Question

Which excerpt from "Everyday Use" by Alice Walker employs the technique of ambiguity? In both of [the quilts] were scraps of dresses Grandma Dee had worn fifty and more years ago. Bits and pieces of Grandpa Jarrell's Paisley shirts. And one teeny faded blue piece, about the size of a penny matchbox, that was from Great Grandpa Ezra's uniform that he wore in the Civil War. And then she turned to Maggie, kissed her, and said, “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." You've no doubt seen those TV shows where the child who has 'made it' is confronted, as a surprise, by her own mother and father, tottering in weakly from backstage. (A pleasant surprise, of course: What would they do if parent and child came on stage only to curse out and insult each other?) 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.

Answer 1

Answer:

And then she turned to Maggie, kissed her, and said, “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."

Explanation:

Alice Walker's "Everyday Use" is a short story that talks of a black woman's surviving life in a white world, with two contrasting daughters. Narrated by "Mama", she describes the lives of blacks, especially her daughters who had taken to opposite ways of reclaiming their black heritage.

Mama and her daughter Maggie were still traditionally basing their culture and heritage while the other daughter Dee seem to have a different approach. She had even changed her name and identity, taking on a different route in reclaiming her heritage. The sentence

And then she turned to Maggie, kissed her, and said, “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."

employs the technique of providing ambiguity in the story. Ambiguity provides multiple interpretations of the scene or act. Here, the ambiguity lies in the fact that Dee is telling her sister Maggie to change. Also, she is indirectly implying that she also changed her approach of living, keeping their black heritage, a more modern approach like her.