"Everyday Use" Case Study; Maggie

Christian Lovell

Mary Collom

Comp 1 1113.01

9/11/2015

Everyday Use

Maggie and her mom are waiting in front of their house for Dee to come. Maggie is having massive amounts of anxiety. She decides to go change her clothing and is unsure if the clothes she picked out are what she should wear. She then goes back outside to join her mom where she is sitting in her chair. After Dee gets there, Maggie tries to run for the house but her mom keeps her there. Maggie is mystified by Dee’s latest fashion. (Not to mention when she sees Dee’s husband or likewise long-haired guy step out of the vehicle) He walks over to them, and when Asalamalakim tries to teach Maggie a fancy handshake, she gets very nervous and her hand goes limp. After preliminaries they go inside the house and eat a meal together after which Maggie does the dishes, listening to the conversation her mom and Dee is having in the next room, and gets upset when Dee asks about old quilts that her mom has promised to Maggie. Maggie cannot see well and has multiple scars due to a childhood accident when her house burnt down. Maggie has changed in such a way since the long past fire that she is now an introvert, shy, easy to get hurt person and is emotionally unstable.

Maggie is withdrawn from her sister because her sister makes her feel intimidated with high fashion and literacy. When Dee arrives, Maggie is taken back by the latest cosmetics and style that Dee now carries, but her mom holds her back which makes “her stop and she tries to dig a well in the sand with her toe”(Walker) from the overwhelming pressure. This shows that she has a lack of confidence to face life in a sociable way.

It is also very difficult to meet new people; when Asalamalakim, to be husband of Dee, first came to the place where Maggie was to embrace her, “Maggie falls back, right up against her mom’s chair” (Walker). Next Maggie feels very uncomfortable when “he wants to shake hands but wants to do it fancy” (Walker) in a way that she that she cannot figure out in her nervousness. She is acting very shy in her personality.

Maggie is doing dishes after their meal when she overhears a conversation her sister and mom is having and she hears Dee ask “Can I have these old quilts?” (Walker). These are quilts that her mom has promised to Dee. She drops something and leaves abruptly. In this act she is showing she has emotional issues.

Maggie is a girl nearly to marriage age. She does not cope well in difficult situations, has an introverted personality, and is a very shy. She is said by her mother to "look like a dog that’s been run over by some careless person...and looks lame."(Walker). Maggie leads this life due to her childhood tragedy that had scarred her physically and mentally that had led her to make a choice. Maggie is very different than Dee because Dee left home for education and became knowledgeable with growth of mind; however, Maggie stayed at home and cultivated the lack of self-confidence.