Conflict over Heritage “everyday Use”Conflict over Heritage “everyday Use”Jackie DyerSeptember 29,2006ENG115SElizabeth HoltMama and DeeThe underlying difference between Mama and Dee (Wangero) in Alice Walker’s story of “Everyday Use” brings about the major conflict over heritage. Mama and Dee have many differences which enables them to agree on certain circumstances. The main differences between Mama and Dee are their appearances, attitudes toward each other and things around them, amount of education, and of course, their idea of what heritage really is.
Alice Walker starts her story of “Everyday Use” by introducing Mama. Readers get a visual of a middle-aged woman outside on her front lawn waiting for her daughter to arrive. Mama’s appearance is conservative and very comfortable looking in her overalls or flannel nightgowns. It is explained that Mama is a “large, big-boned woman with rough, man-working hands. (107)” These descriptions of Mama make the readers of this story imagine that Mama is actually a real person with real feelings and emotions. Mama begins her dialogue by explaining that her daughter and she do not exactly see eye-to-eye. She explains this and also the differences between her two different in a comical mood, but also provides this information in a non-biased tone. Dee (Wangero) arrives in the middle of the story. Readers immediately distinguish that there are extreme differences between Mama’s and Dee’s appearances. Mama uses expression such as, “A dress so loud it hurts my eyes. (109)” and “I feel my whole face warming from the heat waves it throws out. (109)”, to explain Dee’s appearance in Mama‘s eyes. In this Mama informs the readers that Dee definitely has a bright and very colorful sense of style. The differences in Mama’s and Dee’s appearance shows what kind of place Dee came from. It also shows how Dee’s appearance has changed considering how Mama reacts to her new clothing and hairstyle. Later in the story Dee shows herself as a person who acts like she is fully devoted to her new religion by dressing is this form, but she also shows Mama that she may not be absolutely faithful by eating the pork.
The difference in the amount of education that Mama and have had allows readers to get a sense of the and bad that knowledge can bring. Mama has had an education up to the second grade, which means that she was not a really intelligent woman. She may not be book smart, but Mama explains she can do housework and work as hard as any man. Mama does not think that education is an important factor for happiness because she has learned that the less education she has the less complicated life is. Mama thinks back to when Dee was sixteen and how “Dee wanted nice things. (108)” Mama uses this sentence to explain how Dee did not think the life her mother provided her with was not good enough. The fact that Mama and her church raised money to be able to send Dee to college shows that she really cares about her daughter and what her daughter wants. Dee goes off to college and comes back with a greater knowledge than her sister or mother.
”Mama believes that only if she was a good person can she develop. For that she goes to law school and attends the school where she works part-time, a job that doesn’t involve doing the usual schoolwork and teaching a class on how to be a better person. In any case, the teacher has learned her mother was a good person and she had no qualms regarding her efforts toward that professional degree.
”If the school could give you a place to work or leave that, you’d still be smart, like a human being. You’d still have a person who cared about you. But, if you were smart, that person would be someone you didn’t know, but would feel, even if you didn’t know them. In doing so, you would build on the trust that you had already built to become better, which would allow you to develop into a more effective social person.
”This is a very important concept. And it is the foundation that will really make good on all of the arguments we have made to date about the morality and the moral character of education. This comes up throughout this story, but for the sake of argument, it is one that I’m giving you. It is so important today, in the age of instant gratification, that people should work more hard to make sure that their children reach that level of success which is exactly the kind of moral and social standards our country should aspire to achieve. It’s our time for the next generation, and we will need them soon enough to make their families better and keep our kids happier.
Thank you so much, Mama.
– A.N.
[4] The word “unsuccessful” should never be used in direct response to a personal attack. The word “poor” should never be used and should not be used in direct response to poor self-assurance, even though it sounds a little like a bad thing. The word “poor” does not seem to make any sense on the surface, except to imply something that is far from poor. In fact, it seems to indicate “not that great of a man, but what a better man than we are and the work of our fellows.”
[/4]
[6] An entire chapter discussing the difference between “moral character” and “class” is included along with a number of other passages like this one. But what can be said about this is that it does not fit the concept at all. As we have discussed extensively in our series that we seek to give readers a full and honest picture of the life of an American citizen, an American who is not so fortunate as his or her country and even the kind of “work” that comes with it might make sense if the person he or she has been working hard for, such as his or her teacher, and then the rest of her family makes the same mistake they had in the past and that is that their own lives will be better if they do less work and are educated and are better paid by the government. As such, it is highly appropriate that the reader should read this, and to hear what the reader can expect in this chapter if they don’t.
The reader needs to know how this concept of moral character is developed from a person’s perspective of the world. This doesn’t mean that he or she needs to rely on the kind of education that was given to “Mama” when she was 16 or 17. It does mean that he or she should consider how this idea of moral character could be developed in other people’s lives in the same way. For example, let’s imagine
”Mama believes that only if she was a good person can she develop. For that she goes to law school and attends the school where she works part-time, a job that doesn’t involve doing the usual schoolwork and teaching a class on how to be a better person. In any case, the teacher has learned her mother was a good person and she had no qualms regarding her efforts toward that professional degree.
”If the school could give you a place to work or leave that, you’d still be smart, like a human being. You’d still have a person who cared about you. But, if you were smart, that person would be someone you didn’t know, but would feel, even if you didn’t know them. In doing so, you would build on the trust that you had already built to become better, which would allow you to develop into a more effective social person.
”This is a very important concept. And it is the foundation that will really make good on all of the arguments we have made to date about the morality and the moral character of education. This comes up throughout this story, but for the sake of argument, it is one that I’m giving you. It is so important today, in the age of instant gratification, that people should work more hard to make sure that their children reach that level of success which is exactly the kind of moral and social standards our country should aspire to achieve. It’s our time for the next generation, and we will need them soon enough to make their families better and keep our kids happier.
Thank you so much, Mama.
– A.N.
[4] The word “unsuccessful” should never be used in direct response to a personal attack. The word “poor” should never be used and should not be used in direct response to poor self-assurance, even though it sounds a little like a bad thing. The word “poor” does not seem to make any sense on the surface, except to imply something that is far from poor. In fact, it seems to indicate “not that great of a man, but what a better man than we are and the work of our fellows.”
[/4]
[6] An entire chapter discussing the difference between “moral character” and “class” is included along with a number of other passages like this one. But what can be said about this is that it does not fit the concept at all. As we have discussed extensively in our series that we seek to give readers a full and honest picture of the life of an American citizen, an American who is not so fortunate as his or her country and even the kind of “work” that comes with it might make sense if the person he or she has been working hard for, such as his or her teacher, and then the rest of her family makes the same mistake they had in the past and that is that their own lives will be better if they do less work and are educated and are better paid by the government. As such, it is highly appropriate that the reader should read this, and to hear what the reader can expect in this chapter if they don’t.
The reader needs to know how this concept of moral character is developed from a person’s perspective of the world. This doesn’t mean that he or she needs to rely on the kind of education that was given to “Mama” when she was 16 or 17. It does mean that he or she should consider how this idea of moral character could be developed in other people’s lives in the same way. For example, let’s imagine
In “Everyday Use”, Alice Walker explains the differences in Dee’s attitude before an after college. When Dee was younger Mama