"Everyday Use," a Short Story by Alice Walker Kennedy & Gioia, 6th edition (compact), pp. 279-286

Before trying to do the worksheet questions below, first you need to read the story, found in your textbook on the pages listed above.   There are also several supplementary sources you might be interested in:

• The author's own website:   http://www.alicewalkersgarden.com/alice_walker_welcom.html

• The Wikipedia entry for her:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_Walker

Note that while there are many websites which offer to interpret this story for you, I strongly prefer that you avoid them and rely on the interpretive strategy you are learning in this course.  Worst-case scenario:  a student goes to various websites, "copies-&-pastes" to complete the worksheet, sees no need to cite those sources, is thus guilty of plagiarism, and fails the course.  Please!  Avoid that!

LITERARY DEVICES WORKSHEET FOR “EVERYDAY USE”

The main part of this worksheet is a set of seven questions on the above story which you must answer for a daily grade.   You will submit your answers in the "EU" Worksheet assignment within Blackboard.  The steps are the same as the first worksheet; you will also find them listed within the assignment in Blackboard, so I am not listing them here.

For a review of the concept of theme, click here.

For a review of the literary devices, click here.

For a review of the basic interpretive strategy, click here.

This exercise will help you see how your knowledge of one device can build on other devices, so that they work like stepping stones to a good understanding of the work as a whole and of its theme, its moral lesson.  (In this work, there may be more than one valid and useful theme.)

The Questions:  Ten at 10 points each.

As with the first work, there are two early interpretive steps:  to identify the protagonist, and to identify the one or several particular types of social conflict he/she is subject to.  And also as before, the actual questions I want you to answer for a grade will be underlined and highlighted in red, like this.  Note that some questions may have more than one part.  So for “Everyday Use,” as a daily grade, answer these questions:

1.  Who is the protagonist? Explain your choice.  As before, you should judge this based on several factors:  Which character do we spend the most time with?  Which character is telling the story (probably it is her story, then)?  Which character changes, if one does?  Which character are we left to focus on at the end of the story?  When the same character is the answer to most or all of the above questions, that character is probably the protagonist. 

2.  Unlike "Cathedral," this story has an antagonist.  Who?  How is she antagonistic?  This character has many admirable traits--a rounded character--but seems to use them only for selfish purposes.

3.  Is there a catalyst in this story?  If so, who?  When, and in what way?  Remember that a catalyst may do something to cause a change in the protagonist, usually a positive change.  You can name this character just by a process of elimination (she is not the protagonist nor the antagonist), but you may have to reread the climactic scene to notice what she says that shows her to be a catalyst.

4.  There are two main types of social conflict in this story.  But they are quite different types.  Tip:  One type is shown by a big difference in standards of living.  It has a readymade label, and is one of the types we have already mentioned in the course.  What is this type of social conflict?  The other  type of social conflict has to do with family--mothers and daughters--so what is this other type of social conflict called?  Again, it has a readymade label we have already mentioned in the course.

5 .  Working from your answers to the first four questions, now you will try to describe the sort of inner conflict the protagonist feels.  Tip:  A good way to do this is to list several emotions the protagonist seems to feel.  Another useful way to understand the main character’s inner conflict is to see how it becomes more severe, in stages.  I am asking you to do some of both things in this question.  The inner conflict is in fact visible even before Dee arrives, in the mother's daydream.  What emotion or emotions motivate the mother to wish she looked and acted more like her daughter would want her to, in her daydream of being on some TV show in a reunion with her daughter?  Note also how the inner conflict grows as Dee claims various household objects to keep when she leaves.  Up to a point, the mother does not object to this; what type of emotion does that suggest is part of her inner conflict?  Then at last, the mother does object.  What household object does Dee claim that triggers the climactic scene, the "standoff" between Dee and her mom?

6.  When inner conflict becomes severe enough, a moment arrives when character change is possible.  Does the protagonist change?  If so, from what type of person to what new type of person?  As a hint, consider that the main character, at the story’s start, seems very intimidated; study the tone of the story's ending to decide if this has changed.  Does the outcome for the protagonist seem like a good one?  Why or why not?

7.  Now it is time to consider the issues and themes of the story—the main challenges confronting the protagonist, and the moral lessons suggested by them.  Here, this story is different from "Cathedral" in that there are at least two different issues, fairly independent of one another.  Each one can yield a theme.  So, first notice the issue that has to do with how we should honor our heritage.  Now, what lesson does the story teach in this regard?  That is, how are we told by Walker to honor our heritage?  State this as a theme, as you have learned to do.  (Hint:  Read the title.)  You may state both issue and theme in one sentence, as you have already learned to do. 

8.  A related yet separate issue has to do with family relations.  In this story, are family relations as they should be?  If not, what is wrong in the relationship between Mrs. Johnson and Dee?  What is wrong with the relationship between the two daughters?  Has the mother allowed all this dysfunction to blossom?  Does she finally put her foot down and set things right?  To answer this question, state a moral lesson (theme) about what one should do if one realizes that a lack of balance exists in family relations or dynamics.

9.  As with "Cathedral," this story also makes good use of symbolism.  There are several symbols, the main one being the quilt.  What attitude toward family and heritage is symbolized by Dee's desire to take the quilt from Maggie and hang it on the wall so that it may not be used by Maggie?  What attitude toward family and heritage is symbolized by the very different thing Maggie will do with the quilt?  (Hint:  look back at the first theme you stated, in #7.)  Lastly, interpret at least one of these other symbols in the story:  the butter churn top; the photos Dee takes when she arrives; Dees' name change.

10.  We will end by looking at the device of irony.  The type of irony present in this story is situational irony, when a story’s plot takes un unexpected turn or twist.  What is already ironic about the relationship between Mrs. Johnson and Dee, when the story begins?  (Hint:  who's in charge?)  Try to name one further irony in the story.

mjordan@odessa.edu work: 432.335.6549 surface mail c/o Odessa College, 201 W. University, Odessa TX 79764