The protagonist in this short story, Everyday Use, is Maggie and the mother, which is the narrator of this story. The antagonist is Dee or Wangero. One internal conflict between Maggie and Wangero is that Maggie feels envious towards Wangero because of her fair appearance in comparison to Maggie’s appearance, which she obtained from the burns in a house fire. An external conflict is if Maggie or Wangero should acquire Grandma Dee’s quilt. This story is told in first person, which is told from the view of Maggie and Wangero’s mother. Everyday Use is set in around middle 1900 s in a home / yard in the south.
Literary terms in this short story include similes: “‘Mama’, Wangero said sweet as a bird.” (pg 74).
“She gasped like a bee had stung her.” (pg 75).
This story also uses foil because the differences between Maggie and her sister make each other stand out. Maggie is a shy, nervous, low-esteemed, and unattractive person. However, Wangero is an attractive, unkind, and selfish person.
An allusion in this story is when it refers to the past: “In 1927 colored asked fewer questions than they do now.” (pg 72).
A flashback includes: “Aunt Dee’s first husband whittled the dash.” (pg 74).
Diction is used: “When I looked at her like that, something hit me in the top of my head and ran down to the soles of my feet.” (pg 75).
The narrator, or the mother of these two sisters in the story has a reliable and perceptive view of the characters. The mother understands Maggie the most. She knows her feelings and thoughts toward Wangero.
The Essay on Maggie And Her Mother Dee Time Story
How many children's stories have you read that began with the words "once upon a time"? We know that this is fiction. What about fiction that sounds so real that you are not sure whether it is fiction or actual events that really happened. In the story Everyday Use, everything sounds so real that I actually thought of a family member that compared so closely with Dee. We can easily compare the ...
I believe that the narrator does not understand Wangero as much as she understands Maggie because the narrator, at first, did not understand why Wangero wanted Grandma Dee’s quilt, and only that quilt. It is obvious that the narrator barely knows Hakim-a-barber, and can barely pronounce his real name. The narrator has a decent perceptive of her daughters. Elements of Literature Holt, Rinehart, And Winston.
