Many authors use the themes of oppression and victory to define a struggle. This technique allows readers to relate to the characters on a personal level. Alice Walker uses this theme constantly in her short story “Everyday Use” with her character Maggie and in her book The Color Purple with her character Celie. Both narratives depict these women as underdogs who overcome obstacles to ultimately realize her full potential. In the story "Everyday Use" Walker weaves us into the lives of Momma, Dee and Maggie, an underprivileged family in rural Georgia. Mom is described as a loving, hard-working woman who cares more about the well-being of her family than her appearance. Conflict comes with Mama's two daughters, Dee and Maggie, whose personalities are as different as night and day. Dee, the youngest, is an attractive, full-figured, light-skinned young woman with ample creativity when it comes to getting what she wants and feels she needs. Maggie, on the other hand, is darker skinned, plain, and has scars from the fire that destroyed the family's first home. Throughout the story we are told about Maggie's shy and reserved behavior. Her mother described her as “. . . a lame animal, perhaps a dog run over by some careless man rich enough to own a car. . . That's how my Maggie walks. . . chin on chest, eyes on the ground, feet shuffling, ever since the fire started. (Handout, Walker) She is constantly overpowered by her dominant sister who "holds her life in the palm of her hand, that 'no' is a word the world never learned to say to her" (Handout, Walker). It seems that Walker herself finds Maggie inferior, as she is a minor character in the story. Things begin to change for Maggie towards the end when she receives the family's piece of paper... and brought them out of their protective, secluded shells. In both stories the theme of oppression, one mental, the other physical, resulting in victory, one internal, the other external, demonstrate that with determination and faith in a higher power one can survive any situation. Works CitedWalker, Alice. “Daily use”. In Love and in Trouble, 1986Kelley, Margot Anne. "Sisters' Choices: Quilting Aesthetics in Contemporary African-American Women's Fiction." Christian, ed., Everyday 167-94.Washington, Mary Helen. "An Essay on Alice Walker." Christian, ed., Everyday 85-104.Christian, Barbara, ed. Daily use. New Brunswick: Rutgers UP, 1994. Commentary on The Color Purple by Alice Walker. http://www.sparknotes.comSpeilberg, Steven. The Color Purple by Alice Walker. Amblin Entertainment, Guber-Peters Company, The, Warner Bros. Pictures, 1985.