Everyday Use

A Step Closer to Change:

Alice Walker’s Portrayal of Difference in Characters in “Everyday Use”

Some people don’t realize how truly fortunate they are, while others feel that they are fortunate and are quite content with their lives and what they have even if they have very little. In Alice Walker’s short story, “Everyday Use,” the three main characters Mama, Maggie, and Dee are examples of difference in class and ideals toward change. Walker uses their personalities to show how significant a person’s social class is when considering a change towards modernization. Each character is affected by change and modernization, according to their class position and how changes can be both positive and negative. In the story we see the broad difference of class between the three characters and how the setting of the story enhances the difference. Walker also interprets the difference of class of each character by showing the character’s opinions of their class positions through their actions. Mama, Maggie, and Dee are examples behind the change and class variations the author is describing.

In the story we see Mama as a strong, more carefree individual. She is quite humorous and does not seem to care about other people’s opinions about her and the life she leads. Mama is a member of the poorer class and she is content with how she lives. Walker uses Mama’s personality and class position to show the contrast between her and her daughter Dee. As a reader one might conclude that Walker is contrasting these two characters to show how a class change would be more drastic for Mama than it was for Dee. Mama does not look at the world the way Dee does, her idea of an accomplishment is much different. She brags about herself with the example “one winter I knocked a bull calf straight in the brain between the eyes with a sledge hammer and had the meat hung up to chill before nightfall” (590). This example leads us to conclude that she believes she is an...