In "Everyday Life", Alice Walker is probably revealing a part of her own life as a sharecropper's daughter. As the story of Mamma, Maggie, and Dee unfolds, taking place at the home of Mamma and Maggie, much is revealed about the character of all three women. It is apparent, however, that Mamma is still the head of the family, and a very strong, no nonsense kind of person.
             Mamma describes a life of hardship, poverty, and sharing that has made her the women she is. Mamma is a physically strong woman who has "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" (107). The poverty of her life and the "... three rooms [of the house]..." (108) do not seem to bother her at all. Mamma is a very complex person. She loves her children enough to sacrifice for Dee "...to send her to Augusta to school" (107) and to listen to Maggie read to her, even though "She stumbles along..." (108) and "...is not bright" (108), yet she can also be tough with the same children, as she shows when she "...snatched the quilts out of Miss Wangero's hands" (112).
             As Mamma describes her dream of being on a television talk show with Dee, it is apparent that she realizes Dee is ashamed of her for being "a large boned woman with rough, man working hands" (107). There is wistfulness in her description also, a longing to be someone else with a "...quick witty tongue" (107) but she seems to accept that this is who she is and who she will always be.
             Mamma accepts not only herself, but also other people, for who and what they are. Even though her oldest daughter, Dee, has a family name that Mamma "...probably could have carried back beyond the Civil War through the branches" (110), she is willing to call her by whatever name she prefers. Mamma seems to be p
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