Analysis of "Everyday Use", Dee's Character
             Alice Walker's short story, "Everyday Use", is about the changes that an American black woman undergoes during the rights movement of the 60's. Dee, one of the story characters, is characterized as a person who never struggles to get what she wants, ambitious, and in search of her heritage.
             Alice Walker's story characterizes Dee as a spoiled young woman. Dee has never struggled for anything and has never been denied a thing in her life. Things come easy for her and always seem to "hold life in the palm of one hand." Her spoiled attitude is well demonstrated in the story when she wants to take possession of her grandmother's quilts. She refused to take a different set of quilts by replying to her mother, "No, I don't want those." Even her mother for just a brief moment thought that the quilts already belonged to Dee. Her own mother was aware that Dee always got what she wanted and could not confront her. To everyone's surprise, Dee's mother reacted differently this time. Mamma Johnson took the quilts from Dee and gave them to Maggie. Dee was not pleased, threw a tantrum and left after not accomplishing her objective.
             Dee is an ambitious, bright and a confident character. Confidence overpowers her personality and gives her the determination to achieve and accomplish great things in life. Her confidence and desire to learn makes her different from her mother and sister. Walker writes, "She used to read to us without pity...she washed us in a river of make-believe, burned us with a lot of knowledge we didn't necessarily need to know." Dee's ambition is clearly expressed by the author. She was burning with knowledge and as her knowledge grew she creates a fantasy world.
             Dee is a confident person that is not frightened to "look at anyone in the eye". During the rights movement it was unusual for a black women...