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"Every Day Use"
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Alice Walkers “Everyday Use” shows how each member of the Johnson’s family chooses a different path according to the circumstances in each of their lives. The Johnson’s live in the rural south where they are forced to depend on their land and livestock to survive. Although Mrs. Johnson is uneducated, she does everything possible to provide for her two daughters. Ironically, each girl looks at their heritage differently. One has a realistic view that accepts both the positive and the negative aspects. The other chooses only to embrace the positive. Walker uses the mother’s point of view to illustrate the disparity between two sisters’ views of their heritage. Mrs. Johnson describes herself as a “big-boned women with rough, man-working hands” (1152). One night she killed a bull calf between the eyes with a sledge hammer and “had the meat hung up to chill before the nightfall” (1152). She is a mother of two daughters, Maggie and Dee. The story begins with Maggie and Mama Johnson waiting in their yard made of hard clay they had cleaned for Dee. Mama is not only waiting for Dee’s arrival but she is waiting for Dee’s approval. Mama tells us she dreams of redemption from her oldest daughter. The dream takes place on Johnny Carson’s show where Dee and Mama reunite embracing each other with tears. From this dream we learn about how Mama’s views Dee’s attitude toward her. She says she was “the way my daughter would want me to be: a hundred pounds lighter, my skin like an uncooked barely pancake. My hair glistening” (1152). Mama is not only saying she desires to be respected by her daughter, but the dream shows us she is not moving out of the way she has always lived since she hasn’t changed her physical appearance or culture behavior. Mama believes she has a certain place in society compared to the white people.
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