everyday use
Tillie Olsen's I Stand Here Ironing, and Alice Walker's Everyday Use, both address the issue of a mother's guilt over how her children turn out. Both mothers blamed themselves for their daughter's problems. While I Stand Here Ironing is obviously about the mousy daughter, in Everyday Use this is camouflaged by the fact most of the action and dialog involves the mother and older sister Dee. Neither does the mother in Everyday Use say outright that she feels guilty, but we catch a glimpse of it when Dee is trying very hard to claim the handmade quilts. The mother says she did something she had never done before, "hugged Maggie to me," then took the quilts from Dee and gave them to Maggie. In I Stand Here Ironing the mother tells us she feels guilty for the way her daughter Emily is, for the things she (the mother) did and did not do. The mother's neighbor even tells her she should "smile at Em
Not everyone can be polished and successful in worldly ways. I believe this is more evident in Everyday Use, demonstrated by the dream of the TV show. " Maggie's mother seems to have reinforced this by being unable to say no to Dee also. She thinks her sister has held life always in the palm of one hand, that "no" is a word the world would never say to her. Maybe that's why Maggie was smiling in the end, her mother finally accepted her as is. " Again towards the end of the story Emily's mother admits "my wisdom came too late. She tells us how Maggie is not bright, how she shuffles when she walks. The attitude of the mothers towards the polished daughters borders on contempt. " It's also pointed out that Dee and Susan are self-centered and selfish while Maggie and Emily are caring and giving. " Emily "thin and dark and foreign-looking at a time when every little girl was supposed to look or thought she should look a chubby blonde replica of Shirley Temple. Comparing her with Dee whose feet vwere always neat-looking, as if God himself had shaped them.
Common topics in this essay:
Everyday Maggie,
Stand Ironing,
Emily Maggie,
Maggie Emily,
Dee Neither,
Comparing Dee,
Emily Emily,
Walker's Everyday,
Dee Emily,
stand ironing,
Dee Susan,
emily maggie,
mother tells,
feels guilty,
emily's mother,
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Acceptance Essays
