"Everyday Use" Analysis Paragraph by Katrina Fleetham

Instructions

kafleeth — 2015-09-10 21:05:34 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.

Team 6

2015-09-11 16:18:56 UTC

Alice Walker's choice of mama as the narrator contributes to the characterization of Dee in that mama had a bias against Dee because she is abandoning her mother and sister. The reader immediately gets a feeling that Dee is inconsiderate. If Dee had been a respectable woman who appreciated her upbringing, the reader might have liked Dee. Because mama portrays Dee ad a haughty and pretentious woman, the reader dislikes Dee. The story shifts from being a praising story about someone who rose out of poverty to a story about a woman who tries to erase ties with her old family because she is ashamed of the image they cast on her. Instead of a story about ascending from poverty, it becomes a story about a woman who feels like she is descended from scum.

Team 7 is the Heaven

2015-09-11 16:21:36 UTC

Alice Walker's utilization of Mama as a narrator contributes to the characterization of Dee. Initially, Mama was excited for the gratitude she would receive from Dee. Through Mama's point of view, Dee seemed ungrateful because Dee did not appear thankful for her Mother. Mama loses trust with Dee due to Dee's lack of interest in her family and origin. The reader sees Dee's lack of trust through Mama's eyes and resents Dee as a character. This overall paints Dee negatively. The negative view on Dee emphasizes the theme of education creating a divide. If Dee was portrayed positively, the divide between Dee and Mama would seem less. Similarly, the divide between the high education, Dee, and the low education, Mama, would seem less. In the end, the characterization of Dee is emphasized by Walker's use of Mama as a narrator.

Table 3

2015-09-11 16:22:05 UTC

Walker uses the narrator to give the reader the idea that Dee is arrogant and entitled in the eyes of her mother. The narrator foreshadows the fact that her and her daughter have a negative relationship which leads to the regretful outlook on her daughters life. Through the use of point of view both the audience and her mother see Dee in a negative light due to the bitter and tumultuous past that they share. This paves the way for the ending conflict with the quilts and satisfies the readers expectations for an impactful ending due to prior foreshadowing. It shows Dee's lack of respect for her heritage and want to be someone who she isn't in this conflict. This encapsulates the theme by isolating a single incident to use as a representation of the fact that different perspectives will give you a different view on the same story.

Group 5

2015-09-11 16:23:12 UTC

Alice Walker chose to show the story through Mama's perspective because no one knows Dee better than her mother. Mothers show unconditional love for their children, so when Dee is shown in a negative light it is more substantial than if it had come from another person. Their conflict develops the characters of Mama and Dee. We see Mama go through a dynamic change, starting as a mother trying to sustain a relationship with her daughter. However, in the end Mama finally gives in and burns the bridge with Dee. On the other hand, we get to better understand Dee's strained relationship with her family and Mama's changed view of her. The conflict between Mama and Dee contributes to the ongoing theme that people change over time. Mama struggled internally to accept the changes in Dee, but at the end was finally able to come to terms with it. Since Mama knew Dee as a child and raised her, she still saw Dee as her child despite her growth into a changed, mature adult. If Alice Walker chose to tell the story through another character, it would change the outlook on Dee and make the conflict less personal.

Team 8 is Great

2015-09-14 06:25:20 UTC

Alice Walker's choice of narrator in "Everyday Use" allows for a different perspective on Dee and her change from her upbringing in poverty to an educated lifestyle. Although Dee had risen from poverty and received an education, having Mama narrate the story exposed Dee's antagonistic character through her disrespectful actions and words. Mama's narration contributes to the overall theme of respecting one's heritage with an outside and understanding view of Dee

Team 2

2015-09-14 15:37:10 UTC

She chooses Mama as the narrator to empathize Dee's self-centeredness because, her mother was the one who always provided for her throughout her childhood. So, when Dee attempts to overcome circumstances that most people would consider disadvantageous, it is the disrespectful ungratefulness with which she does so, rather than the success itself that is the focus of the readers attention. When Dee requests for an heirloom quilt Mama replies, "The truth is, I said. 'I promised to give the quilts to Maggie, for when she married John Thomas.' She gasped like a bee stung her. 'Maggie can't appreciate these quilts" (Walker pg. 20.) Here, Walker utilizes the status of Mama as an authority figure and provider, to emphasize Dee's condescending disregard for the interests and lifestyle choices of her family, for the minute her mother fails to consent to her every request, she makes a rude retort that shows that she has no respect for her sisters preferences or her families lifestyle. Therefore, by using the perspective as her mother to emphasize her scornful nature, Walker characterizes Dee as an untreated and inconsiderate person.