Everyday use characterization

The Characterization of Dee in Alice Walker’s “ Everyday Use” In this short story, Walker used contrast, metaphor, and simile rhetoric of symbolism. Revealing the loss of black people mind caused by the strong cultural impact of white people. Clearly, reflect the black people have different attitudes under the strong cultural impact. Everyday use is talking about cultural inheritance. Dee go back home visit her mother and Maggie. Dee want to take away the quilts which are her grandmother made. Dee said these are all pieces of dresses Grandma used to wear. She did all this stitching by hand. She thinks to imagine, and Maggie can’t appreciate these quilts. She said these quilts are priceless and want to hang them. She mother think she has not intimidating, full of confidence, and arrogant personal. Her mother even thinks that her enviable quality is extremely bad. When Dee goes back home visit her family, she wants to take away the churn top, dasher, and quilts to as a centerpiece. However, her mother promised to give them quilts to Maggie, for when she marries John Thomas. So she was angry to leave. Dee is arrogant, selfish person. Dee because of their own tradition has become fashionable to regain their own national culture. But her sister Maggie is really inherited their own traditional culture. Maggie is a symbol of the history of black pain. In fact, they represent two traditional culture should inherit the two practices. One is Dee has represented the traditional culture that the successor does not really inherit, and the other is Maggie’s accumulation in life inherited own traditional culture. Unexpectedly, the mother finally chose to stand on the side of sister Maggie. I think this also is the author Walker’s real idea, I agree this idea. But Maggie just does inheritance, I think this is not enough, the traditional culture should be carried forward. Dee can development traditional culture, although her purpose is fashion, she can achieve the role of heritage. Dee said “Maggie can’t appreciate these quilts, she’d probably be backward enough to put them to everyday use. But they’re priceless.” When her mother disagree she took away these quilts, she was angry and said “Maggie would put them on the bed and in five years they’d be in rags. Less than that. However, I will hand them.” Maggie by now was standing in the door, “she can have them” she said, like somebody used to never winning anything, or having anything reserved for her. “I can member Grandma Dee without the quilts. From these conversations, the two daughters are quite different. Dee is the object of her family’s jealousy, fear, and excitement. And as a person, she seeks personal meaning and stronger self-feeling. I appreciate D's courage and bravery against their traditional attitudes. But Maggie is shy and lack of confidence. The two sisters' attitude and behavior just represent two different ways of how to preserve heritage and art. Dee is only protected in the form of traditional culture, but Maggie is from the bottom of my heart for the protection of traditional culture. Even without the quilt, she can remember the soul of this spirit. From “she used to read to us, whole lives upon us two, sitting trapped and ignorant underneath her voice. She washed us in a river of make-believe, burned us with a lot of knowledge we didn’t necessarily need to know. Pressed us to her with serious way she read, to shove us away at just the moment, like dimwits, we seemed about to understand.” Her mother sometimes feels the pressure from Dee.