Preparing for Literary Analysis- A Pre-Writing Exercise on Everyday Use by Alice Walker

Preparing for Literary Analysis- A Pre-Writing Exercise on Everyday Use by Alice Walker

What do you know about the mother of the story?

The mother of the story is a biased mother who looks up to and praises her eldest child Dee/Wangero, illustrated when she says,” Dee, though. She would always look anyone in the eye. Hesitation was no part of her nature.” In contrast, she looks down on Maggie, illustrated when she says.” Have you ever seen a lame animal, perhaps a dog run over by some careless person rich enough to own a car, sidle up to someone ignorant enough to be kind to him? That is the way my Maggie walks.”

When we have a first-person narrator, we have to decide if she is reliable or unreliable. Do you trust this narrator? Why or why not?

The narrator of the story is a mother of two children. She is reliable and can be trusted because she understands and accepts herself and her surroundings. In the story, she accepts that her body is not flattering and the work she does when she says,” In real life, I am a large, big. boned woman with a rough man. working hands. In the winter, I wear flannel nightgowns to bed and overalls during the day. I can kill and clean a hog as mercilessly as a man.” Her acceptance of her situation indicates she can be trusted. Hire our assignment writing services in case your assignment is devastating you.

What assumptions does the narrator have about her daughters? Do you agree? Why?

She assumes her daughter Dee is put together while Maggie is scared and insecure. I agree with the assumptions she makes about Maggie but not Dee. Maggie is insecure, illustrated in her discomfort when Dee is around. In the passage, the narrator says,” Maggie will be nervous until after her sister goes:” In contrast, Dee is misunderstood because the mother assumes she knows her when she says,” No doubt when Dee sees it she will want to tear it down.” contradicted when Dee comes back and takes pictures of the house.

How would the story be different if it were told from Dee/Wangero’s perspective?

The story from Dee’s perspective would celebrate change and intercultural cultures but not her own culture. Illustrated when she changes her name and even says,” Your heritage,” to her mother about the quilts and takes pictures to represent her culture.

Mama and Dee/Wangero have different ideas about personal development. What are they? What are the consequences of their differences?

Dee believes development is about change, illustrated when she moves away and even changes her name to Wangero. In contrast, Mama believes development is accomplished in their everyday life, illustrated in her maintaining her livelihood and home structure similar to the one they previously had. Consequences are Dee moving away from Mama and changing her name while Mama stays behind with Maggie.

Based on your answers to all of the above, offer your opinion of Mama’s decision to give the quilt to Maggie.

The mother chose to give Maggie the quilt because it represented the daily lives of their grandmother and aunt and was promised to Maggie, who spent her everyday life with their mother. Mama says in the passage,” “Some of the pieces, like those lavender ones, come from old clothes her mother handed down to her,” representing their history.

How does Walker define heritage?

Walker defines heritage as diverse by using the characters to symbolically illustrate the diverse culture and heritage, from the difficult life of Mama and Maggie to Dee’s partner having a Muslim name and culture by refusing to eat pork to that of Dee, who chooses to pass off her family culture through pictures.

What is Walker’s purpose? What is the central problem she is addressing?

Walker addresses culture and heritage by illustrating that everyday life and actions make up and challenge culture and heritage by using all the characters in the story to illustrate the problem facing culture by using the characters and their immediate environment.

What is the theme of “Everyday Use?”

The theme of ‘Everyday Use’ is culture and heritage and all the changes occurring that affect different cultures in everyday life.

Work Cited

Xroads.virginia.edu. 2021. Alice Walker; ‘Everyday Use’. [online] Available at: <http://xroads.virginia.edu/~ug97/quilt/walker.html>.

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INSTRUCTIONS for the ENG 122 Academic Writing II Embedded U.E. Key Assignment on “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker:

Thinking and writing are connected activities. We think before we write, and writing changes our thinking. While all kinds of pre-writing activities are useful, answering a series of questions before writing a literary analysis can be particularly productive.

Preparing for Literary Analysis- A Pre-Writing Exercise on Everyday Use by Alice Walker

The following is a practice exercise. You won’t necessarily write an essay on this specific story, but practicing the prewriting process with it will be a useful exercise to develop the necessary critical thinking for literary analysis and argument.

Read Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use” and answer the questions below that are geared toward helping you understand her narrative point of view and purpose. Please focus on/do not ignore the question prompts highlighted in yellow. Offer specific support (i.e., quoted passages) from the text to back up your claims.

What do you know about the mother of the story?

When we have a first-person narrator, we have to decide if she is reliable or unreliable. Do you trust this narrator? Why or why not?

What assumptions does the narrator have about her daughters? Do you agree? Why?

How would the story be different if it were told from Dee/Wangero’s perspective?

Mama and Dee/Wangero have different ideas about personal development. What are they? What are the consequences of their differences?

Based on your answers to all of the above, offer your opinion of Mama’s decision to give the quilt to Maggie.

How does Walker define heritage?

What is Walker’s purpose? What is the central problem she is addressing?

What is the theme of “Everyday Use?”

You MUST submit your “Everyday Use” Exercise to Chalk and Wire (it is a mandatory course requirement). The Chalk & Wire link is located in the Key Assignment Module. Students who do not submit the assignment to Chalk & Wire will receive a zero. This is a U.E. Key Assignment assessment for Saint Leo University; the results are used to ensure students are meeting University Exploration (U.E.) program goals.

Where to read “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker

Free copies of Alice Walker’s highly anthologized short story “Everyday Use” can be found ubiquitously in the public domain [educational fair use] at the following link: