Blog 1- Everyday Use & Literary Techniques

    In the short story, Everyday Use, by Alice Walker, many literary techniques are embedded within the story to assert the theme and meaning of the work. The narrator, for example, is understood to be uneducated and this assumption is further proven with a flashback which explains her lack of schooling. Additionally, techniques such as imagery help describe Dee, for example. Her character, being one that "wanted nice things,...at sixteen she had a style of her own; and knew what style was," (Walker) is understood in how she is portrayed in the novel. "Earrings gold, too, and hanging down to her shoulders. Bracelets dangling and making noises when she moves," (Walker). Dee's pride in her appearance and in expensive fashion makes her stand apart from her seemingly country and old-fashioned styled family. The book suggests that Dee wanted to rid herself of her family's outdated lifestyle and bring in new ideas from present society. "She washed us in a river of make-believe, burned us with a lot of knowledge we didn't necessarily need to know," (Walker). The idea of Dee's modern ways in contrast to her family trying to keep her rooted in old tradition is seen through the end of the novel but in a way contradicted. Dee actually asks to have her mother's antique quilts, a strange gesture considering their a special piece of uniqueness to the family heritage. Why would Dee want something to belong to herself which is connected to the past she denies?