Essay on Worth in Everyday Use - 970 Words

A Question of Worth in Everyday Use From the fashionable, expensive clothing that the character Dee in Alice Walker’s Everyday Use wears, the girl seems almost immediately to be a person of great value and importance. It may seem, too, at first glance, that Dee’s mother and sister, Maggie, in their tin-roof house and shabby clothing, are of little or no worth in Everyday Use. The story ironically shows, under more careful thought, that the very outer characteristics which deem Dee the more valuable character are the ones which prove that the mother and Maggie have the more powerful inner worth. In the beginning of the story, Dee is portrayed to be more physically valuable than her mother and Maggie. Dee’s outfit reeks†¦show more content†¦Houston A. Baker, Jr. and Charlotte Pierce-Baker suggest that Ultimately, the framed Polaroid photograph represents the limits of Dee’s vision (416). With close examination, the camera, which represents Dee’s material wealth, can also be used to prove her inability to see people, places and things for what and who they really are. By far the most striking piece of evidence supporting Dee’s lack of inner value is her desire to have the quilts. At first, Dee’s anger over being denied the quilts seems justified. Dee claims that she would preserve the quilts and Hang them (1154). Yet, the real purpose of possessing the quilts, as seen on a larger scope, is to use the old quilts for the simple life the mother and Maggie lead. To actually put the quilts to everyday use, as Maggie will do, is symbolically preserving the family heritage. Dee’s cry that Maggie would probably be backward enough to put them to everyday use (1154) portrays Dee as the materialistic, backward character. Just as the argument over the quilts shows Dee as intrinsically immature, it directly points out that the mother and Dee have, in fact, great value within them. Dee’s mother, for instance, is at first silent to Dee’s demands to have the butter churn and wooden benches. When Dee takes the quilts, previously promised to Maggie, the mother then becomes defensive. The mother questions Dee’s intended use of the quilts in an effort to deter Dee from her insistence of owningShow MoreRelatedReflection On My Work Progress1613 Words   |  7 Pageshas always been challenging for me because of the complexity of multiple rules. On the beginning of the semester I constantly worried about the structure of my writing and its overall material. In high school it was important for me to complete my essays by answering the questions that I was given, but in college, students go more into depth such as focusing on grammar, and well structured ideas that flow along with rich analyti cal content. 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