Paper 3- Psychoanalytic Theory of Everyday Use

                               When brothers or sisters are raised by the same mother and grew up together as siblings, people will think they will have things in common and be lovable but in the story Alice Walker's "Everyday Use," however, this is not the situation and they end up being completely different. The only thing Maggie and Dee have in common is that they were raised together but the reality is they are very different, personality and how they think. In "Everyday Use" by Alice Walker, walker shows how completely different two sisters can be. Maggie is the youngest daughter and the quiet one and Dee is the one that is out there more and the one who want a better life. Maggie and Dee show psychoanalysis problems that Tyson talks about in, "Using Concepts from Psychoanalytic Theory to Understand Literature”. The theory of psychoanalysis focuses on events that we go through in life as we grow up shapes our psychological development, which shows as we get older. In, “Using Concepts from Psychoanalytic Theory to Understand Literature" Tyson describes psychoanalytic theory has "encounter life events, as we grow up, that shape our psychological development and these early experiences tend to 'play out' in our adult lives" (Tyson 23). Tyson says that psychoanalysis haves to deal with cores issues, which includes, Low Self Esteem, Insecure or Unstable Sense of Self and the defenses they face which are Avoidance, Denial, and Displacement. In this story you come to realize that these two sisters are going through some sort of psychological disorder. As we go through life one way or another we all have gone through psychological disorders at one point in our life. From birth to death we all go through problems which we repressed, our own psychological wounds

                          

                              In the story “Everyday Use” Dee is very different from Maggie personality wise, Dee is outspoken while Maggie is quiet. As Tyson psychoanalysis states Maggie shows “Low Self Esteem”. Dee affects Maggie and causes Maggie to be jealous of her, ever since the fire that happened in her house that that happened a long time ago which is the reason why she haves burns on her body. Maggie is jealous of her sister, as mama says “Maggie will be nervous until after her sister goes; she will stand hopelessly in corners, homely and ashamed of the burn scars down her arms and legs, eying her sister with a mixture of envy and awe” (Walker, 274). Maggie’s is insecure about who she is because of the way her sister treats her, not much of a loving sister, and someone below her. Throughout Dee’s stay, Maggie was always quiet, nervous and very self-conscious of herself. She was also jealous of Dee’s much easier life. As Dee arrives, Maggie try’s to run back into the house but Mama won’t let her. Her fears, her jealousy’s took over at this point of time, in comparison to her sister it seemed as if they came from two different worlds, which made it extremely easy to grow a low self-esteem threw out time. ”Low self-esteem is the belief that we are less worthy than other human beings and, therefore, don’t deserve attention, love, or any other form of life’s rewards.” (Tyson26). Dee also shows displacement towards Maggie. Displacement is when “we take out our negative feelings about one person on someone else so that we can relieve our pain or anger without becoming aware of the real cause of our repressed feelings” (Tyson, 26). Dee is trying to convince and tell Maggie that she doesn’t like her life but it was really Dee who didn’t like her own life and tried to deny it and change it but Maggie is content with her life. She was trying to make her sister think like her. She tells her “you ought to try to make something of yourself, too, Maggie. It’s really a new day for us. But from the way you and Mama still live you’d never know it” (Walker, 281).

                            

                          Another way Dee and Maggie is different from each other is the way they think. Dee thinks only about herself and how things benefit her while Maggie is not like that. Dee is insecure about how she looks and her core issue is known as “Insecure or Unstable sense of self.” “Insecure or unstable sense of self” is when we may have a tendency to repeatedly change the way we look.”(Tyson27). Dee always wanted a better life, an example was shown at her arrival visiting her mom and sister with Hakim-a-barber. Dee dressed very elegant and acted like she was better than others toward her mother and sister. Dee changed her looks, her name, and her persona. Dee also shows the defense of Avoidance. Avoidance is “we stay away from people, places, or situations that might stir up repressed experiences (Tyson 26).Dee is trying to avoid her family and forget where she comes from. “I didn’t want to bring up how I had offered Dee a quilt when she went away to college. Then she had told they were old-fashioned, out of style” (Walker 280). The defense mechanism hat Dee shows is Denial. She does this by changing her name from Dee to “Wangero Leewankia Kemanjo” (Walker 278). The name was passed on from generation and she shows that she is ashamed of it and is denying where she came from and her family. “I couldn’t bear it any longer, bring named after people who oppress me” (Walker 278). Denial is “We are in denial when we believe an unpleasant situation doesn’t exist or an unpleasant even never occurred.”(Tyson 26).

                       

                     The way the sisters treated each other and how the differences between them made them complete opposites and led to the consequences of how they can’t be close sisters. As for example Dee only thinking about herself and how she can have a better life, and Maggie letting her low self-esteem take over her especially on Dee arrival and when she starts to act different because of that. Since Dee and Maggie are blinded by their own core issues they couldn’t act like real sisters.

                     

                    Maggie and Dee are two sisters who have nothing in common personality wise and how they think. Maggie is the quiet one and is happy with the way her life is while Dee is the one that is out there more and the one who want a better life. While the two sisters grew up together they are very completely in their own way and go through problems which repressed their psychological wounds. We also as human beings dealt with core issues and defenses in the way we thought it was right. The Characters of the story “Everyday Use” Dee and Maggie had a few core issues from the concepts of "Using Concepts from Psychoanalytic Theory to Understand Literature” Each character dealt with their psychological disorders in their own way. From Low Self Esteem, Insecure or Unstable Sense of Self and the defenses they face which are Avoidance, Denial, and Displacement to even changing their whole persona.

                                                               Work Cited

Tyson, Lois. Learning for a diverse world: Using Critical Theory to Read and Write about Literature .New York: Routledge, 2001.

Print.

Walker, Alice. “Everyday Use”. Learning for a diverse world: Using Critical Theory to Read and Write about Literature. Ed. Lois Tyson. New York: Routledge, 2001. 274-281. Print.