Everyday Use

Written by Alice Walker Everyday use was written by Alice Walker who was a Black female writer who was born in America.So the theme of her most books were about calling women to fight against for their owe right. He experienced a lot, witnessing many black women was cruel treated. So she came up with the idea womanism.

At that time,it is serious about the right of women . And Alice walker was one of the woman pay due attention in this problem.Due to this idea, she began to publish many books about the life of black women and encouraging them to vindicate their right. Everyday use is one of the books which was about how to inherit the black culture.everyday use was a significant book to describe a story between a traditional mother and two daughters. The older sister was called Dee,the other called Maggie.Dee was a fashion girl.,she loved beautiful things,and making up herself.Maggie was a shy girl,her body was hurt by the fire happening many years ago.

One day, Dee came home to handle the generations. There was a confliction between them. When her mother saw this,she did a thing no one thought, her mother grabbed the quilts from Dee ,and put them to Maggie’s knee. She thought Maggie was a shy , dull and unattractive girl she was too shy to try for her own. She felt ashamed of her ugliness, so she always hid herself.she want to show her respect to the heritage. However, she wanted it for the wrong reason, saying that she would use it only for decoration. when they had dinner Dee want butter churn, because she knew this is her uncle carved it from a tree.

Dee was very \"educated, worldly, and deeply determined\"; She didn't let anything get in the way of getting what she wants. Meanwhile,she was a selfish girl.

The two daughter had different characters. The story surrounded quilts happened. Even that Maggie did not fight for her beneficiary. She put up with it, and gave the quilts to her sister. When they discussed how to assign the heritage,Dee expressed actively what she

wanted, while Maggie did not.

Another example was when she wanted the quilts that Mama had. She stated that she wanted them because of the generations of clothing and effort put into making the quilt, showing her appreciation for her heritage. There are three main roles in the story, Dee, Maggie and mama. Mama narrated the characteristic of her two daughters. In the story,mama was a traditional black woman, Maggie lived with her. She knew her two daughters a lot.

Maggie was an innocent girl, she was ashamed of her ugly. while her appearance did not defeat her, she was grateful. she was so modest.the story was surrounded by how to inherit their grandma's stuff.

the story seemed so simple, but it had great significance to us. Even the two daughters are quite different, mama treated them as equal. She liked them. when the two daughters were fighting for the quilts, The mama snatched the quilts from Dee. because she knew that Dee did not really want the quilts but to show them.

Dee was so willful that she thought everyone should satisfy her. she paid little patient on others. she only knew what she needed and what benefited for her. After having read this story,we can know easily that mama was a traditional black woman, she had little education.while she had a daughter,Dee.she had high education.she was so proud of her daughter.However when Dee came home with a white man. she was afraid and not dare to face the unknown while man.

what's more, when Dee asked mama not to ask her \"Dee\\"Orangery\". mama didn't rebut her but accept her new name. Obviously, mama knew that Dee wanted to put away her figure as a black. Dee was the symbol of the new culture, she knew much but she want to abandon her status.

On the contrary, Maggie stood for the black culture, she was pavid and always stood behind her mother. She admired her sister but not overcome her coward.when fighting

for

the

quilts,she

accepted

the

machine-stitched ones, which Dee does not want.

Though Maggie was younger than her sister, while she knew concession. The quilts were not only the quilts but standing for the black culture. From all this, we can get that the Mama in the fiction is a black woman who is protecting the Black Culture and the true meaning of black art.

Dee thought highly of outward of the inheritance. She did not really want to inherit,but to show.The author's purpose was to tell us to value the essential of the culture, to make much of the practical valuable. though inherit the culture, should we use it everyday. In our daily life, we should always remind of ourselves.

Don't be puzzle by what you see but by what you believe. \"seeing is believing\" is not always right. Everything you can not see the surface, but the inner. As the story, not

to show it everyday, but to use it everyday. 郑真真 英语一班

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