The Role of Family and Women in the Short Story Everyday Use by Alice Essay

The Role of Family and Women in the Short Story of all timeyday use of goods and services by Alice Walker - Essay ExampleFor this to be possible, the author in her account statement apply powerful literary techniques resting upon concepts of setting, symbolism, and irony, which are important for any piece of literature. In the particular case of Walkers piddling 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, oftentimes 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, and ponders over their sympathizeing of those roles (White 2005, pp.455-464). In this light, it would be even more interesting to take a closer look at how the e ver urgent theme of the role of family and women in society is covered by the writer and the feminist active Walker in this short story.First of all, the plot of the story should be overviewed in order 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 among members of an Afro-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 general social debates almost the need for African-Americans to redefine their personal and cultural identities. It was at that time that old words was being replaced by politically correct words, such as the substitution of the term Negro with black, and, correspondingly, spick-and-span notions like black nationalism emerged. At that time many African-Americans rushed to fin d out about their African origin and cling to it instead of being defined solely by their past aliveness 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 the account refers. The story itself is basically the account of an episode of life of the mentioned family which depicts the difficult and even strained relationship between a mother and children. The mother, named Mrs. Johnson, is living with one of her daughters Maggie, and is visited by her another daughter Dee along with her boyfriend or husband Hakim-a-barber. As Dee spends time with them, readers witness the open opposition between two sisters, and a potential opposition between Mrs. Johnson and Dee, which in the end breaks into Mrs. Johnsons protective support of Maggie. More specifically, as the stumbling block serves the down right striving of Dee to take away with her some family artifacts that are very dear for both Mrs. Johnson and Maggie. For