"Everyday Use" Analysis Paragraph by Katrina Fleetham

Instructions

kafleeth — 2015-09-10 20:14:15 UTC

1. With your team, draft your paragraph on a separate sheet of paper, responding to the following prompt:

We usually admire a person who rises out of poverty to get an education and better her circumstances, but in Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use,” the reader does not generally identify with Dee or sympathize with her. How does the author’s choice of narrator contribute to the characterization of Dee? How does this choice impact the meaning of the work as a whole?

2. Once you have completed your draft, you may access this padlet wall at the above address and enter the password given to you.

3. Double-click the padlet wall to start your post. In the title section, write your team number (Team 2, Team 3, etc.). Type the final version of your paragraph, being sure to type carefully and make your paragraph error-free.

The author's choice to use Mama as the narrator allows the reader to sympathize with Mama because Dee is rejecting the childhood values that Mama has instilled on her as a child. This impacts the meaning of the work as a whole by showing that even if you're poor you can still be happy, and those cultural values can and should be upheld. The reader sees that even though Dee has good intentions, she oversteps cultural boundaries that have been set in stone for years. This makes the reader sympathize with Mama and see Dee's selfish, arrogant side. If the story was told from Dee's point of view, we would see Dee as a hardworking, enlightened person. However from Mama's point of view, we see Dee's change negatively impacting her family. -Team 5

2015-09-11 15:12:40 UTC

Group 3

2015-09-11 15:17:19 UTC

In the short story "Everyday Use" the author Alice Walker chooses Dee's mother as a narrator to contribute to the characterization of Dee by providing an outside view of her by someone who knows her well. For example, when Dee and her mother were fighting, we saw a part of her that is most likely unknown to the majority of her aqquantinces. This choice if narrator impacts the meaning of the work as a whole because if the story would have been in the form if Dee's perspective, it would have been highly biased, showing that Dee was always correct. He choice of narrator in a story highly impacts how the story is portrayed because each character has a different perspective on the situation. Therefore, the choice of having one over the other can have a significant difference in telling the story

Group

2015-09-11 18:20:42 UTC

In "Everyday Use", Alice Walker's choice to use Dee's mother as the narrator gives the reader a bias opinion of Dee. Creating a conflict between how Mama's thoughts of Dee before she left and the "new" Dee that came to visit her. The conflict impacts the meaning of the work by showing the sole source of a weakened relationship within the family. Dee left the house for her education and to become more independent. Then she came back wanting to have the quilts to remember her grandmother and caring about her heritage. Dee's personality might have changed, however, the conflicts the family have stays unresolved.

Group 2

2015-09-11 18:35:28 UTC

The narrator's perspective of her daughter changes the way that Dee is characterized throughout the story. Due to Mama's traditional values, Dee is painted as already in opposition as soon as she's introduced, rather than merely progressive. Subjective perspectives inherently color the way that other characters are perceived, as the reader cannot form a holistic understanding of them. Had another narrator been chosen, perhaps Dee's sister, Maggie, or even Dee herself, the story would have played out differently. Maggie loves her sister, and being young, she is likely more impressionable than her mother. In fact, as the piece progresses it becomes clear that Maggie is very fond of her sister. On the other hand, Dee's perspective of herself is probably at least faily positive as she appears to be a self-righteous person. Alternative perspectives could have thusly provided an entirely different understanding of Dee, whether the story was told from a different first person perspective, or even from a third person one. This shifts the meaning of the story from a conflict between traditional and progressive values to one of a dejected mother and her rebellious, unsympathetic daughter.

Group 6

2015-09-11 19:45:19 UTC

In Everday Use, Alice Walker uses the mother as the narrator to show the differences between the families perspective and Dee's perspective of herself. In the text the mother describes how""no" is a word the world never learned to say to her (Dee)". This shows that the family perceives Dee as selfish but Dee pictures herself as deserving. Since Dee thinks she is better off leaving her family, she believes her family should follow in her footsteps, "it's really a new day for us. But from the way you and mama still live you'd never know it." Using the mothers perspective casts a negative light on Dee's personality and shows the importance of family values and traditions over ones own desires. Additionally, the choice of narrator is essential to how the audience perceives the main character and who is more at fault. If the story were in Dee's perspective then the mother is completely at fault in the story. But because the story is in mama's perspective, mama is right and Dee's desires are considered unimportant.

Team 8

kafleeth — 2015-09-14 14:59:37 UTC

In the short story, "everyday use", by Alice Walker, characterization of the character Dee contributes to the story as a whole by creating a centers conflict between her and Mama. The choice of narrator gives a much clearer idea of who Dee was before and who she is now creating a clearer juxtaposition of her dynamic attitude. Dee, or Wangro,s eccentric attitude change clashes with Mama and Maggie's quaint lifestyle, creating a tension that only grows and grows as Dee continues to claim things as her own despite Mama and Maggie's clear attachment to the items she is trying to take. This evwntuay peaks when Dee try's to take the two quilts that Mama had promised to Maggie, eventually making her leave in aggravation, abandoning all that she wanted. By seeing these events through Mamas eyes we can more deeply understand that she wanted to keep the item from their family's past and give it to someone who would actually value the family's heritage that is found in them.