Dee In Everyday Use

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In every family there is a son or daughter with all of the positive aspects of his or her parents. Sadly, with the perfect child comes the less progressive and intelligent one. In the short story, "Everyday Use", the two main characters, Dee and Maggie, fit this role perfectly. Dee is the lucky one, whereas Maggie tends to be lacking the positive traits by the gene pool and luck. In her short story, Alice Walker uses diction to express the tragedy of the fire burning down Maggie's family's house, and her portrayal of Dee to create a vivid portrait of Maggie and her personality.

Walker's use of language and diction when she describes Maggie depicts an image of a scarred and half-witted woman. Her physical scarring is pointed out to the reader …show more content…
The amplitude of these feelings however, is magnified when compared to her portrayal of Dee. Dee is depicted as, "lighter than Maggie, with nicer hair and a fuller figure" (Walker 384). She also evaded the physical destruction of the burning house that poor Maggie endured. When comparing these excerpts with the facts presented about Maggie it further increases the multitude of sympathy for her throughout the story. Dee is later described as more intelligent and it is understood that she must be above average intelligence due to the fact that she was smart enough to attend a school in Augusta. This introduces another circumstance where the reader feels that Maggie has been left alone on the grounds that Dee has been graced with great looks and knowledge. Notwithstanding, it is Dee's harsh and overbearing state of mind that when contrasted from Maggie's lackadaisical and hesitant behavior, leaves the reader feeling a great degree empathy for Maggie. Dee is by all accounts made aware of her intelligence when most people around her can't coordinate her thoughts and she is unwilling to put forth any effort to help those individuals. She likewise has such a domineering demeanor, to the point where it makes Maggie actually flee from her when she arrives at the home. Furthermore, Maggie's behavior could imply that in their history, Dee could have been abusive towards her, thus in turn …show more content…
This is made by giving the character of Dee the greater part of the lucky qualities and insight, additionally blending those positive qualities with the negative quality of presumption and egotism. It is also done by making Maggie’s character with none of the amazing features offered to Dee, additionally saddling her with disaster and permitting the effects of the catastrophe on Maggie to be apparent to the reader. Maggie is shown throughout the story as the character that has come up short of the expectations set by her sister. Dee is portrayed as someone who has been given everything, yet has let her positive attributes go to her head and made her an arrogant and egotistical person. It is this inequality that is the root of her role as an extremely sympathetic
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