ALice Walker

In Walker’s “Everyday Use,” the main character/narrator, Mrs. Johnson portrays Dee, her daughter, as a person who has “made it” (1173). Since her daughter became educated, she considers herself much more appreciative of the finer things in life than both her mother and her sister Maggie. Mrs. Johnson begins to perceive Dee as having a holier-than-thou attitude. It becomes evident when Mrs. Johnson remembers how Dee acted after attending school:

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They have accomplished more than the other negroes within the short stories, but apparently they can not escape the labels society has placed on their race and ethnicity. Moreover, after the Battle Royal, he says “Social Equality” (278) by accident during the recitation of his speech and the white citizens are completely appalled.

The manner in which Walker indicates Dee thinks she is much better than her family is more streamlined than in Ellison’s “Battle Royal”. It becomes further evident when he is asked to deliver an oration on his high school graduation day:

[…] I showed that humility was the secret. Johnson wanted to shake Dee as if to tell her “wake up Dee, you can not escape your negro status, no matter how educated you become. (Not that I believed this—how could I, remembering my grandfather?—I only believed it worked. In fact, he also had that superior attitude when he says, “I felt superior to them in my way, and I didn’t like the manner in which we were all crowded together into the servants’ elevator” (272). ” She thinks this while remembering how Dee wanted to change the way she dressed and how Dee would read to her and Maggie and treat them as underlings. Johnson thinks “Often I fought off the temptation to shake her.

Going hand in hand with Ellison’s work, Walker also makes the point of being unable to escape the status fixed upon a negro. I am only ashamed of myself for having at one time been ashamed. […] Everyone praised me and I was invited to give the speech at a gathering of the town’s leading white citizens. Those stereotypes will always remain.

Ellison attempts to make the same point Walker does, but to a lesser degree.

Common topics in this essay:
Leewanika Kemanjo, Maggie Johnson, Ellisons Walker, Battle Royal, Social Equality, Royal Everyday, Booker Washington, , Walkers Everyday, Royal Walker, battle royal, main character, negro status, escape negro, main character/narrator, battle royal main, eventually escape, status fixed, placed race, walkers everyday, royal main, ellisons battle royal, society placed race, negro label society, main character escape,

Approximate Word count = 1274
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

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