Everyday Use for annotation 1 .docx - Everyday Use ALICE...

Everyday Use
ALICE WALKER
for your grandmama
Dee wanted nice things. A yellow organdy dress to wear to her graduation from high school;
black pumps to match a green suit she’d made from an old suit somebody gave me. She was
determined to stare down any disaster in her efforts. Her eyelids would not flicker for minutes at a
time. Often, I fought off the temptation to shake her. At sixteen she had a style of her own: and
knew what style was.
I never had an education myself. After second grade the school was closed down. Don’t asks
me why: in 1927 colored asked fewer questions than they do now. Sometimes Maggie reads to
me. She stumbles along good-naturedly but can’t see well. She knows she is not bright. Like good
looks and money, quickness passed her by. She will marry John Thomas (who has mossy teeth in
an earnest face) and then I’ll be free to sit here, and I guess just sing church songs to myself.
Although I never was a good singer. Never could carry a tune. I was always better at a man’s job. I
used to love to milk till I was hooked in the side in ’49. Cows are soothing and slow and don’t
bother you, unless you try to milk them the wrong way.