Everyday Use By Alice Walker Analysis

“Everyday Use” is a story about family and heritage. Through various arguments the authors, Susan Farrell and Nancy Tuten, share their thoughts and ideas on Walkers meaning of the story. Although they both agree that the story has to do with heritage, Nancy Tuten’s ideas and Susan Farrell’s differ.

“Everyday Use” by Alice Walker, is a story of a black family composed of a mother and her two daughters: Maggie and Dee. Walker does an excellent job illustrating her characters. There are all types of characters in this short story from round to static. Dee is a flat character, yet Walker uses Dee’s character to warn people of what might happen if they do not live properly. Walker describes Dee’s character as arrogant and selfish, and through Dee’s character one is allowed to perceive the wicked effect of an egotistical world.

Standing up for what is right is not an easy task, but it is necessary to protect those who can not defend themselves. “Everyday Use” is about Mama and her decision to choose sentimental values over materialism. Dee is the educated yet selfish sister of Maggie, who is self conscious and withdrawn because she had been scarred by a house fire. After a very long time, Dee returns to her home in search of materialistic goods so that she can preserve her family’s heritage by turning their culture into a commodity. Dee believes that possessing items with traditional value will allow her to understand her cultural heritage, and this symbolizes her misconception of viewing heritage as a material entity. However, Mama and Maggie clearly defines family and cultural heritage through their knowledge of everyday traditional practices, such as churning butter and quilting. Maggie and Dee are sisters, but they are like the two ends of a stick. Although they have been brought up in the same home and raised by the same mother, this is as far as their similarities

This short story "Everyday use" speaks about the life of two young ladies and their mother. They are a poor family that lived in old-fashioned life but Dee the bigger sister don'y like that life.

In "Everyday Use," Alice Walker stresses the importance of heritage. She employs various ways to reveal many aspects of heritage that are otherwise hard to be noticed.

In Alice Walker's short story "Everyday Use" Mama is the narrator. She speaks of her family of two daughters Maggie and Dee. Through the eyes of two daughters, Dee and Maggie, who have chosen to live their lives in very different manners, the reader can choose which character to identify most with by judging what is really important in one’s life. Throughout the story three themes consistently show. These themes show that the family is separated by shame, knowledge, and pride.

“Everyday Use” demonstrates real life struggles during the period is was written and published (1973), by using historical criticism, we can see that people are often disconnected due to their education. Alice Walker successfully shows the disconnection of heritage value by having one character well-educated and young, and another character who was not able to get an education and is much older. Taking the historical context, plays a major role in the way this short story is viewed. It was a time where people of color had a different and difficult experiences getting an education. The narrator was talking about not being able to get an education, so it was important her daughter get an education; The narrator wanted to be on a television show with her daughters to demonstrate how successful she became. However Dee the narrator's daughter sees her mother and Maggie her sister differently as if they do not know how to appreciate things for their valuable history. One example is, when she wanted the quilts that were suppose to go to Maggie; Dee gets upset that she cannot have them and her mother does not understand why she wants to put them on display.

The story 'Everyday Use', written by Alice Walker, is a story of heritage, pride, and learning what kind of person you really are. In the exposition, the story opens with background information about Dee and Maggie's life, which is being told by Mama. The reader learns that Dee was the type of child that had received everything that she wanted, while Maggie was the complete opposite. The crisis, which occurs later in the story, happens when Dee all of a sudden comes home a different person than she was when she left. During the Climax, Mama realizes that she has often neglected her other child, Maggie, by always giving Dee what she wants. Therefore, in the resolution, Mama defends Maggie by telling Dee that she cannot have the

In the short story "Everyday Use" by Alice Walker, the author portrays opposing ideas about one's heritage. Through the eyes of two daughters, Dee and Maggie, who have chosen to live their lives in very different manners, the reader can choose which character to identify most with by judging what is really important in one's life. In Dee's case, she goes out to make all that can of herself while leaving her past behind, in comparison to Maggie, who stays back with her roots and makes the most out of the surroundings that she has been placed in. Through the use of symbolism, the tangible object of a family heirloom quilt brings out these issues relating to heritage to Mama, and she is able to reasonably decide which of her daughters has

In the story 'Everyday Use', by Alice Walker, the value of ones culture and heritage are defined as a part of life that should not be looked upon as history but as a living existence of the past. Walker writes of the conflict between two Black cultures. Dee and Maggie are sisters whom do not share the same ideals. Mama is torn between two children with different perspectives of what life truly means. In the story, Walker describes the trial and tribulations of one daughter whose whole life is tormented by fear, failure and weakness; while the other "has held life always in the palm of one hand"(61) and moves to a better lifestyle. The possessions of the past will ultimately change the

The short story, “Everyday Use”, was written by Alice Walker. She has a well-known reputation worldwide from being a novelist, poet, short story writer, activist and feminist. Many of Walkers writings discuss issues facing African Americans. For her short story, “Everyday Use”, Walker focuses points on African Americans lacking understanding for their heritage. She uses a quilt as a symbol of heritage for her characters, Mama, Maggie and Dee.

Everyday Use begins with the narrator, Mrs. Johnson, saying that she will wait for her daughter Dee in the yard that she and Maggie made clean and wavy the day before (Walker, 1973). This first sentence shows the great lengths in which Mrs. Johnson and Maggie go to in order to make Dee happy. Having grown up this way, Dee has a feeling of entitlement. Maggie is nervous about Dee coming to visit. She thinks her sister has held life always in the palm of one hand, that “no” is a word the world never learned to say to her (Walker, 1973). When the girls were younger, Maggie was burned badly in a house fire, leaving scars down her arms and legs. The scars on her body had not only damaged her body but her confidence as well.

“Everyday Use” is a short story by Alice Walker, which emphasizes the importance of understanding and cherishing your heritage and the inheritance that may come along with it. Knowing who is truly entitled to the inheritance, and what their heritage meant was the central conflict in the story, when the two main characters Dee and Maggie, both wanted the two hand stitched quilts. Rather than looking at the physical aspect of the quilts the author wants the reader to know that the meaning is much deeper. The quilts are used to depict the struggle, triumphs, oppression, joy, pain, and love of each hand that helped to create the prized works of art. The quilts needed to be put to everyday use, rather than a mere decoration on the wall. Through the quilts Walker was able to show what each character valued: Dee valued the materials things, Maggie, valued things she could attach herself to, and Mama valued the acceptance of her daughter Dee.

The title, "Everyday Use", has a specific meaning that lashes on to the story. When the narrator, Walker

“Everyday Use” is a short story written by a 1940’s black writer, Alice Walker. She did a fantastic job illustrating her characters. There are different types of character in her story from round to static. Her use of clear-cut symbolism prompts the reader to be able to take a deeper look into the characters of the story. When reading this story I felt anger for Dee, while for the narrator and Maggie I felt sympathy.