Motivation is the reason or reasons one has for acting or behaving in a particular way. All forms of literature have characters with motivations. In the two different pieces, “Everyday Use” and Antigone, there are very similar themes of motivation between the characters, Dee and Ismene.
In “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker, one of the characters, Dee, is trying to get in touch with her African heritage. Dee is motivated to gain attention and style. She changes her name because she “couldn’t bear it any longer being named after the people who oppress [her]” (27 Walker). However, it seems like all a lie because she isn’t taking anything to heart, but it is just to have a new and interesting style. By learning more about her African culture, she fails to stay connected to her real African American heritage, which has been passed down for many generations. By dropping her name Dee, she dropped a family name: “You know as well as me you was named after your aunt Dicie” (28). Mama continued to trace back all the way to Grandma Dee’s mother. It’s clear Dee had a stronger connection with her real heritage because of her descent. Dee also starts to take items from Mama’s home to put on display…show more content… Ismene took credit and said she helped Antigone, for she wanted to die with her sister. However, Antigone refused to let her take credit because she didn’t feel Ismene was doing it out of family love. In English class, the other students discussed how Antigone felt Ismene was a coward and didn’t deserve righteousness. My peers mentioned that her motivation was to steal Antigone’s spotlight when she owned up to something she didn’t do. I agree with them and how Ismene didn’t do anything because of her love for Polyneices, but because she couldn’t live without Antigone, a hero, and live with herself, a
