words   |  6 PagesWhen two daughters are raised alike yet live differently, there is a fine line of distinction between the traits and aspirations of the two, as Alice Walker drew portraits of three women in a family in Everyday Use. Maggie Johnson was the youngest of the two daughters, and her older sister Dee had gone to college and hadn t been home in over a decade. Maggie stayed at her mother s side, to make a life for herself that seemed suitable for her. In this story, Maggie is a fragile young woman, howeverRead MoreEveryday Use By Alice Walker1002 Words   |   5 PagesUse† the author Alice Walker describes the family as being dysfunctional. The sisters Maggie and Dee despise each other. Mama feels as if she is not the way her daughters will like and or appreciate her. The mother adores both of her children, they all want the best for each other, but the relationship between Mama, Maggie, and Dee is flawed. Mama has insecurities about herself that give her a negative outlook on the world around her. Mama describes herself as being a â€Å"large, big-boned woman withRead MoreDay and Night through a Mothers Eyes Essay919 Words   |  4 Pagesmother and her two daughters. The first daughter, Maggie, still lives at home with her mother and is her companion. Dee, however, moves on with life and goes out to make something of herself in the world. The story is an account of one of Dees visits, but the narrator, the mother, makes a very obvious comparison between Dee and Maggies looks, intelligence, behaviorism, and values. The reader has a lesson to learn since the story is told through the mothers eyes. It is amazing that two siblingsRead MoreEveryday Use Is A Life Lesson And A Realistic Story1616 Words   |  7 Pagesdaughter Maggie both live in a little southern home where their lifestyle is a little outdated than the rest of the modern world, Mama also had a daughter named Dee, in stead of living with her mother and sister she decided to go to college and live stylishly with the modern world. The real conflict in the story is when Dee decides to go home, and when things get out of hand, the reader figures out that Dee and Maggie have some similarities however they are far from being alike in any way. The two sistersRead MoreEveryday Use By Alice Walker903 Words   |  4 Pagesarrival of Dee, and a man who they think may be her husband. Growing up Dee had been contemptuous of her mother’s home and possessions, but now as she is older she embraces the way things used to be. This is especially true when she finds the two handmade quilts that were pieced together by her grandma and her aunt Big Dee. Even though the quilts were promised to Maggie for when she gets married, that doesn t stop Dee from trying to take them. Although after Maggie is intimidated by Dee and saysRead More Everyday Use Essay1559 Words   |  7 Pagesrelationship to one another. Everyday Use give its black female characters an identity of their own, each in their own right, and observes the internal conflicts of two sisters who have made two very different life choices, all the while scrutinizing the underlying sibling rivalry between them. Dee is the prodigal daughter; she left home to taste the world only to be given a new appreciation of her backwoods home. She is the favored daughter, possibly because her mother was always trying to get into her favorRead MoreEveryday Use Essay655 Words   |  3 Pagesstory. Everyday Use has three main characters; Mama, Maggie, and Dee. The only things we know about these characters are through Mamas eyes. Mama is telling the story, so everything we read is from what she says. It is hard for us to know the true personalities of the characters because we learn of them through one characters point of view. It is also easy to misunderstand the characters because of the information the story reveals. Maggie is one of the daughters in the story. She is describedRead More Alice Walker’s Short Story Everyday Use Essay905 Words   |  4 Pagesâ€Å"Everyday Use,† tells us a story of two daughters’, Dee and Maggie Johnson, with different ideas about their identities and values. Dee a young woman who, in the course of a visit to the rural home she thinks she has outgrown, attempts unsuccessfully to divert some fine old quilts ,earmarked for the dowry of a sister, into her own hands. Dee is Mrs. Johnson’s oldest daughter, the one who has always been determined, popular, and successful. Maggie is her young sister who was severely burned in the houseRead MoreSibling Comparison of Everyday Use1055 Words   |  5 Pagesmother who narrators the visit of her daughter from college and the conflict between her two daughters. The mother, named Mrs. Johnson, gives descriptions of her daughters’, Dee and Maggie, personality and looks, and each daughter descrip tion is opposite of each other. Additionally, Mrs. Johnson describes each daughter’s education level, which also differs. The only hidden similarity between these two sisters is the fact each one of them lacks confidence. Dee’s lack of confidence is more implicitRead MoreDifference of Two Sisters in â€Å"Everyday Use† Essay709 Words   |  3 Pagesâ€Å"Everyday Use† by Alice Walker, the two main characters, Maggie and Dee, are sisters who are very opposite to each other. Throughout the story, the girl’s differences become evident through their physical appearances, personalities, lifestyle decisions, and the way they feel about their heritage. Maggie and Dee have completely different physical appearances than each other. Maggie has a thin body figure, and her arms and legs are scarred from the house fire. Maggie is jealous of Dee’s beauty, and