Themes Using Symbols Settings and Point-Of-View Term Paper

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Alice Walker

Themes and Characterization in the short story "Everyday Use" by Alice Walker

American literature of the 20th century was known for its subsistence to ideologies that have proliferated for years, as society responded to act upon the continuing oppression and inequality that some sectors of the society still experience even during the period of modernism and social progress. One of these oppressed sectors of the society is the black American sector, which is composed of the African-Americans and second-generation African-Americans. The emergence of the 20th century, unfortunately, did not signal a change in society's perception and judgment of black Americans as this sector continued to have prejudiced, unprivileged, and poor lives.

This facet of American society was mirrored effectively in the short story "Everyday Use" by Alice Walker. In it, she mirrored the poverty and hardships black Americans had to go through despite the relative progress society had experienced. It is important to note that Walker did not intend to address and attribute prejudice against black Americans to white Americans, but surprisingly and sadly, to her fellow black Americans as well, who have also played a significant role in perpetuating and proliferating oppression against this sector of the society.

Given this social reality that Walker depicted in "Everyday Use," this paper provides an analysis of the dominant themes and characterization shown in it. This paper posits that "Everyday Use" was a story that centered on the continuing oppression of black Americans, primarily because the sector had been assimilated with American culture, influencing black Americans with the prejudice and judgmental attitude that society had always treated African-Americans, black Americans, and their native African heritage. Through the themes and characters depicted in the story, Walker was able to emphasize on this point, creating the contrasting characters of Maggie and Dee to illustrate the animosity that exists among black Americans who have been thoroughly assimilated with American society.

The story highlighted two dominant themes that are essential in developing the characterization of Dee and Maggie. The first theme centered on the evident prejudiced held against black Americans by their fellow black Americans. It is apt to say that Walker intended to extend the message that black Americans, by holding prejudiced views against their fellow black Americans, perpetuated the prejudice and oppression against them. That is, the oppressed contributed to their own oppression.

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This important theme was reflected early on in the story, wherein readers witnessed how Dee, being the educated member of the family, looked down on her mother and Maggie because of their poverty and lack of education. This fact was not unknown to the mother, who was also the narrator of the story. In the mother's own words, she described how their 'low status' in life had been a source of scorn and frustration for Dee: "She used to read to us without pity; forcing words, lies, other folks' habits, whole lives upon us two, sitting trapped and ignorant underneath her voice."

This passage reflected a lot about the mother's psyche and perception of her life as a black American. For her, education was both a goal and a barrier that benefited and cursed her family. Educating Dee made her 'immune' to the suffering her mother and her sister Maggie went through; however, it was also the family's curse, as the mother and Maggie involuntarily became controlled and eventually succumbed to Dee's dominant personality. Lacking the education made the mother submissive to Dee and her opinion about their life. Dee's low regard for her and Maggie showed that they had also succumbed to the social institution of education, becoming 'labeled' people whose selves are determined by the society, particularly the educated class.

Though the mother and Maggie appeared submissive to Dee, Walker portrayed this behavior of submissiveness as a form of oppression, a negative behavior that must not be tolerated. The author made it clear that educating Dee was not a bad decision, but for Dee to undermine her family just because they preferred to live simple, humble, rural, and traditional lives did not mean they are any lesser than Dee herself. This family dynamics among the mother, Dee, and Maggie reflected the development of prejudice among learned black Americans who have, in the course of acquiring their education, inevitably immersed themselves with the dominant white American society. This oppression by the oppressed themselves was aptly put by the mother, who reasoned, "She washed….....

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