A Metamorphosis of Character

In Everyday Use, author Alice Walker creates a narrator who undergoes a dramatic change of character in a relatively short period of time. The teller of the story, mother of Maggie and Dee, initially comes off as a woman who has had to work for the little she has in life. She dreams of a life where she is prettier, more wealthy, and sought after by attractive men. However, she returns to reality stating, "In real life I am a large, big-boned woman with rough, man-working hands" (Walker). Furthermore, the narrator recounts her rough times when she refers to the fact that she does not have an education passed the second grade and that her own daughter has to read to her. For me, these excerpts are Walker's attempt to characterize the narrator as an insecure and sad woman who has always "rolled with the punches." Moreover, when the narrator describes her encounters with white men saying, "It seems to me I have talked to them always with one foot raised in flight, with my head turned in whichever way is farthest from them" (Walker), Walker was implying that she was a character who avoided conflict at all costs and may even be somewhat of a pushover.
Nonetheless, at the end of the story, the narrator undergoes a change in character. When Dee asks for the old quilts, it seems at first that, though resistant, her mother will concede. However, upon seeing the sadness and defeat in Maggie's face, the mother quickly changes her mind and absolutely refuses to give Dee the quilts. "When I looked at her like that something hit me in the top of my head and ran down to the soles of my feet" (Walker). This stark description of a change in the narrators mood is Walker's attempt at showing a permanent metamorphosis of character.