Dee's Mother example essay topic

Dee is the main character in the short story "Everyday Use", written by Alice Walker. Alice characterizes Dee as a young and struggling African- American. Dee is blessed with a younger sister, Maggie, who envies Dee as an older, beautiful, and powerful sister. Maggie sees her sister as a strong person but the truth is hidden in her actions. In the short story "Everyday Use" Alice Walker characterizes Dee by what Dee does, what Dee says, and what others say about Dee. Dee is characterized by what she does.

When Dee comes home from Augusta for the first time, she steps out of the car and starts to take pictures. The pictures are of her mother and Maggie along with a cow eating grass, she also makes sure to get their house in the picture. She does this for a reason; she is hoping that when she goes back to school and shows her friends the pictures, they will feel sorry for her considering how her family is living. At the dinner table later that night, her boyfriend comments on how their religion doesn't eat unclean meat and how he doesn't like collards. Dee, knowing exactly what he said, keeps right on eating. Dee doesn't acknowledge or respect her new religion or her boyfriend's feelings.

Later, during dinner she asks if she may have the butter churn that her Uncle Buddy carved, so she can hang it on the wall in Augusta. Dee is able to go to the store and buy butter whenever she needs it, but for her family this butter churn is the only means of having butter. Later that night Dee spots two quilts that her 2 grandmother had made. Dee asks her mother if she may have them as well. These quilts are one thing that her mother and sister can use for warmth during the winter time. Dee, on the other hand, has heat as well as air-conditioning where she lives.

Her mother then remembers how she had already offered them to her when she went away to college, but Dee refused by saying that they were old- fashioned and out of style. This is one out of many things that Dee says that characterizes her. Dee is further characterized by what she says. Before she came to visit she wrote a letter to her mother and at one point said that no matter where they choose to live, she will manage to come see them. She also wrote that when she came to visit she would never bring her friends with her. This is very insulting to her family.

When she first comes home she further insults her mom and her family heritage greatly by telling them that she has changed her name to Wang ero and by saying that Dee is dead. She then says "I couldn't bear it any longer, being named after the people who oppress me", meaning her family holds her down and doesn't let her live her life to the fullest. Her family, knowing Dee the best, thinks of Dee in many ways. Dee is also characterized by what others say about her. According to Dee's mother, Maggie has always thought "her sister had held life always in the palm of her hand, that 'no' is a word the world never learned to say to her", meaning Dee is stubborn and always gets her way.

Her mother says that Dee will look anyone in the eye and that she doesn't know how to hesitate. Dee was known by her family for wanting nice things and having a style of her own at a young age. Dee was also known for being a very determined person. Dee's mother thinks that when Dee used to read to her and Maggie, that she would read down on them, knowing that they didn't know how to read. Her 3 mother says that she used to read to them without pity. When Dee wrote the letter to her mother saying that she would never bring any friends home to meet her family, Maggie said "Mama, when did Dee ever have any friends?" In conclusion, Alice Walker characterized Dee into a self-centered young woman in the short story "Everyday Use".

Even though Dee has nice hair and a great figure, she is insecure because of the environment she grew up in and her origins. Dee's insecurity affects other people by putting them down, in what she does and in what she says, in order to make herself feel better. Dee thinks being mean and greedy will help her feel less insecure, but in fact it just pushes her away the people who care about her the most.