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In Alice Walker’s poem ‘Women’, she dissects women’s important roles during the post-Civil Rights era. Walker depicts women as stout of step, strong, and leaders. Walker lets others know that women, black women, are independent people, who do a lot to keep things in the African American communities. Alice Walker depicts women as gentle but at times strong and heavy – “With fists as well as hands” – to show that women do gentle work, but there are fires that black women put out constantly to make the world better (5-6). I relate the poem ‘Everyday Use’ to ‘Women’ because it describes how mothers must tend to their children’s needs. A mother must accept the change and opposition that their child has, something only a mother would know.
For starters, Walker depicts women as those who help others fight through whatever obstacle they must climb in life. Those women who were never seen on the battleground, made those soldiers become who they are: “How they led armies/ Head dragged generals/ Across mines/ Fields /Booby-trapped ditches” (12-18). This relates to ‘Everyday Use’. Mama gets Maggie through every battle she has. Ever since the fire that occurred at their house and Maggie received burns. Mama helps Maggie build her self-confidence and helps her be herself. Mama states that Maggie has never been the same since the burns, and because Dee has had the better half her whole life, Maggie has never been a warrior. Maggie says: “‘She can have them, Mama’. She said like, like somebody used to never winning anything, or having anything reserved for her”. Maggie has never given herself the win, this one time, when Dee has no choice but to back down, Maggie puts herself up. Because of Dee, her whole life she is used to getting second, and this makes her submissive and never have self-confidence.
In addition to that, in ‘Women’, Alice Walker writes: “How they knew what/ We/ Must know/ Without knowing a page/ Of it/ Themselves” (23-27). Mothers teach, preach and tell their kids everything they need to know in life, even if they don’t know a piece of it themselves. Mothers know that education is the key to many doors. In this poem, Alice talks about how a mother, a woman, knows that for a high chance for them to succeed in life, a child must know their education. This related to ‘Everyday Use’, as Mama states: “I never had an education myself. After second grade the school was closed. Education is good you need it. Don’t ask me why”. Mama, although, doesn’t have an education herself, knows that education is good. Mama may not prefer education over basic life skills, but she knows having it isn’t a problem. That is a trait a mother and a woman have knowing something without knowing a piece of it themselves.
To add on to that, in ‘Women’, it states: “With fists as well as/Hands” (5-6) Despite the line’s shortness, it has a lot of meaning. Even though mothers and women are caregivers and lovers of society, each has their own temper and way of handling problems. When Alice Walker says: “Fists as well as hands”, she is telling women must stand in place and show their bad side, to not only show that they are not weaker than men, but can handle jobs just as well as men. In ‘Everyday Use’, it says: “‘Well’, I said, stumped. ‘What will you do with them?’”. In ‘Everyday Use’, during the whole story, Mama keeps her temper and resists the urge to say something rude. Even though it isn’t a lot, Mama had to quickly ask and put Dee in her place for being rude to her sister. Mama is a sweet and caring person, but like in ‘Women’, she has fists, as well as hands.
To conclude, Alice Walker's poem ‘Everyday Use’ is related to the poem ‘Women’ in many interesting ways. Walker shows women’s important roles, and as some may disagree, women as stout of step, strong, and leaders. Walker lets others know that all women, especially black women, are independent people. Alice Walker depicts women as gentle but at times strong and heavy, “With fists as well as hands”, to show that women do gentle work, but there are fires that black women put out constantly to make the world a better place. Women do it all.
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