Battle Royal
Alice Walker demonstrates external conflict between family members in "Everyday Use."Walker illustrates the mistake by some of placing the significance of family background solely in material objects. Walker presents Mama and Maggie, the younger daughter, as an example that heritage passes from one generation to another through a learning experience. However, Dee, the older daughter, doesn't see heritage this way and is more materialistic. When Dee visits Mama and Maggie, the contrast of the characters becomes a conflict because Dee seems to be more into herself rather than her family and the meaning of their possessions. Mama and Maggie symbolize the connection between generations and the heritage that passed between them. Mama and Maggie continue to live together in their old shack of a home. Mama is a big and strong woman who does all the needed upkeep of the land.I am a large, big-boned woman with rough, man-working hands. In the winter, I wear overalls during the day. I can kill and clean a hog as mercilessly as a man. I can work outside
Dee plans to display the quilts or "Hang them," (Walker 294) unlike Maggie who may "put them to everyday use" (Walker 294). Dee's valuing of the quilt conflicts with Mama's perception of the quilts. After Mama gives Maggie the quilts, Dee says, "You just don't understand your heritage" (Walker 295). Unlike Mama who is rough and man-like, and Maggie who is shy and scared, Dee is confident, where "Hesitation is no part of her nature," (Walker289) Also, Dee has a 'modern' education, having been sent "to a school in Augusta" (Walker 290). Dee criticizes Mama for not understanding heritage when, in fact, Dee fails to really understand heritage. Contrasting with Mama and Maggie, Dee seeks her heritage without understanding the heritage itself. Because of Maggie's connection with the quilts, Mama takes the quilts from Dee and gives them to Maggie. (Walker 289) And Maggie is the daughter, "homely and ashamed of the burn scars down her arms and legs," (Walker 288) who helps Mama by making "the yard so clean and wavy" (Walker 288) and washes dishes "in the kitchen over the dishpan" (Walker 293). Yet, Mama does know the knowledge and history and knows that Maggie does too. She stumbles along good-naturedly She knows she is not bright" (Walker 290). Dee attempts to connect with her racial heritage by taking "picture after picture of me sitting there in front of the house with Maggie She never takes a shot without making sure the house is included" (Walker 291). However, Mama "promised to give them quilts to Maggie, for when she marries " (Walker 294). all day, One winter I knocked a bull calf straight in the brain with a sledgehammer and had the meat hung up to chill before nightfall. Dee considers the quilt priceless because the quilt is hand-stitched, not machined, by saying, "There are all pieces of dresses Grandma used to wear. Dee mistakenly places heritage in what she owns, not what she knows.
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Acceptance Essays
