Everyday Use and Why I Term Paper

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The solid fact that Sister has remained a fixture in the house and should have the greater claim to her mother's attention is dazzled away by the return of Stella-Rondo. The mother's indecision and vacillation is somewhat comic as she continues to insist that "I prefer to take my children's word for anything when it's humanly possible" (5). Deciding which child to believe is her character's conflict. Because Welty portrays her as a weak character who would rather slap her daughter than hear the truth, it is not a surprise that she takes the path of least resistance and sides with the flashy Stella-Rondo. Her vain foolishness provides a sardonic comedy that colors the tone of the story.

An important difference in the styles of both stories is that they exist for different purposes. Alice Walker's story makes an argument for things to remain the same in the lives and setting of the characters. Her depiction of Dee as a clear outsider who had always hated the family home reinforces the strength with which the other characters are willing to love and defend their heritage. While Dee had laughed as the old house had burned, Maggie was literally scarred by the event. The situation of the story involving the visit and rejection of Dee underscores the author's purpose. Having Maggie find a real smile because Dee is leaving in a huff allows Mama a happy ending where "the two of us sat there just enjoying, until it was time to go in the house and go to bed" (826). Contentment in their setting and the certainty that Maggie and Mama have the correct appreciation of everyday objects colors the tone and directs the style of the whole story.

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Welty's story is also a first person narrative, but it exists for an entirely different purpose. As the title suggests, Sister uses her story to explain and justify why she chose to make herself an outsider by leaving the family home. Although she is clear to enlist the reader's sympathy as she battles Stella-Rondo's unjust accusations -- she says things like "Do you remember who it was really said that?" (7) -- she is also clear in saying that it was her choice to leave. When she feels the tide turning against her, she takes action and uproots her possessions from the home. Claiming, "If I have anything at all I have pride," (8) she loads her things and moves to the post office of which she is the mistress. Although she had remained at home, the return of Stella-Rondo uprooted her and she pulled up stakes.

Both stories employ a first person narrative that is conversational in style and informal in tone with comparable plot complications. The importance of material objects and territory is a constant voice in each story. While Walker's main characters reject the outsider sister and settle happily into their everyday pattern, Welty's main character takes the objects that are important to her and puts them to everyday use in a different setting. Her comic and defiant move to the post office is much lighter in tone than Walker's story. In literature, some characters like Maggie have their setting ingrained in them, but some characters like Sister can make their surrounding suit them. Had Maggie been forced out of her home by the returning Dee, there would be nothing satisfying or humorous about it at all.

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