Alice Walker Relationships

Mama understands the past and the significance of a family heritage. Her heritage including her memories of her mother and grandma making quilts together by hands.

Mama had been so excited for Dee’s visit because she hadn’t seen Dee in years, “You’ve no doubt seen those TV shows where the child who has “made it” is confronted, as a surprise, by her own mother and father, tottering in weakly from backstage,” Mama had dreamed of this day to come because she knew she had done something good for her child, something to be proud of. But upon Dee’s arrival both Mama and Maggie had noticed her change as if she was better then them and understood more of African culture because she had an education, “ I couldn’t bear it any longer, being named after the people who oppress me.” Dee had converted not only her name but her clothes and jewelry to make a statement of what “real” heritage is. This quilts led to a controversy between the meanings of their heritage. Ironically for Dee, Mama had offered her the quilts a long time ago but was too interested in appearance rather than the legacy left behind, “ I had offered Dee a quilt when she went away for college. Then she had told they were old- fashioned, out of style.” Then when she comes back, she wants to hang them as décor and doesn’t want Maggie to have them because she’ll ruin them, ““Maggie can’t appreciate these quilts!” she said. “ She’d probably be backward enough to put them to everyday use.”

In the story, the meaning of heritage has different meanings according to the characters in the story. The main issue in this story is the fact that Dee does not fully understand her heritage. It is very easy to see how Dee does not know much about her family’s heritage like Maggie and their mother

In Everyday Use, Mama is described as a big-boned woman with rough hands that were worn from years of hard labor. She wore overalls, and was both mother and father to her daughters’ Dee and Maggie. Mama was very poor and uneducated like most during this era, she wasn’t given the opportunity to escape her rural lifestyle. Although she was a loving mother, her outspoken, upfront nature forbids her from lying when it comes to her daughters downfalls. Mama understanding of her heritage wouldn’t allow her to let Wangero (Dee) to take the family quilts (P.78).

Roy E. Disney once said, “When values are clear to you, making decisions becomes easier.” In “Everyday Use,” by Alice Walker, this statement holds true. Through the eyes of the hard-working, single parent living in the south, Mama faces daily decisions that are often difficult. At the climax, Mama must decide whether to give the quilt to the daughter who seems to have everything, or to the daughter that is less fortunate. As any mother is influenced by their daughters, Mama takes sympathy for the youngest, while judging her oldest for her actions, behavior, and ideas that are very different from her own.

Culture and heritage is something people often try to preserve. In the short story “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker, Maggie and Dee argue over how to keep their heritage alive. They have gone separate ways but now for a short period of time, they are back together. As you progress through the story one thing becomes clear. Dee and Maggie may be sisters but with few similarities, they have very different ways of doing things.

Dee’s behavior begins to take a toll on Mama’s emotions. Mama begins to feel disrespected and unappreciated. On the other hand, Dee feels as if she is better than everyone and that she has ascendancy in every situation. As the story goes on, Mama and Dee grow further and further apart and Mama begins to feel a great amount of disappointment in Dee and her behavior. Mama’s reaction to Dee’s obnoxious behavior has a huge effect on the story’s outcome.

Dee wants to keep the quilts to show off her heritage and hang them on her wall as decorations; she thinks her sister will not appreciate them and will put them to everyday use. Maggie agrees to give up her promised quilts because after all, she “can 'member Grandma Dee without the quilts” (Schmidt 352). However, Mama will not let Dee keep them because deep inside, she knows that Maggie deserves them. Maggie learned how to quilt from aunt Dee, who learned how to quilt from Grandma Dee; therefore, she will be able to keep their culture and their history alive. After this decision, Wangero responds furiously, “You just don't understand […] your heritage” (Schmidt 323), and suggests that the quilts have a materialistic a value that has to be preserved in order to maintain the family's African heritage. Ironically, the quilts are not valuable because they are old and their ancestors sewed them; instead, they are priceless because they represent a tradition that many hard working black women followed for years. The author suggests that Maggie has an understanding her sister never will; she understands the real meaning of African heritage.

Mama is mightily confused and thrown off. Dee has taken on a new heritage for herself and practically has thrown her old heritage to the side, being unused.

(Walker 7). It can be argued that Dee simply wants the best for her family. Sure, she could say things in a more delicate way, but that just is not her style. The following quote states, “Dee wanted nice things. A yellow organdy dress to wear to her graduation from high school; black pumps to match a green suit she made from an old suit somebody gave me” (Walker 2).

Since before she left for college that her church and Mama raised money for, Dee was known to be materialistic, always wanting “nice things;” for example, she had “a yellow organdy dress to wear to her graduation from high school; black pumps to match a green suit she'd made from an old suit somebody gave [her] (#). Dee was more developed at age sixteen than present-day Maggie because she knew how to dress with a style of her own. When Dee finally gets to her old home, she continues to support her materialistic views by dressing in a bright colored flowy dress, golden earrings hanging to her shoulders, and dangly noisy bracelets, showing off her “elite” new lifestyle (#). Dee inherited a

In the short story "Everyday Use" by Alice Walker the story is being told in Mama’s point of view. The theme of the story which is brought up throughout the whole story is how Dee, Dee’s mother and her sister Maggie have different views of their heritage. Alice Walker uses characterization in the story to help shape the theme of the story. By Walker doing this it helps the reader to understand how the narrator sees her daughters and why her daughters take certain action within the story. In the story Dee sees her heritage different than her mother and her sister Maggie.

Mama and her youngest daughter Maggie, appreciates heritage as part of themselves and where they originated from. Mama was raised into this lifestyle and has become satisfied and happy with it. Dee, the oldest daughter, discarded the families heritage from the start and holds resentment toward her family because of their lifestyle. Mama tries to raise her daughters to the best of her ability and tries to make it so that their lives are as satisfying as possible. Mama is very critical and honest when it

After the mother saw Maggie offering Dee to have quilts, she was proud of Maggie and gave her their grandmother’s quilt instead of Dee. Later the mother told Dee to take one of the other quilts. Dee left telling her mother she did not understand her own heritage. Dee also told Maggie, she needed to try and improve herself. Even though the Maggie was angry when she heard sister asking for the quilts, she wanted her sister have the quilts to show her sister was more important to her than the quilts were. Nevertheless, Dee left with one of the other

Mama as the narrator of the story plays a major role on how we view Maggie and Dee the language she uses creates their identity, “It is the mother’s point of view that permits the reader’s understanding of both Dee and Maggie. Seen from a greater distance, both young women might seem stereotypical — one a smart but ruthless college girl, the other a sweet but ineffectual homebody. The mother’s close scrutiny redeems Dee and Maggie, as characters, from banality” (Ross). Mama uses different language to describe each girl she adds depth to Dee and Maggie, which sets them apart from the stereotype their characters could have. Dee a stereotype of a young independent black woman who does not accept how things are she wants to change the world, Walker breaks the mold by, essentially making her the antagonist in the story one would think she would be the protagonist. Walker explores how certain young adults only embraced their culture to fit in since in that time the black power movement was very strong. Maggie's stereotype is a shy quiet regular girl who isn't the smartest she just plants to get married nothing else, additionally accepts the traditional way of life. To add depth to her the narrator provides background information on how she got her burn scars, which are from their old house burning down, in addition, those scars contribute to her shyness and quietness. Mamas perspective is the only thing readers can really base Maggies and Dee identities on is the language likewise the way she describes them. “”The mother, in rejecting Dee's claim and returning the quilts to Maggie, "bestows the riches of her domestic kingdom not on the prodigal but on the familiar daughter”” (Wiedmann 259). Mama at the end of the story stands up to Dee and does not let her have the quilts, Dee is not used to people telling her no, we see Dee react negatively, which substantiality leads her to go on this rant stating that, Maggie is dumb enough to actually put the quilts to everyday use, while Dee was going to Hang them up on a wall for display, the reader sees how superior she views herself compared to her mother and sister. Maggie was just gonna let Dee have the quilts, otherwise we would not have a climax to the story, therefore