Term
|
Definition
| author of “Everyday Use,” came from a sharecropper family. She was shot in the ye by her brother by a BB gun, so she was blind in one eye. She was also big in Civil Rights |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| the way Dee goes back to her African roots even though she is American she feels like she has a piece of her history even though it is not hers. Movement that the African Americans were going in at the time. They didn’t want to be associated with slavery anymore; they wanted to be associated with Africa. She changes her name and hair |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| tells a story of a mother’s conflicted relationship with her two daughters. On its surface, “Everyday Use” tells how a mother gradually rejects the superficial values of her older, successful daughter in favor of the practical values of her younger, less fortunate daughter. On a deeper level, Alice Walker is exploring the concept of heritage as it applies to African-Americans. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| the main theme of the story. Dee has fallen away from her African-American tradition/heritage, but Maggie and Mrs. Johnson still follow it. Dee becomes more and more arrogant as she loses her poor black traditions and takes up the rich African-royalty ones. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| a very shy girl that was burned in the house fire. She is Dee’s sister and Mrs. Johnson’s daughter. She is not as smart or pretty as her sister, but has a much more pleasant personality. She acts as a contrast to her sister (Maggie is selfless while Dee is selfish). She is a static character – she overcomes her shyness by confronting Dee “She can have them, Mama…I can ‘member Grandma Dee without the quilts.” Heroine of the story; she valued the tradition and upheld the theme of the story. She may not have been the smart one or the pretty one, but she was proud of her heritage. She knew who she was and was ok with herself. She has a true understanding of her heritage, and represents the repressed African Americans who had suffered slavery and discrimination |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| on Maggie, from the fire that burned their house down 10-12 years before the story is being told. Represent Maggie’s physical and mental frailness; she acts the way she looks. Symbol of the past. Maggie was more affected by what happened. Dee is very removed from the family situation. She saw the fire as an escape. Maggie has the scars and she is bound to her house and the traditions. Represents slavery and discrimination that African Americans had previously suffered. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Alice Walker the narrator of the story. She has a strong traditional background supported by her job (sharecropper). At the end of the story, she sides with Maggie, showing the authors point of view (that people are better off with a traditional background). takes on role of mother and father. Defies the gender stereotype. Contrast because she’s not good at communicating yet she is the narrator. She doesn’t like being read to yet she’s telling a story. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| a good lucking, successful woman. She is very arrogant and materialistic. She is embarrassed by the lack of wealth and flashiness in her family. She pushes away from her African-American heritage to get closer to the royalty of African history. She doesn’t want the slave history in her past. Tradition vs. museum aesthetics. Dee represents the Black Power movement, as she ostentatiously shows off her culture. However, this cultural aspect of Dee is very superficial. She does not regard her family history, ignoring her true heritage. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Dee’s boyfriend. He shows that Dee is trying to move away from her old life. He is part of African roots. He has dread locks and his language and the names. Contrasts john Thomas Very similar to Dee in that his display of heritage is superficial; He dresses as an African Muslim and has a long beard, but he admits that he does not practice the African Muslim lifestyle. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| the man Maggie is predetermined to marry. Has mossy teeth, but Maggie is still marrying him. He shows a difference between Maggie and Dee. Maggie gets this guy with mossy teeth while Dee gets a noble African- American. Represents the simplistic quality of life that you can be poor and happy. It’s not what you have but who you are. Furthers the distinctions between Maggie and Dee |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Mrs. Johnson is a sharecropper. It represents her hardworking attitude and the fact that she works under someone else (probably a white man). Shows that she is “stepped on” by people with similar culture/values and Dee/Wangero shows gender bending. It breaks the gender stereotype. Mrs. Johnson is a hard worker and does what she needs to do to survive. She doesn’t even own the land. Poorest of the poor. She takes pride in the practical aspects of her nature and has not spent a great deal of time contemplating abstract concepts such as heritage. However, her lack of education and refinement does not prevent her from having an inherent understanding of heritage based on her love and respect for those who came before her. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Made by Grandma Dee; represents family tradition. Dee wanted them to hang and use as ornaments, while Maggie wanted to use them for “everyday use.” Dee shows (philistine) materialism- wanted to make something pretty out of them, while Maggie wanted to actually use them like her grandmother would want her to. The quilts were out of style before Dee went to college and didn’t want them, when she came back they were in style and she wanted them. Valuable mentally. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| like quilts, showed tradition. Made by Uncle Buddy, Dee wanted them. Contained butt-cheek marks & it; showed their use, the marks also made it valuable because it showed the use of it. Dee didn’t appreciate their use, again wanted them to use as ornaments. She wanted to show off her past for the wrong reasons. Make it like a museum and not practical. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| same as bench, quilts. Contained hand marks from use and the top was broken. It was whittled out of a tree. It was wanted so it could be shown off. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Dee wanted to use things in a museum fashion instead of putting them to everyday use. She saw the quilt, butter churn, etc as things that can be shown off for their struggles instead of for their everyday use. It’s the stories behind the items. Disassociates you from your past. Makes them into objects of observation not admiration. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| this was how Dee was going to put these things she took to use. Dee didn’t show these objects off for beauty, necessarily. I’m not sure benches with butt-cheek marks would enhance the décor of my room. Rather, her motives were to emulate many of the ideas of the Black Power movement. something to be studied, not used. Everything she would have taken would be put to make an anthropological exhibit. This is how she treats her family as well. For example, when she takes pictures of them, she only cares about showing the way they live and trying to aestheticize their poverty. She did not consider the real significance of the objects—just how they would appear. |
|
|
Term
| I can 'member grandma Dee without the Quilts |
|
Definition
| said by Maggie, this means that she hangs on to her heritage. She understands her heritage in the sense that she is living proof of it, and she remembers what grandma Dee was like through all the things she has taught her and the times they shared together |
|
|
