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I'm a Fool and Everyday Use

 

            
             A person's morality depends upon a his or her distinction between good and evil. Morally superior people have good ethics, honors, and ideals. They are honest and incorruptible with manners and strict principles. The higher degree of morality of a person the more likeable he or she becomes. Such is the case in Walker's "Everyday Use" and Anderson's "I"m a Fool". Due to the author's use of characterizations and the type of characters they are, most readers perceive the Fool to have a higher morality than Dee. Though this is the case the Fool actually does not have a higher morality than Dee. .
             Dee and the Fool are opposite characters. Dee's character does not change. At the beginning of the story, her mother, the narrator, describes Dee's actions as their old home is lit on fire with her sister inside. Dee's reaction to this event was uncaring and without surprise since she was the one who lit the fire. Dee's mother thought that she would "do a dance around the ashes [of the burning house]"(91). Later in the story, See still cares only for herself. When her mother decides to give the quilts to her sister instead of her, Dee arrogantly claims that her sister is unable to appreciate the quilts and would "probably be backward enough to put them to everyday use"996). This is ironic because Dee would be denying her heritage by taking the quilts and hanging them on the walls instead of actually using them. Dee remains the same uncaring and superficial person throughout the story, showing her as a static character. On the other hand, the fool is a dynamic character. The Fool begins his story without remorse for lying. He begins to make himself appear to be a person of higher status, when he is actually living life as a swipe, all to get the attention of a woman. However, throughout the story the Fool, acting as the narrator, insults himself, referring to the "big boob that [he is]"(87).


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