Bemutatkozik:
Az Ön új prezentációs asszisztense.
Minden eddiginél gyorsabban finomíthatja, fejlesztheti és szabhatja testre tartalmait, találhat releváns képeket, illetve szerkesztheti vizuális elemeit.
Népszerű keresések
The narrator, Mama, starts the story in a voice that makes her seem submissive and subservient. She does everything in order to gain Dee's love. By the end of the story, Mama has gained some sense of reason, knowing that Maggie, her true family, is more important than Dee and the lifestyles she tries to shove their way.
Walker utilizes language that gives insight to Mama's life: a life in a farm setting. The diction is rough-and-tumble. Mama speaks and narrates with wise words, but there are times when she slips to the side of her that Dee kept trying to fix in the past. ("... Asamalakim wants to shake hands but wants to do it fancy.") The imagery further cements the bucolic nature of the setting.
Dee (Wangero) is the surprise in the story. Before her arrival, she is described as having hated her mother and sister's lifestyle, and from just that she can be seen as pretentious and arrogant. When she is introduced, she says, "Wa-su-zo-Tean-o!" This is a greeting in the Luganda language that means, "How did you sleep?" (It's a pre-noon daytime greeting.)
Her words, actions, and change of name all say that she is a new person. But upon entering the house, she tries to take everything that reminds her of her heritage, including the quilts. The irony is that in the end, Dee condemns her family for not understanding their heritage, when in truth it is she who has lost sight of her family's heritage. She tells Mama and Maggie to stop living in the past, but she is the one who tells them to appreciate the objects that remind them of their heritage and past.
They are the historical artifacts of Mama's family, in that they have belonged in the family for generations. Dee's aunt before her quilted, and Dee's grandmother before her quilted, using pieces of dresses and soldiers' uniforms as fabric for the quilt. In this way, the family's history is literally quilted together. Maggie would continue the tradition, and with it she would add to the quilt more of the family's story.
The story begins and ends with the yard. To Mama, "it is not just a yard. It is like an extended living room." It's where Maggie and she spend their days together. The yard symbolizes their peace. Although they are not in touch with the heritage Dee wants them so much to grasp, they are at peace in their own places, in their home. In the yard, they are calm and relaxed. It's the place they can just be.
Dee arrives halfway through the story, clad in a flowy dress and wearing various jewelry. When before, she was content enough to watch their house burn to the ground, now she takes pictures of her family with the house. She's returned with the idea that her family needs to join her in soaking up their African heritage. In the process, she becomes ignorant of her own family's identity.
Hakim-a-barber is a minor character, the tag-along Dee brought with her in her transformation. When asked if he belonged with the beef-cattle peoples, he simply stated that farming and such tasks weren't his style. In the story, Walker makes him the representative of the misapplied. He prides himself to be a Muslim man with a heritage, but he doesn't belong with the others because he has more modern, laidback views. He is among those who respects the doctrine but would rather pick his own ways. It called to the changing of the times.
As narrator, Mama provides the reader with information about the other characters. Mama is a dynamic character, in that her story begins with her dreams of reunion with her daughter Dee. She would do anything just to have Dee love her. Even though she is large and big-boned, she says that "I am the way my daughter would want me to be."
By the end of the story, Mama no longer complies with all of Dee's wishes. She prefers the simple life she lives with Maggie over the lifestyle Dee tries to instill in them.
"Everyday Use" is told with shifts in point of view.
The narrator is Mama, providing a first-person point of view of the story. However, there are some shifts in the story wherein Mama says "you", addressing the reader. ("You didn't even have to look close to see...") This cements that the story is more personal, more of an account, similar to the way a narrator would address an inanimate journal he or she writes their feelings in.
Maggie is the younger daughter, characterized to be the weak, always-shuffling child, who mumbles and never maintains eye contact. She treats the world like there is always something to be feared, be it a stranger knocking on the door or a random event on a normal day.