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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. How does Maggie respond to the attempts to shake her hand?

2. Who is the antagonist in "Everyday Use?"

3. What does Ms. Johnson offer Wangero instead of the two quilts Grandma Dee pieced?

4. What scraps of Grandpa Jarrell's clothes are in the quilts?

5. For what does Ms. Johnson lose her taste as a result of what happens to her in 1949?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does the way Maggie walks and carries herself indicate?

2. Why doesn't Ms. Johnson have more formal education?

3. What references to racial prejudice are there in "Everyday Use?"

4. Describe Dee's relationship with Jimmy T and what it indicates about her.

5. What was Dee like at sixteen?

6. What is Ms. Johnson's relationship with her daughter Dee like?

7. Is there any significance to the fact that neither Ms. Johnson's marital state nor Dee's are revealed in "Everyday Use?"

8. What is Aunt Dicie/Big Dee's role in "Everyday Use?"

9. What does Maggie wear for Dee's visit and what does her outfit illustrate about her character?

10. Which character in "Everyday Use" is a foil character and what helps identify that character as a foil character?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Compare and contrast Ms. Johnson's relationship with Maggie and her relationship with Dee in "Everyday Use." Which daughter do you think is Ms. Johnson's favorite, or do you think she loves them both equally? Since Maggie is the daughter who stays in the rural south and Dee is the daughter who escapes, what do you think the author is saying through these characters about the identity conflict African Americans experienced after the civil rights movement? Cite examples from the text to support your arguments.

Essay Topic 2

Grandma Dee, Aunt Dicie or Big Dee, Grandpa Jarrell, Great-Grandpa Ezra and John Thomas are mentioned in "Everyday Use" but never appear on stage. Discuss these minor characters from the story and how the author uses them to illustrate her themes of family and community. Are there any other themes you think the author uses the characters to convey? Cite examples from the text to support your arguments.

Essay Topic 3

In Alice Walker's "Everyday Use," the character of Dee is romantically involved with Johnny T and later with Hakim-a-barber. Compare and contrast Dee's relationship with Johnny T and her relationship with Hakim-a-barber. Which one seems more harmonious and why? What does each relationship reveal about Dee at the stage in her life when she was involved with each man? Does Dee demonstrate any character growth from one relationship to the other? Cite examples from the text to support your arguments.

(see the answer keys)

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