Mama: The Hardworking and Practical African American Lady in Alice Walker's 'Everyday Use' - Essay Sample

The story Everyday Use by Alice Walker consists of various characters and among them is Mama an African American lady who lives in Georgia and acts as a narrator. Mama stays in a small and comfortable house, and she originates from a wealthy heritage with tough roots. The lady is very hardworking and practical and lives with her younger daughter Maggie. However, there exists a strained relationship between Mama and the older daughter. The story commences with Mama preparing for the older daughter home visits, and it’s evident that when Dee arrives, Mama submits to most of the demands, for instance, by giving Dee family possessions. Indeed, Mamas feeling towards both children are demonstrated through character traits of lack of worldliness and low self-esteem.

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Mama develops a dynamic character due to a more in-depth understanding of her families, like in the case of the description that she is large and a manlike. Mama is an honest being in the assessment of the children and resents the level of Dee’s education, sophistication and superiority that has been acquired over time. Mama ten to fantasize about meeting the older daughter due to the distance between them, and the level of underappreciated feeling she possesses. Mama takes a masculine role and rejects a traditional character in raising the daughters, and it's evident that she raises and provides for the daughters. Mama boasts of the ability to milk and butcher hogs and takes a traditional space back in the house. However, Mama lacks a broader view of the world a din some extent, she is intimidated by Dee as Mama does not understand the lifestyle of her daughters, and as a result of Mama distrust Dee.

Mama rarely speaks about herself as she does not require telling the readers of who she is and gives the reader a sense of inner strength and love to be motivated to continue reading through the story. Mama has a difficult time raising the daughters, and Dee does not recognize the effort made as she tends to hold a misconception that heritage is a material and does not exist in one's heart.

The way Mama view herself affects the decisions she makes regarding her daughters hence resulting in a conflict of interest in their relationship. Mama steers herself away from the readers as Mama does not consider herself much. Mama faces an inner struggle in her perception, and it has made her struggle to look like others due to insecurity. For instance, in the case where Mama has a dream on a television show with the older daughter in the description of her finer hair and skin.

Mama tends to prove that an individual does not require generational knowledge or education status to possess strength capability; instead, Mama possessed inner strength throughout and therefore needed beliefs of heritage to shine in life. Mama is a narrator in the short story who is never boastful useless or selfish an only talk about her daughters and plays a masculine role in raising and providing for them. At the end of the story, however, Mama stands for Maggie and herself against Dee, by refusing to give family quilts, and through extension by asserting the nature and worth of their lifestyle since the Quilts are considered to be an heirloom that represents a broader part of the family.

Reference

Roskelly, H., Jolliffe, D., Beebe, S. A., & Beebe, S. J. (2009). Everyday Use. New York: Pearson/Longman.