My Mother Pieced Quilts Analysis

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 Dee is the educated yet selfish sister of Maggie, who is self conscious and withdrawn because she had been scarred by a house fire.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

Alice Walker's "Everyday Use," is a story about a poor, African-American family and a conflict about the word "heritage." In this short story, the word "heritage" has two meanings. One meaning for the word "heritage" represents family items, thoughts, and traditions passed down through the years. The other meaning for the word "heritage" represents the African-American culture.

In “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker, Maggie demonstrates when one appreciates her past and family, it leads to a meaningful life. Maggie has been demonstrated to show you need to know about your family. Maggie’s love for past down traditions have made her act more considerate and her mother quotes, “‘ She can always make some more’ I said. ‘ Maggie knows how to quilt’”(Walker 7). Maggie’s knowledge and understanding of her heritage are illustrated in this quote. Her mother and she have a special relationship because she’s more into knowing her family and is curious about it. In addition to, when you appreciate your family, most likely you can comprehend how to make certain items/know what your family history is. Additionally, Walker uses Maggie

Heritage is defined as something that comes or belongs to one by reason of birth. In “Everyday Use”, by Alice Walker, the theme of the story can be considered as the meaning of heritage or even the power of education. Alice Walker uses many symbols and motifs such as the following: quilts, education, knowledge, Asalamalakim, and the renaming of Dee. In the story, African heritage and knowledge takes a major role.

Heritage has an influential role in every individual’s life. “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker is a short story that portrays two sisters’ from a poor African American home and their conflicting views on the value and meaning of heritage. Maggie, the younger sister, is uneducated but truly appreciates where she comes from. Dee, the oldest sister, is an educated college student but her she has a warped idea of heritage. Alice Walker uses the characters, point of view and symbolism to develop the main theme of heritage.

There can be great comfort in understanding one’s heritage especially when it involves the deep love and devotion of a strong mother. The poem combines family and love with the quilt to show the memories that she has shared threw the generations that have had the quilt. In the poem “my mother pieced quilts” by Teresa Paloma Acosta and the short story “ Everyday use” by Alice Walker, both author’s use imagery and figurative language to establish a quilt as a symbol for family, love and memories to illustrate their themes.

Alice Walker, a famous author, stated in her short story, Everyday Use, “Dee (Wangero) looked at me with hatred. “You just will not understand. The point is these quilts, these quilts.” Each person’s identity is shaped from a culture that is built with the offering of everything in his or her surrounding environment. Culture is one of the most important factors, though there are many other contributing factors, that can influence someone’s perspective on the world because all of their opinions, decisions, and morals are all based off of their surrounding environment. In the poem and story, “My Mother Pieced Quilts” and Everyday Use, they both demonstrate how one’s cultural identity is influenced by his or her surroundings, changing the

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 story “Everday Use”, the relationship between everyday use and heritage are the same. Heritage is something that you live every day with beliefs, traditions, and family. These things are passed down through the generations. This is shown when the mother talks about how the quilt was made and how Maggie was taught to quilt. The quilt making and those involved are heritage, something we do every day.

Throughout Alice Walker’s short story “Everyday Use” the view of the events taken place is from the mother’s point of view. Maggie and Dee have very different personalities and the reader can see that once Dee tries to take the quilts back home with her. Dee is a worldly educated woman, with a sense of style. While Maggie is a farm girl who has only known working on the farm, she has no education and is self-conscious due to the scares she got from a house fire. Although Maggie does have a sentimental connection to the quilts, Dee is trying to take home to make a fashion statement. It can be seen the emotional connection Maggie has to the quilts when she comes running out of the house in tears once she hears Dee talking about taking the quilts.

Ever wonder what the true definition of heritage is? The exact definition of heritage is “a possession that has been inherited,” according to Google. In the short story “Everyday Use” the role of heritage is explored when the main character, Dee, and her mother have different views of their heritage. The main event where heritage is shown is when Dee arrives and asks for the quilts that have been passed down through generations. The story begins with Mama (the narrator) and Maggie (the youngest daughter) awaiting Dee’s (the eldest daughter) arrival. The author in “Everyday Use” uses Mama’s point of view, as well as her flashbacks in time to convey the family’s conflicting view regarding heritage and traditions.

Readers of Alice Walker's, "Everyday Use", discusses how the narrator realizes that Maggie understands her own heritage. What does the narrator mean when she says, "Just like when I'm in church and the spirit of God touches me and I get happy and shout?" Does the narrator do something amazing that she has not done before? Some readers opine that the narrator knows what it really feels like to have family. Others say that the narrator recognizes the importance of giving. However, both these readings are not with the point. The narrator realizes that Maggie should have the quilts because they embody her heritage.

Moreover, these quilts were made long-ago, developed in the present, and will be passed down to other generations in the future. Since they hold such memories from the past, the quilts were cherished (page 59, lines 248-250). Both the churn and the quilts convey the author's point of view about heritage. From the author's perspective, the churn and the quilts are part of the culture of a family. The churn was managed and built by family members for years. Likely, the quilts were made by very old materials, and it helped in keeping warmth. Heritage is an object that shapes your past, support you in the present, and is passed down in the

In “Everyday Use,” Alice Walker draws attention to the flaws of formal, cultural education. Although Dee returns from college with a greater understanding of her family’s history and now recognizes the items of cultural value, she cannot truly understand the emotional level that gives the quilts and butter churn their value. Maggie and her mother value the quilts because of their practical use and familial connection. Since they haven’t ventured far from home or received any higher education, they don’t understand why practical, worn-out items would have any significance to other people. Their emotional connection from living as a part of the culture is far stronger than the connection Dee is trying to force so that she may connect to the

Walker introduces a quilt that sustains the main point she has about heritage. The quilt was made with the very threads her of her grandparent’s clothing. “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 teen faded blue piece, about the size of a penny matchbox, that was from Great Grandpa Ezra’s uniform that he wore in the Civil War.” The quilt symbolizes the people in her family stitched