Everyday Use

A detailed Summary of Everyday Use

"Everyday Use" by Alice Walker is a short story about how people get caught up in the superficial value of material things, and the jealousy this desire causes. In this short story Dee, the eldest daughter, was always ashamed by the way she lived during her childhood years. As she was educated more and more, her feelings of hatred for poverty and ignorance grew intensely. After she finished college her abhorrent feelings grew immensely, and she tried to take advantage of those less educated than her.

Dee always hated the way she lived when she was being raised by her mother. Dee was obviously overjoyed when the house that she hated so much, was finally destroyed. "A look of concentration on her face as she watched the last dingy gray board of the house fall in toward the red-hot brick chimney. Why don't you do a dance around the ashes? I'd wanted to ask her. She hated the house that much." The destruction of this symbol of poverty gave her a spark of hope that she and her family would move up in the world, that eventually snowballed into a much larger hatred. She was always ashamed of her past and did everything in her power to improve her status. Even when she was sixteen years old, her mother recall

Dee always wanted the best things. When she comes to visit her mother, she was dressed in not what was comfortable, but an expensive and flashy outfit. "A dress down to the ground in this hot weather. A dress so loud that it hurts my eyes. There are yellows and oranges enough to throw back the light of the sun... Earrings, too, gold and hanging down to her shoulders. Bracelets dangling and making noise..." She obviously isn't dressing for comfort. She wears what will draw attention to her, and show off her new found wealth. The brightly colored dress, long gold earrings, and clanking bracelets all forced eyes upon her. They are all blatant status symbols. She also runs back to her car after greeting her mother and sister to get her new Polaroid camera; she takes pictures of how her mother and sister are currently living in a run down shack with cows roaming the yard.

s the urge Dee had to improve everything she could. Her mother said, "Dee wanted nice things. A yellow organdy dress to wear to her graduation from high school; black pumps to match a green suit she'd made form an old suit somebody gave me." Even though she knew her family couldn't afford "nice things" she had a burning desire for them. This desire made her take the time and effort to alter a suit her mother was given, into a nicer green suit.

Dee was always ashamed of they way she lived in her past, but now that she was starting to disassociate herself from the family she started to look around the house for souvenirs of her impoverished past. When she goes inside and begins to eat, her eyes start to roam about and search for valuables. Her eye is caught by the churn. "This churn top is what I need, [Dee] said. Didn't uncle Buddy whittle it out of a tree you all used to have?" She didn't really admire the craftsmanship and beauty of the handmade churn, she was only interested in it because it was

Some common words found in the essay are:
Alice Walker, Maggie Dee, Maggie It's, Dee Didn't, mother sister, mother recalls, mother sister live, short story, knowledge didn't, mother dee, green suit, ashamed lived, dee obviously, sister live,

Approximate Word count = 1279
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Novels