Everyday Use By Alice Walker Essay

“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.

The short story “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker highlights the concept that a much greater appreciation for heritage lies behind materialistic things through diction and irony of Maggie. Maggie and Ma receive a visit from Maggie’s older sister Dee, but find out that Dee has changed drastically in attitude since she left. She comes back to be much more mature and has a new image to present to the family and society. Dee wants to show that her heritage is exotic and beautiful, but Ma and Maggie believe that Dee doesn’t understand or respect the true meaning of their heritage. Walker introduces Maggie through strong use of diction, describing Maggie as a burnt, weak, limping animal.

As the two sisters have different appearance and personalities, they have different perspectives on heritage that contrast each other. Walker uses quilts to symbolize the heritage and describes the two girls' view on quilts to show their perspectives on heritage. Maggie thinks of heritage as an attachment to her ancestors. She believes the everyday use of the inherited materials, how much ever value they may retain, will keep her connected to her ancestors. She values the attachment to the ancestors more than the inherited material itself. When she gives up the quilts to Dee, she states, "I can 'member Grandma Dee with the quilts." Dee, on the other hand, thinks of heritage as something that has an extrinsic value, for example its aesthetic value as an antique. She believes that the proper way to accept and preserve her heritage is to not put it into her everyday use but to cherish it only as an accessory. Such an idea is revealed when Dee says, "Maggie can't appreciate these quilts! She'd probably be backward enough to put them to everyday use." When the mother asks Dee what she would do with the quilts, she says, "Hang them" (1177), which shows that Dee thinks of the quilts only as tangible antiques.

The behavior of overlooking her sister's, Maggie, and Mama's feelings since her childhood to the present indicates Dee's character as a person who disregards others. Mama ponders that while the house where they used to live burned to the ground; Maggie was burning, her "hair smoking and dress falling off her in little black papery flakes." Although she saw that Maggie needed her sister's aid, Dee stood "off under the sweet gum tree" at a distance (87). Walker reveals that Mama still finds Dee carrying her self-centeredness when she excludes herself from the pictures and "never [took] a shot without making sure the house is included" (89). Dee wants to capture the signs of poverty from her past so that she can show how much success she has gained in spite of being poor to her friends. Dee is so egotistical that she declares her sister is "backward enough to put [the quilts] to everyday use" (91) whereas she considers herself smart and would appreciate the quilts by hanging them. Her coldness and lack of concern make

The author leads the reader to presuppose that Dee hated their old house so much that she intentionally burned the house down. As Mama said, “ Dee...I see her standing off under the sweet gum tree she used to dig gum out of; a look of concentration on her face as she watched the last dingy gray board of the house fall in toward the red-hot brick chimney. Why

The strongest example of Dee's confusion and of Walker's belief that a family's heritage should be alive and not frozen in time is at the end of the story. Dee finds the two quilts that had been pieced together by many generations of her family, and she wants to keep them. Her mother says, "In both of them were scraps of dresses Grandma Dee had worn fifty and more years ago. Bits and pieces of Grandpa Jarrell's paisley shirts. And one teeny

The setting of “Everyday Use” takes place in the yard of the mother of both Dee and Maggie. The yard in which is mentioned in both the beginning

She treats all the handmade things at home like artifacts, getting excited about their histories. For example, Dee wants to hang the quilts that Maggie’s grandmother made for Maggie on her wall. When Mama says the quilts belong to Maggie, Dee snaps back and exclaims, “Maggie can’t appreciate these quilts!” (Walker 469). Maggie then says, “She can have them Mama, I can remember Grandma Dee without the quilts” (Walker 469). This shows that Maggie understands the true value of the quilts, unlike Dee, who treats them like showpieces. The quilts were made to be used, not to be displayed and preserved, which is something that Dee doesn’t understand. Dee is so focused on trying to escape oppression that she loses sight of the importance of her own heritage.

Her mother mentions how the plan was to give the quilts to Maggie when she gets married, and the tone of the conversation changes. After, Dee goes from a mellow tone of voice that changes to a shocked one. She mentions, “Maggie can’t appreciate these quilts!”(Walker, 159) Dee wants these quilts to herself as she shows jealousy knowing that her sister may get the quilts. Dee feels she must talk down upon Maggie to make herself feel better about the situation.

Dee is the afro-centric, ego- centric and eccentric pseudo-intellect. She values her culture in a more materialistic aspect. She respects the artifacts of her history rather than the usefulness. Dee’s earthly-mindedness sets the stage for conflict throughout the entire story, from her arrival until the central conflict when there is a battle amongst the other two main characters Mama and Maggie, about who is truly entitled to the hand-stitched quilts. The quilts were works of art that have been passed down throughout

Now all of a sudden she has Black Muslim family and wants to impress them so she returns to grab things that are part of her family’s heritage. That are only interested in what they stand for and not for whom they stand for.  Then as soon as she pays a visit to her home, she picks up and walks out again.  It is obvious, to her heritage is for show not for living. The situational irony is present as well. Selfish Dee expects to be able to just walk into Mama’s house and take what she wants. Instead, Mama finally realizes that Maggie deserves the quilts because she understands her heritage. Mama actually understands what Dee is becoming and decides to give the quilts to Maggie.

In “Everyday Use”, Dee said that she “couldn't bear it any longer, being named after the people who oppress me” (Walker). Even when Dee was younger Mama said Dee taught Maggie and herself how to read and forced “words, lies, other folks' habits, whole lives upon us two…” (Walker 2). Dee wanted more than what her uneducated mother and poor younger sister could offer her. It seemed as if Dee only wanted the older quilts to show off to everyone.

In “Everyday Use”, Alice Walker reveals that once Dee fails to see Mama’s family legacy and the value in their own heritage, Dee loses respect for the items given by their ancestors, instead treating them as lost artifacts that should go on display for money. Mama views some of her ancestral objects, such as the old quilts that had “pieces of dresses Grandma used to wear, and Great Grandpa Ezra's uniform that he wore in the Civil War ” as ancient memories (Walker 4). Mama has respect and value for the objects she was left with, she will take good care of them and make sure they’re used in the same culture and traditions as her ancestors did before. Unlike Mama, Dee has given up her family name and is all about wealth which makes her value

She knows her daughter is a great person who is amazing at singing church hymns. Maggie displays her quality of being nice during the quilt controversy. After Mama and Dee argue some, she insists that Dee can have the quilts without hesitation. An extremely unselfish act of her, especially when the quilts were made by a deceased family member. The quilts are a keepsake that any Johnson family member would love to have.

Growing up in the late 60’s as an African American in the South, Alice Walker has had to withstand many of the oppressions black people faced at the time. Her direct experience with the torment of being prejudiced by her skin color and the national movements against this, have been the fundamental basis to the themes in her writings. In her story “Everyday Use,” she depicts the different understandings of culture between a literate daughter, Dee, and her mother and sister who have not been educated and yet live a traditional simple life together. Through a series of events the author explores the adverse views on heritage among the younger and older generations of African-Americans. Within the historical context, it was time where Blacks