Alice Walkers Everyday Use
Alice Walker's life as an African-American novelist and poet has led to many award winning short-stories and books. She was raised in the southern state of Georgia and her parents were sharecroppers. This taught her that being an African-American can have its rough times. After being shot by a BB gun when she was eight, Alice remained blinded in one eye. Her ailment caused her to seclude herself from other children her age. Alice's feeling of being older than she was shows in her writing of the short story "Everyday Use". One of the story's main character's, Maggie, is a direct relation to the beginning of Alice Walker's life. Maggie, though we don't know her exact age, appears to be a young woman. The story tells of her past as though Alice Walker was telling a slightly altered version of her own life up to that point. Maggie was burned in a fire that was, though never proven, thought to be set by an older sibling. After the fire, Maggie walked "chin on chest, eyes on ground, feet in shuffle", ashamed of her looks (Perrine 91). In relation, Alice's older sibling shot her in the eye. This blinded her and made her feel like she was unpleasant to look at. She secluded herself and felt ash
amed. These events led to the other, non-social activities. Dee's character in the story is a direct relation to the number of people in modern society that does not know their true heritage. Alice uses Dee to show the ignorance of the trendy people pretending to be into their culture and where they come from, but haven't bothered to take the time to research African heritage. Dee is following a fashion of celebrating the distant African roots and quickly gives up her real name for one that is not even related to her heritage. After explaining her new name, she tells her mother, "I could not bear it any longer, being named after the people who oppress me" (Perrine 93). In reaction, Dee's mother casually explains a little of where her name came from, but it truly seems to be Alice's reaction towards the ignorant people who do not take time to research their given name before trading it for a new one. In a world where many African Americans say they are in touch with their heritage and claim to be a part of only the popular tribes in African history, majority of them do not have any idea about where they came from. Alice Walker's, "Everyday Use" shows the bitterness Alice has for the great num
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Approximate Word count = 817
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
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