An exmination of the role of family and women in Everyday Use by Alice Walker

p The Role of Family and Women in the Short Story Everyday Use ' by Alice Walker

One of the impressive qualities of literature is its ability to excite imagination of readers with the help of textual medium by vivid depiction of events and by finding a way to make readers feel with the characters of the books and stories as if reliving their experiences . In this regard , in contrast to full-fledged novels that allow for a prolonged development of its personages , the genre of short stories seems to be quite constrained in

its space to be able to slowly develop its plot . However , as can be seen by the example of the short story "Everyday Use " written by Alice Malsenior Walker a compelling and emotionally exciting narration can be presented even within limits of just few pages . For this to be possible , the author in her story employed several powerful literary techniques resting upon concepts of setting , symbolism , and irony , which are important for any piece of literature . In the particular case of Walker`s short story , this set of literary tools is combined to provide an examination of the role of family and women in society . In fact , Walker typically emphasizes in her works struggles of African American women who are shown in their opposition to racism and sexism , often in their violent manifestations that are still present in the modern world . At the same time , she also often traces in her writings roles that women of color have played in history and culture (White 2005 , pp .455-464 . In this light , it would be even more interesting to take a closer look at how the ever urgent theme of the role of family and women in society is covered by the writer and the feminist activist Walker in this short story

First of all , the plot of the story should be overviewed in to understand what story line , setting , and characterization of the protagonists the author chose as the means to present and develop her ideas . The events in Everyday Use ' take place in the end of the sixties or the beginning of the seventies between members of an African-American family consisting of mother and her two daughters . In this regard , it is important to remember that this period of time was marked by widespread social debates about the need for African-Americans to redefine their personal and cultural identities . It was at that time that old terminology was being replaced by politically correct words such as the substitution of the term `Negro` with `black` , and correspondingly , new notions like `black nationalism` emerged . At that time many African-Americans rushed to find out about their African origin and cling to it instead of being defined solely by their past life in America that was rife with episodes of injustice and suffering (Van Deburg 1993 . So , an attentive reader should from the very beginning of the story keep in mind the atmosphere that dominated in the American society during the time to which...