Everyday Use By Alice Walker

An African American single mother raises two daughters that have different meanings of life and heritage. Maggie is the youngest daughter, the girl who is shy who is not attractive and is pleased with her culture and life. Then there is Dee the girl who is attractive, sophisticated and knows what she wants in life and wants to be something more than her family. Even though Dee is sophisticated she does not know the true importance of heritage. This is what starts struggle between mother and Dee, because Dee desires the quilt for decoration which her mother would not give it to her for that reason. The mother believes the quilt is not for ornamenting it is more meaningful and signifies the heritage of her family. Only Maggie can transmit

She shows no respect for anyone and that there is not a single possession that she should not have. Firstly, Dee thinks that no matter what she sees, it should be hers. Without asking Mama if she could have it, Dee took the butter churn from the kitchen, and told Mama she would use it as a centerpiece (53). Another example would be that Dee shows no respect for anyone even her mother. When they were finished eating, Dee disrespected her mother by going through her trunk at the foot of the bed and took the quilts (53). Lastly, Dee shows how controlling and how she puts herself above people. “Dee moved back just enough so that I [Mama] couldn’t reach the quilts. They already belonged to her” (53); Dee has not even gotten these quilts, and has already put her control on them. In these ways and more, Dee is showing herself as someone who respects no one and thinks she is above

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 Dee is the educated yet selfish sister of Maggie, who is self conscious and withdrawn because she had been scarred by a house fire.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

Here the tone shifted from prideful to authoritative. Dee demanded to own the two quilts. Mama said the quilts had been made by her ancestors and she “hung up on them on the quilt frames on the front porch and made them (762).” The quilt frames symbolize the object which helps organize and keep the family's generations alive, and the front porch symbolizes the connection of the family with the world. Mama knew the quilts were what kept the generations together, regardless of what the people around thought or did.The quilts needed to be used in order to keep the family traditions alive. Soon after, the protagonist came up with an excuse and said the “lavender [pieces], [came] from old clothes” which had been “handed down (762).” The lavender symbolizes love and devotion. The old clothes symbolize the legacy of the family's heritage. Although Dee only wanted to the quilts, Mama felt her past family's love and devotion through the quilts. Dee wanted the quilts because to preserve them, not because of an emotional connection to them. In addition, the young woman continued to offend her mother to the point where Mama told her the quilts were for Maggie, the youngest sister, and Dee exclaimed how her sister could never “appreciate the quilts.” She continued and said “She'd probably be backward enough to put them to everyday use (762).” Everyday use represents the “everyday use” of customs and true purpose of the quilts. Although Dee thinks her sister will destroy the blankets through sex and daily use, Mama wanted her to understand how everything she wanted had a special purpose in their

Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use” is a short story about the family relationship between a mother and her spoiled daughter. The mother, who is affectionately called “Mama” throughout the story, lives with her younger daughter, Maggie. The older child is Dee, who has not lived at home since she was sent to Augusta to school. She is preoccupied with advancing her social status and acquiring nice things. “Dee wanted nice things. A yellow Organdy dress to wear to her graduation from high school; black pumps to match a green suit…” (Walker,492). The story revolves around Dee’s visit to see Mama and Maggie, an event which obviously does not happen often. Dee only seems to visit the family in order to claim items that Mama has not yet given to her children. As usual, Mama allows Dee to come inside the home and take whatever she wants. Yet, the relationship between Mama and Dee is a complicated one. Others may say that their relationship is strained because Dee burned their first house down. However, there is no direct proof that Dee is responsible for the fire. Their relationship is contentious and uneasy because Dee is very selfish, she wants to advance her life without considering others, mainly Maggie, and she resents that Mama is satisfied with a simple life.

Alice Walker is a writer of many powerful short stories, novels, essays and poetry. She used her work to bring black women’s lives to the main focus, such as the rich and important in the US American Literature. In the short story “Everyday Use” written by Alice walker, she showed the conflicts and struggle throughout the African- American culture. “Everyday Use” addresses the dilemma with African Americans, trying to escape prejudice and poverty. The short story “Everyday Use” focuses on the encounter between a mother and her daughters. The setting of the story takes place in the driveway of the mother’s house. The mother and her youngest daughter Maggie wait for her oldest daughter Dee and her male friend to visit from school. Alice

In her short story “Everyday Use,” Alice Walker summarizes the representation of the beauty, the conflicts and struggles within African-American culture. “Everyday Use” focuses mainly between members of the Johnson family, consisting of a mother and her two daughters. One of the daughters Maggie, who was injured in a house fire and has living a shy life clinging to her mother for security. Her older sister is Dee, who grew up with a grace and natural beauty. “Dee is lighter than Maggie, with nicer hair and a fuller figure… (716) She also grew up determined to have a better life than her mother and sister. This takes place when Dee (the only family member to receive a formal education) returns to visit Dee’s mother and younger sister Maggie. Again this portrays a slight issue between two different views of the African-American culture. Alice uses symbolism to empathize the difference between these interpretations, showing that culture and heritage are parts of daily life. The title of the story, Everyday Use, symbolizes the living heritage of the Johnson family, a heritage that is still in “everyday use”.

In “everyday Use,” Alice Walker tells a narrative of a mother’s frustrating relationship together with her two daughters. At this facet, “,Everyday Use”, tells that how a mom little by little refuses the cursory values of her older, successful daughter at the aspect of the useful values of her younger, much less lucky daughter. On a deeper outlook, Alice Walker takes on the theme of heritage and its norms as it applies to African-Americans.

In Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use”, Walker juxtaposes two different daughters in their quest for a cultural identity. The narrator, their mother, talks about how each daughter is different; Dee went off to college and became well-educated, contrary to their impoverished and low status as black women in the south. Meanwhile, Maggie isn’t nearly as educated as Dee is, but is still literate. The entire story centers around Dee’s visit with her new Muslim significant other. The story’s climax is when Dee wants to take two special quilts back home, but those quilts are for Maggie. These precious quilts comprise their culture. Henceforth, Dee does not deserve to take the quilts with her because she has decided to take on a culture that varies significantly from her own and she is already used to getting what she wants.

In the short story “Everyday Use”, Alice Walker portrays a mother and her two daughters struggling to unite with one another after overcoming many hardships in life. Mysteriously, Walker never reveals a husband and says very little about the girls’ father. Perhaps she intends for the reader to draw their own conclusions as to the reason he was only slightly revealed. The story is narrated in first person by the mother, she never reveals her first name, just her last, Johnson. One of her daughters is named Dee and the other is named Maggie. Dee is quite different from her sister and mother. She is physically blessed with an attractive physique, she is confident, outspoken and very well educated. Although Dee is a product of poverty, she seems to have broken loose from the constraint of poverty and appears to have “made it” (1126). Overtime, with new experiences and higher education, some people change perceptions and beliefs, however, sometimes the best learning opportunities are found at home.

Everyday Use Essay In the story “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker the character Dee changes from being ashamed of her culture to loving everything about it, this affects the theme “The true meaning of heritage”. This story mostly takes place in the mama's yard while Dee confronts whether she sees herself as from her birth family or from Africa. At the beginning of the story Mama describes Dee by saying ”No is a word the world never learned to say to her”.

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.

In “Everyday Use” the author, Alice Walker uses an indirect presentation of Dee’s character to contribute to the emerging theme that family members can have contradicting views regarding their heritage. Walker utilizes Dee and Maggie’s juxtaposing characters to show this idea; “Dee (Wangero) moved back just enough so that I couldn’t reach the quilts. They already belonged to her” (Walker 172). Walker’s use of indirect characterization accurately depicts Dee’s character. Through her judgmental and personal feelings of superiority, the audience is able to see the conflict arising within the family.

Many people find the history of their family’s heritage and ancestry to be interesting. In the short story “Everyday Use,” Alice Walker focuses on defining heritage in the African American community. The story was published in 1973 in a collection called In Love and Trouble, and takes place in the Deep South during the 1960s Civil Rights Movement. During this time, many African-Americans desired to define their cultural identities by connecting to more “authentic” culture. “Everyday Use” is a story told through the eyes of Mrs. Johnson (Mama), a woman with little education who asserts the value of her heritage. When Mama’s oldest, successful daughter, Dee, returns home to visit her impoverished family, conflict arises over the proper use of

The genuine appreciation of heritage and family is the focus of Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use”. Dee and Maggie’s characters are the vessels that Walker uses to demonstrate the difference between appreciating possessions for their usefulness as well as their personal significance and their contrasting value as a trendy, materialistic connection. There is a palpable difference between Maggie and Dee, both in physical appearance as well as in personality traits and their treatment of the personal artifacts that come into play within the story is very telling of this.