Walker

"Dee next.  A dress down to the ground, it this hot weather.  A dress so loud it hurts my eyes."  (Everyday Use p. 176 ¶ 20)


In this story, Dee and Maggie serve as total opposites.  Dee is modern, outgoing, and rude while Maggie stands in the shadows enjoying her traditional life with her mother.  In the excerpt above, synesthesia is used when the narrator states that the dress was so loud that it "hurt her eyes."   Synesthesia is basically when senses are confused.  For example, people who experience synesthesia associate colors with numbers and letters.  So basically, the numbers and letters are inherently colored.  In the quote, Mama mixes the sense of sight and hearing; therefore, she associates the color of the dress with sound.  The color is described as being "loud."  Many people describe colors as loud because they are bright or even obnoxious.  Also, Mama says the color hurts her eyes.  This is another literary device - an overstatement.  Obviously the color did not literally hurt Mama's eyes, but this adds effect to the story.  I think this description also serves to characterize Dee as a loud, obnoxious person who does not really take others into consideration.  To illustrate, Dee basically tells her mother that she is taking her valuables without even asking.  Not exactly the type of thing my mom would allow.  Also, the description of Dee's dress is the exactly the opposite of the description of Maggie's dress which is "a pink skirt and red blouse" - something simple and traditional.  While Maggie leans toward the traditional, Dee wishes for modern, expensive things.