Everyday use answers. "Everyday Use" Quiz 2022-12-15

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In Alice Walker's short story "Everyday Use," the character of Mama struggles with the conflicting desires to preserve her African American heritage and to ensure that her children live comfortable, modern lives. At the heart of this conflict is the question of how best to "use" the objects and traditions that represent her heritage.

Mama's older daughter, Dee, represents the modern, urban African American who seeks to reject traditional ways in favor of a more mainstream, assimilated lifestyle. Dee is described as being "light-skinned, with nice hair" and wearing "earrings of dyed blue plastic" and "a dress of the sort that is printed with a hundred little pictures of Egypt." These details suggest that Dee is trying to adopt a more cosmopolitan, exoticized image of African culture, rather than embracing the authentic traditions of her ancestors.

In contrast, Mama's younger daughter, Maggie, is described as being "dark as a forest" and "ashamed of the burn scars that mark her face and arms." Mama believes that Maggie, who has lived a more isolated, rural life, is more connected to their heritage and has a deeper appreciation for the objects and traditions that represent it.

The central conflict in the story revolves around the fate of a quilt that Mama has made from scraps of fabric that have been passed down through her family for generations. Dee, who has recently changed her name to Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo, wants to take the quilt and display it as a decorative object, insisting that it has "more education than [Mama] has." Mama initially resists Dee's request, recognizing that the quilt is more than just a decorative object – it is a tangible connection to her family's history and a symbol of their resilience and strength.

However, Mama ultimately decides to give the quilt to Maggie, recognizing that she will value it for its sentimental and cultural significance, rather than simply using it as a decorative object. In doing so, Mama asserts her own authority and autonomy as a woman and a member of the African American community, choosing to preserve and pass on the traditions of her ancestors rather than allowing them to be appropriated and commodified by others.

In conclusion, "Everyday Use" raises important questions about the ways in which we use and value the objects and traditions that represent our heritage. It suggests that it is important to recognize and respect the cultural significance of these things, rather than simply using them as superficial symbols of identity or as decorative objects. Ultimately, Mama's decision to give the quilt to Maggie is a powerful statement about the importance of preserving and passing on the traditions of her ancestors, rather than allowing them to be lost or appropriated by others.

Everyday Use: Character List

everyday use answers

In other words, stories have the power to unfold the elements and factors of the world and place them in a linear and accessible system, where we can analyze and understand them. She wanted nice things and stylish clothes. In the end, Wangero severs her connection with her real heritage for an imagined stylized heritage; in her drive to create a "new day" for Black Americans, she has also dismissed the very people that have shaped it. Mama descrives herself as an uneducater, large, big-boned woman with rough, man- working hands. The narration is in first-person voice portrayed by Mama.

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Everyday Use Everyday Use Summary and Analysis

everyday use answers

This also tells us that Maggie sees past the object and cares more deeply about the people who made them. The conflict further presents a different point of views on how the African-American culture must be preserved and appreciated by the generations. Walker enrolled in Spelman College in 1961 and later transferred to Sarah Lawrence College, where she graduated in 1965. After she greets her family, Dee returns to the car to take out a Polaroid camera. The pressed-in smoothness of the wooden benches represents the countless family and friends who sat at the family table.

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Everyday Use Essay Questions

everyday use answers

PART A: Which TWO of the following best identify the central themes of this story? Maggie also knows how to quilt herself, a skill she learned from her Grandma Dee and Aunt Dee Dicie , and she will be able to continue the tradition. Symbols What is the role of education in Walker's "Everyday Use"? Maggie is reflected as a timid, weak girl with unattractive physical properties. Humans use the environment to their advantage, but sometimes the environment becomes a trap. She is good-hearted, kind, and dutiful. Dee seeks to fetishize and reject the existence that comprises Maggie's everyday world. The usage of everyday Use African-American household things are the symbols that paint the picture for the readers. Well, I think your heritage is something of somewhat you can control because if it is given to you it is yous you can do whatever you wish to up to a certain degree.

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Everyday Use Essay

everyday use answers

This is indeed true, yet Dee's adoption of Wangero and her Ghanaian greeting read as a superficial attempt to bury a past she despises. The system believes in providing the teachers with all the available resources that can guarantee success for them. All these everyday use materials are used as a symbol to represent the significance of cultural and heritage of an African-American family. The readers are introduced about Maggie and her scars, that was caused to her a long time ago when their house caught fire. Ans: The speaker is confident that things will change for the better.


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Everyday Use Study Guide

everyday use answers

Burned in a house fire as a young girl, Maggie lacks confidence and shuffles when she walks, often fleeing or hanging in the background when there are other people around, unable to make eye contact. Let us now talk about what is CommonLit all about and how to sign in as a student. She has also used her education as a sort of weapon over her mother and sister, intimidating them with her intellect and showing off her achievements. Dee and her companion are an unsettling presence in the home, and without them there, Maggie and Mama are free to enjoy their evening free from scorn and judgment. Dee is also very intelligent and well suited to schoolwork.

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Everyday use by Alice walker?

everyday use answers

Maggie smiles a genuine smile, and the two women share some snuff. She obviously has no plans to move or to try to make a different life for herself. Mama The narrator of the story. She is loving, forgiving, independent and frank. Ans: Showing sudden irritation Q2.


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"Everyday Use" Quiz

everyday use answers

What is ironic about this? Read an Maggie The shy, retiring daughter who lives with Mama. In the context of the text, what makes a family? She also refuses to not have fancy jewelry like the others, so she borrows a necklace from a wealthy friend she thought the necklace was expensive but then loses it. PART A: What prompts the narrator to refuse to give Dee the quilts she wants? That means that despite all the discrimination against blacks, the author is part of the United States. Her mind craved education. Education was not something Mama had access to; the school closed in second grade and no one ever asked why.


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CommonLit Answers Key 2022 [FREE ACCESS]

everyday use answers

While on the journey, they experience many trials and tribulations and face many dangers. His desire to make a good first impression makes him seem awkward. It was published in 1973 as a part of the short story collection In Love and Trouble. Dee wants to top and the dasher to the churn and Mama gave those to her. The defining of quilts can be noticed as the introduction of heritage and history behind it. One who makes it out alive just because. Maggie is, however, still young and Mama fails to accept that her life has possibilities.

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