Describe a dynamic or round character in "Everyday Use".

"Everyday Use" by Alice Walker explains the importance of family relationships.  Mama or Mrs. Johnson narrates the story.  She is an uneducated yet hardworking African-American mother of two daughters. She describes herself:

I am a large, big boned woman with rough, man working hands. I can kill and clean a hog as mercilessly as a man. My daughter [Dee] would like for me to be 100 pounds lighter and my skin like an uncooked barley pancake. 

Events in the story are going to force Mama to reevaluate her attitude toward her daughters.  As a dynamic character, she will change and stand up for one daughter and refuse the other one for the first time in her life.

Mama's daughter are as different as night and day. Dee, the oldest, did not like her home.  She is pretty and intelligent. Dee wanted the things in life that Mama could not give her. The church and her mother sent her to college.  Today, in the story, she has come back for a visit.

The youngest daughter Maggie was severely injured when their house burned.  Since that time, Maggie has become extremely shy and nervous when she is around other people.  She anxiously awaits her sister's arrival.  They have nothing in common.

Mama is faced with new issues when Dee arrives.  Trying to buy into the African-American black power movement, Dee has changed her name to Wangero. Mama accepts how Dee is dressed and her new name.  It is Dee's attitude that gets to Mama.

Dee is on the prowl.  Despite the fact that she told her mother when she left, that her things were old-fashioned, Dee wants souvenirs to use as decorations in her home. The top of the butter churn which has the hand prints of the many ancestors who had used it.

After rummaging through a trunk, Dee finds two quilts that had been made by Dee's great-grandmother, grandmother, and her mother.  There were pieces of material that went back to the Civil War. These quilts were important to Mama because of the legacy they represented of Mama's family.

Dee is so superficial.  She makes statements that show her misunderstanding of her family:

'Dee is dead. I couldn't beat the name any longer, being named after the people who oppress me.'

And yet, she wants the quilt that those oppressive people made.

Mama has had enough of Dee's foolishness.  She tells her that she cannot have the quilts becfause she has given them to Maggie. Reacting to this denial, Dee states that Maggie will just make everyday use of them and ruin them. Mama does not care.  Dee does not appreciate the family heritage.  Maggie offers to give them to Dee, but Mama says the quilts will stay.

For the first time, the mother really looks at Maggie. Maggie had been taught by the grandmothers to quilt and that she understands that the family is the most important thing in life.

Mama sees that Maggie is kind and gentle.  She goes to Maggie and hugs her.  They both grab the quilts from Dee.  As they both watch Dee drive away,  Mama has a new appreciation for her younger daughter.  Mama will gladly sit on the front porch with her snuff and Maggie.

Describe the mother's character in "Everyday Use."

Mama describes herself as a heavyset, solid woman who has hands that can do a man's work. She says that she can "kill and clean a hog as mercilessly as a man." Her fat, she believes, keeps her warm even when it's very cold outside. She is quite strong and can work outside all day, bathe with ice water, and eat a pig's innards just minutes after they come out of the dead animal. Mama thinks of herself as being really tough, not overly sentimental, but she does "dream a dream" where her estranged daughter, Dee, learns to appreciate and love her instead of being embarrassed by and ashamed of her. Mama, however, is not quick or witty and she would never look a strange white man in the eye, and she seems to have much more in common with her other daughter, Maggie, than she does with Dee, the daughter who she sent away to school.

What are the main character's flaws in "Everyday Use"?

How you answer this question depends on who you see as the main character of "Everyday Use," so I will explore a couple of possibilities.

We could first think of Mama as the main character. The reason for this is that she is the first-person narrator of the Alice Walker's short story. Mama's major flaw is her limited perspective and favoritism. She obviously favors her daughter Maggie, who lives with her, over Dee, who left the family to attend college. Mama and Maggie spend all their time together and live conservatively. Dee, on the other hand, is more progressive. Mama thinks Dee is snobby and misguided, so she has trouble getting along with her daughter. She takes Maggie's side in the debate over who will inherit the family quilts. When we hear the story from Mama's perspective, we agree with her, because we only get her opinion of Dee.

If we consider Dee the main character, we could identify her main flaw as her insensitivity to her family and her superiority complex. She thinks her education makes her better than her mother and sister. She thinks she knows more about African and African American culture than they do, so she should have the quilts. She comes off as condescending and insults her sister. It is difficult to sympathize with Dee's character, especially since we get the story from Mama's perspective.