Generational Conflict

In all three of the stories, I sided with the younger generation. There's something about children that make you want to be on their side. In Alice Walker's "Everyday Use," Walker describes Maggie as the unnoticed sister who was always out shined by her older sister, Dee. Throughout her sisters visit, Maggie "stood nervously in corners, homely and ashamed of the burn scars down her arms and legs, eying her sister with a mixture of envy and awe." Knowing that she is nervous and ashamed to be in the presence of her own sister, I find it hard to believe that the reader wouldn't sympathize with Maggie or immediately side with her. I'm sure there are many of us that have felt betrayed or discouraged by the ones that they love and can relate to the way Maggie felt in this story.