Everyday Use

Journal Assignment

English 102

I think that it was four sections in the short story Everyday Use by Alice Walker. The narrator of the story is Mama. The setting takes place outside of her yard. In the first section she talks about how she is waiting outside in the yard that her and Maggie has cleaned for her other daughter to return home. The idea of this section is to show how Maggie is nervous and anxious about her sister's visit. The yard seems to play a big part of the story.

In the next section Mama seems to be daydreaming. She is thinking about how things would be if they were brought on a television show. She is thinking about how her daughter would thank her for everything that she had done for her. Mama goes on to talk about herself. She describes herself as some one that is big boned and works outside. She is excited to say that she can work as hard as a man killing a hog.

Mama talks about how Maggie is a shy daughter who lives with her. She was burned in a house fire as a young girl. Mama thinks that Maggie lacks confidence too and that her daughter Dee has a nicer figure than Maggie. Mama reminisces about when their old house burns up and thinks that Dee is happy because she didn’t like it. To me Maggie seems to hate the old house and by Mama talking about her behavior it seems like she really did not like her sister that much. Once they got the money to help Maggie leave for school, she changed her attitude. I think that she was just selfish and wanted things for herself.

In this section Mama talks about she was uneducated. She was not able to read. She had low self esteem and felt like she was better off doing a man’s work. Mama talks about how Maggie and Dee are two sisters who have turned out very differently. In this section Mama tells how Maggie is not too bright and that she did not receive good looks. This is an important fact because, throughout the beginning Mama