“Everyday Use” and “A Man Who Was…”: African American Culture

“Everyday Use” and “The Man Who Was Almost a Man” are similar in their themes of racial discrimination against African Americans, and their poor living conditions but different in narrative techniques and protagonists.

Introduction to “Everyday Use” and “The Man Who Was Almost a Man”

“Everyday Use” and “The Man Who Was Almost a Man” show themes of racial discrimination, African-American conditions and different narratives. During the first and second half of the 20th century, there were several African- American writers, who achieved great names in American literature and Richard Wright was among them, though Alice Walker was not in the limelight at that time as she was born in the half of the 20th century. Richard Wright has mostly written about male characters, being male, but Alice Walker has not only touched on female sexuality but also commented on black feminism, avoiding commenting on the male and propagating female independence. Called the father of African-American literature, Richard Wright was deeply aware of the cultural shortcomings that his compatriots faced in the United States and their ultimate failure. He was also proud of his success but at the same time, he created protagonists who could not succeed as African Americans like Dave in his famous story “The Man Who Was Almost a Man” because he tries to show his manliness in a different way (Rayson). However, Alice Walker, though, came when Richard Wright was long dead, created stories of female sexuality and female independence that she has been hailed as a predecessor of the famous Zora Neal Hurston. Yet she has not created such powerful stories. In fact, she came at a time when African Americans were struggling for their identities and she moved it further. David White is right in saying that “She uses the principal characters of Mama, Dee (Wangero), and Maggie to clarify this theme” (White). However, her characters are very strong like the mother in “Everyday Use.” “Everyday Use” and “The Man Who Was Almost a Man” are similar in their themes of racial discrimination against African Americans, and their poor living conditions but different in narrative techniques and protagonists.

Racial Discrimination in “Everyday Use” and “The Man Who Was Almost a Man”

The theme of racial discrimination runs deep in both stories. Dave is after a gun from Joe’s store because he daily faces insults. That is why he wants to have a gun so that they “could not talk … a little boy” and he wishes that “a man oughta to hava little gun aftah he done worked hard all day” (Wright 682). Then Joe makes Dave realize that he is a boy and he does not need a gun, but African American slaves do not understand that they are not even considered sane. Therefore, this is his desire that he should be counted as a man, and he buys a gun that he accidentally kills Jenny with and is fined to pay for that. Although his father is with him and he does not interfere except when necessary, he just used to look “at his father uneasily” when he is with his mother pleading to have money for the gun. He comes to know this at the end when he learns that he would have to pay two dollars a month for two years over which he utters his usual “Shucks! Ah’ll be dam!” (689). However, this is not very much clear in “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker because she supports feminism instead of racial bias though it is present all around in the story.  The mom in the story tells that she is a “large, big boned woman” (Walker 524) that could be only an African American woman. She then tells about her education that when she left school in 1927, “colored asked fewer questions” which shows that at that time they did not have the right to question (528). They were segregated and set apart from other people but now the situation has changed and she can earn on her own though their living conditions have not improved very much.

Poor Living Conditions in “Everyday Use” and “The Man Who Was Almost a Man”

They used to live in very poor conditions. The mother in “Everyday Use” is very clear about the description of the house which shows their financial condition. She, with her disabled daughter Maggie, has cleaned the yard which is “an extended living room” because this is their entire home where they are living. She says that it is made up of hard clay and when it is “swept clean” it becomes comfortable for a person to sit (524). It is not only the condition of the house but also the condition of the things which is showing that they are very poor and it is only because they are African Americans. Although there are three rooms, only the roof is made of tin. There are a few trunks full of quilts and pillows she has prepared for Maggie that Dee wants to get but she refuses because Maggie needs them for everyday use. However, it is clear in Richard Right in the very beginning when Dave tells everything about him and how he works in the fields and gets enough to save for a day. This is also clear from the broken and pidgin English African Americans used to speak. His job is to plow in the fields of Hawkins whose mule he killed when trying to fire his pistol and becomes a slave to earn two dollars each month. His obsession with guns shows it clearly that he tries to hide it at home but could not. This is the situation of a slave that in the end his father and mother make him confess to pay the fine to get rid of it.

Narrative Techniques in “Everyday Use” and “The Man Who Was Almost a Man”

Both stories, however, differ in their narrative techniques. The story of Dave in “The Man Who Was Almost a Man” is told in the third person pronoun. The narrator is some omniscient person who sees him above how he lives, acts, and narrates his entire routine. Dave, the teenager is fed up with being called a little boy. He wants to show the people that he is a man and tells his mother that he is going to purchase a gun. The story takes place in conversation but then is told in the third person where some detail is required such as “Dave looked at the floor” and so on (687). There is no first person until the end when Dave leaves the village so that “he could be a man” (689). However, “Everyday Use” is in the first person. The mother of Dee and Maggie tells her own version of the story, inserting her biography here and there to show how careful and independent she is. In fact, this first-person choice on the part of Alice Walker is the demonstration of the assertion of female independence. This is a sort of assertion of a self-respected woman who is proud to have a daughter like Dee but she is also very careful to take care of her disabled daughter. The first-person narrative suits such a character that asserts their self-made personality as she is very open when she says that “I can kill” a hunt and clean it, too (526). This shows she is very strong and brave like men — the reason that she has been able to raise two kids even when she was alone. It means that both authors have put different characters in different circumstances to show different shades of African American community.

African-American Community in “Everyday Use” and “The Man Who Was Almost a Man”

These protagonists show that whereas men of the African American community were naturally irresponsible during childhood, women were very responsible and self-assertive in that they had to take care of their children like all protective mothers. The self-assertion of the mother is very much obvious in the sixth to the seventh paragraph where the mother compares herself with men in strength and makeup. She is proud of herself that she has brought up Dee, an educated girl and that she has taken care of her disabled daughter.  Whatever the mother, Mrs. Johnson does and does not do reflects the situation and culture she is living in as it states that she can kill “a hog” (526) which shows that she is habitual of doing this in the male-dominated society (Velazquez). However, in the case of Richard Wright, the protagonist is Dave who wants to assert in these circumstances that he is a man and he knows how to fire a gun. In fact,  he is fed up with the little wages he earns because he is considered a boy. He wants to show them — the owner Hawkins that he is not a child, but a grown-up man. However, in this conflict, he commits the mistake of killing Jenny and is trapped in the loan of paying that amount in two years. This shows that the men’s role in African American community is that of irresponsible idiots since childhood — the reason that they are always caught up in debt in one or the other way. Therefore, Richard Wright has shown a mirror to his community that until men are irresponsible and irrational, Mrs. Johnson like characters, asserts Walker, would continue to bring up their children where there is nobody to take care of them.

Conclusion

Concluding the essay, it could be stated that whereas one story is about Mrs. Johnson, an independent widow, her female independence and her male-like bravery and strength, the other is about a teenager who shows his irresponsible attitude and behavior since childhood and leaves home to prove himself a man. His struggle ends only when he leaves home which is the end of the men in African American community. The techniques also support this theory because Mrs. Johnson states her story in first person narrative, while the third person narrative shows a sort of indifferent attitude as Dave does not share with his father what he needs. Rather, there is another mother engaged in teaching her son the skills of survival though he proves like his father and takes more debt instead of earning. Therefore, both stories show a different angle of the lives of the African American community though there are some similarities in that the characters are shown living in squalor and dirty conditions as they used to live. There are also some similarities in their self-assertion where one is asserting her motherhood by raising children while the other is asserting his manhood by firing the pistol. 

Works Cited

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