Everyday Use

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Everyday Use

• By Alice Walker

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Authors Background

• best-known for her novel The Color Purple, which
  was published in 1982 and won both the Pulitzer
  Prize and the American Book Award the following
  year
• The novel was adapted into a movie that was
  nominated for an Academy Award in 1985, produced
  by Quincy Jones and directed by Stephen Spielberg.

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Authors Background

• an amazingly productive and versatile writer.
• published five novels, four collections of
  poetry, two collections of short stories, three
  books of essays, and many articles and stories
  for magazines
• edited a book about one of her mentors, the
  writer Langston Hughes, served as a contributing
  editor for Ms. Magazine
• has taught at several colleges and universities.

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Warm Up Activity

• Have you ever read a story in which you can see
  yourself in one of the characters? If yes, what
  story was it? What did you have in common with
  the character?

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Round Robin

• Each person shares his/her response.
• No comments and interruptions until everyone has
  shared.

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Making Predictions

• Based on the title, Everyday Use, what do you
  think the story is about?

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Round Robin

• Each person shares his/her response.
• No comments and interruptions until everyone has
  shared.

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Seeing Yourself in the Characters

• Youll find three characters dominate Everyday
  Use
• A woman and her two adult daughters Mama,
  Maggie, and Dee
• In one interview about this story, Walker said
  she thinks of the characters as herself, split
  into three related parts.

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Find Word Meaning in Context

• recompose

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Recompose (v.)

• Regain calmness and control

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Talk to the Text

• Asking questions
• Predicting
• Visualizing
• Making connections
• Summarizing

• Reflecting and relating
• Evaluating
• Revising meaning
• Forming interpretations
• clarifying

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Plot Development

• Draw a plot diagram for the story.
• How would you divide the plot and explain your
  reasons.
• What is the conflict and climax of the story?

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Character Analysis

• Write a 2-Chunk paragraph per character.
• What kind of person is Maggie?
• What kind of person is Dee?
• What kind of person is the mother?

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Discussion Questions

• 1. List the characteristics of the three main
  characters in Everyday Use as they are revealed
  by the narrator. How do the differences between
  these two characters add to the conflict in the
  story. What IS the conflict?

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Discussion Questions

• 2. What is the point of view in Everyday Use?
  How does the style of writing reflect the
  character of the person who tells the story?
  That is, look at the language of the speaker.
  What are characteristics of that language and how
  do those characteristics reflect the personality
  of the speaker?

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Discussion Questions

• 3. What do the quilts symbolize? What other
  evidence in the story lead us to see the quilts
  as symbols of a bigger issue? How does the
  climactic ending turn the tables on Dees use of
  terms like backward and heritage? What is
  ironic about Dees use of these words?

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Discussion Questions

• 4. How does the title hint at the central theme
  of the story? What other evidence in the story
  hints at the central theme? What is that central
  theme? What in the story helps especially to
  bring the theme to life for you and keep it from
  becoming an abstract idea?

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Discussion Questions

• 5. What IRONY occurs when the departing Dee
  accuses her  mother and  sister of not
  understanding "your heritage" (845, par.  82)? 
  Significantly who smiles at this point, and why
  does she smile?  

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Discussion Questions

• 6. Who is the ANTAGONIST of the story?  Explain.

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Discussion Questions

• 7. In the end, with which characters does Alice
  Walker seem to side on the issue of heritage?