Differences between Mama Johnson and Dee in ‘Everyday Use’. (2024)

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Differences between Mama Johnson and Dee in ‘Everyday Use’.? ›

The contrast between Mama and Dee is primarily due to education: Mama's school was closed down, but Dee received a high-class education. This is ironically what has driven a wedge between Dee and her family – she has developed a false intellect, rejecting her actual heritage in favour of one she has constructed.

In “Everyday Use,” the author, Alice Walker, introduces Mama and her daughter Dee as having two completely different attributes. While Mama is caring and hardworking, Dee is selfish and believes she is entitled to everything.

Mama and Dee have very different ideas about what “heritage” is, and for Mama, the family objects are infused with the presence of the people who made and used them. The family heirlooms are the true tokens of Dee's identity and origins, but Dee knows little about the past.

Just as Dee embraces an alternative persona when she renames herself “Wangero,” Mama rejected a traditional gender role when she worked to raise and provide for her daughters and took on an alternative, masculine persona. She is proud of her hardy nature and ability to butcher hogs and milk cows.

Dee, in other words, has moved towards other traditions that go against the traditions and heritage of her own family: she is on a quest to link herself to her African roots and has changed her name to Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo.

Final answer: In the story 'Everyday Use' by Alice Walker, Dee accuses Mama of not understanding their African American heritage. However, Mama's understanding of their heritage is based on their shared experiences and the practical preservation of their heritage.

Dee wears a brightly colored, yellow-and-orange, ankle-length dress that is inappropriate for the warm weather. Her hair stands up straight on top and is bordered by two long pigtails that hang down in back. Dee is educated, worldly, and deeply determined, not generally allowing her desires to be thwarted.

The contrast between Mama and Dee is primarily due to education: Mama's school was closed down, but Dee received a high-class education. This is ironically what has driven a wedge between Dee and her family – she has developed a false intellect, rejecting her actual heritage in favour of one she has constructed.

Mama tries to respect Dee's wishes by calling her by her new name, Wangero, but eventually begins to resent the way in which she belittles their rural lifestyle. By the end of the story, Mama finally stands up to Dee's demanding attitude by refusing to give her the quilts.

What kinds of heritages are there? The UNESCO distinguishes between two types of World Heritage sites: Cultural Heritage, which includes historic buildings, monuments, and Natural Heritage: which includes mountains, rivers, and any other landscapes.

What are the characteristics of Mama in Everyday Use? ›

The narrator of the story, Mama is an African-American woman living in the Deep South. She is a hard-working, practical person with simple tastes, and she lives with her younger daughter, Maggie, in their small house. Mama's relationship with her older daughter, Dee, is strained.

The reason that Dee gives for changing her name is that she doesn't want to go by her "slave name." She chooses an African name to better represents her family heritage. Of course, in doing this she actually separates herself from her family heritage (Dee was, in fact, a family name).

Answer: Dee wanted the churn top, dasher and the two quilts that Mama had already promised to give to Maggie. Mama told her to take any other quilts, just not the ones for Maggie.

As per the question, Dee rejects her cultural identity as 'she didn't wish to remain connected to the past' as she's got educated now but her education has proved to be 'divisive'.

Unflappable, not easily intimidated, and brimming with confidence, Dee comes across as arrogant and insensitive, and Mama sees even her admirable qualities as extreme and annoying. Mama sees Dee's thirst for knowledge as a provocation, a haughty act through which she asserts her superiority over her mother and sister.

Mama describes herself as a big-boned woman with hands that are rough from years of physical labor. She wears overalls and has been both mother and father to her two daughters. Poor and uneducated, she was not given the opportunity to break out of her rural life.

One of the main reasons why there is conflict between Mama and Dee is because they see things differently. Mama thinks her way of life living on the farm is a day-to-day life, and is necessary to survive. Dee sees her Mama's farm life as rural and prehistoric.

The story "Everyday Use" has two dynamic characters, Mama Johnson and Maggie. Mama Johnson is intimidated by Dee's education. Later, she confronts Dee and refuses to give her the ancestral quilts. Mama is a dynamic character because she changes her attitude and refuses to submit to the demands of Dee.