Character Traits and Conflict

"Everyday Use" by Alice Walker

Name a few of Mama's character traits. Cite details from the text to support your answer.

• Mama's main character trait is that she is tough. As the story says, Mama can "kill and clean a hog a mercilessly as a man", from which we can infer that she is a tough person who has to be tough in order to survive on the farms, since farmers are the ones who have to "cut up the meat first" before they enter the supermarket, and the meat also has to be cut up as food.
• Mama is also a caring and loving person. She cares a lot about her daughters, and wishes to have a better relationship with Dee, and she can communicate with Dee. Another example for her caring personality is that she protects the quilts for Maggie when Dee tries to take them away.

The driving forces of any story is conflict. Explain the conflicts Mama faces in the story. How are these conflicts resolved?

• One of the main conflicts is Mama's bad relationship with Dee. This is one of the conflicts that is not resolved; Dee's relationship with Mama did not improve. However, at the end of the story, Mama has a better relationship with Maggie.
• The other conflict is that Dee wants the quilts, but Mama refuses to give Dee the quilts because she realizes that it is Maggie who should have them, so Maggie gets them. Dee is upset, but Maggie is glad that she got the quilts, and Mama and Maggie's relationship improves.