Walker's Dee

A detailed Summary of Walker's Dee


Alice Walker in "Everyday Use" shows one African American woman trying to "overcome" her past. This story is about two sisters, Maggie and Dee, and their mother. Maggie lives with her mother while Dee has moved out, gone to school, and created another life for herself. However Dee has issues left to resolve before she can become the woman she wants to be. Her conflicts over her heritage have made Dee unable to accept her past life and ashamed of her family. Dee uses separation strategies of changing her name, changing her view of family antiques, and physically moving away to convince herself that she is better than her family.

Dee has turned her back on a part of her past and her family by taking the name of "Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo" (177). Her reason for changing her name was because she "couldn't bear it any longer being named after the people who oppress me" (177). It is a


Dee also uses physical distance to separate herself from her family. At first this is used when Dee leaves home to go to school (175). Then later Dee writes a letter home including, "no matter where we [Maggie and their Mother] 'choose' to live, she [Dee] will manage to come see us. But she will never bring her friends" (176). This tells Maggie and her Mother that they can not depend on Dee to provide for them and that she is ashamed of them. Dee thinks that she and her friends are better than her family.

You ought to try to make something of yourself, too, Maggie. It's really a new day for us. But from the way you and Mama still live you'd never know it. (181)

She is judging herself to be superior to her family. Dee is afraid that she will end up like her family so she tried to change everything about herself.

Dee spends so much time separating herself from

Some common words found in the essay are:
Leewanika Kemanjo, Maggie Dee, Maggie Mother, Maggie It's, African American, family dee, changing name, maggie dee, unable accept, maggie mother,

Approximate Word count = 598
Approximate Pages = 2 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English

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