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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 Dee respond when her mother asks her what happened to Dee?

2. How many sons does Ms. Johnson have?

3. Which Johnson family women quilts the quilt tops that Grandma Dee pieces?

4. Who asks Ms. Johnson for the butter churn dasher?

5. Who stands under a gum tree and observes from a safe distance while tragedy strikes the old Johnson house a decade earlier?

Short Essay Questions

1. In what era is "Everyday Use" set and how does this time period affect the story?

2. Why does Ms. Johnson's clean her yard prior to Dee's visit at the beginning of Alice Walker's "Everyday Use?"

3. What level of education does Dee have and how does it differ from the educational levels of her mother and sister?

4. What happens when Dee tries to share her educational knowledge with her mother and sister?

5. What is the significance of Dee's always wanting to read to people in her youth?

6. Why are the hairstyles of Hakim-a-barber and Dee/Wangero described in such detail in the story while Maggie and Ms. Johnson's hairstyles are not described?

7. What does the way Dee dresses for her visit with her family indicate about her character?

8. Alice Walker never names the narrator of this story. The reader is told only that she is a member of the Johnson family. What might the author of "Everyday Use" have intended to convey about the character of Ms. Johnson by not naming her?

9. What does Hakim-a-barber's car indicate about his character and Dee's?

10. What happened to the Johnsons' previous home and how has this tragedy affected the family?

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

Discuss symbolism and metaphor in "Everyday Use." Give three examples of symbolism in the story and discuss what the symbols are used to convey.

Essay Topic 3

Dee changes her name to Wangero in "Everyday Use." Discuss this name change citing examples from the text to support your arguments.

Part I: Discuss what Dee's name change indicates about her character.

Part II: Discuss what Dee's name change indicates about the era in which she lives.

Part III: Discuss what Dee's name change illustrates about her relationship with her family.

(see the answer keys)

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