Dee is the spoiled daughter who always gets what she wants, while Maggie is the sister who never really got it her way. Dee is the daughter who Mama hopes will one day be successful and help the family financially. But when Dee comes back home from college with a “friend,” her Mama is in for something she did not expect from her daughter. Dee comes home with a different name, and perhaps most importantly, a new personality. This essay will discuss how Dees personality changed and how it impacts her families relationship with her. When people think of the American Dream they think of it as a beautiful country with plenty of money. In Dees case coming from a home where there is poverty and a lack of education, she was embarrassed to show her family and house to Hakim-a-barber. The house isn’t very nice according to Mama description stating, “There are no real windows, just some holes cut in the sides, like the portholes in a ship” (Walker). When Dee came back from college to visit, she was back to realizing how her family lives, rather than the American lifestyle. This is why Dees new identity had no idea about her families heritage. Wangero is …show more content…
Although she may be book smart, she does not have any knowledge about her family history. On the other hand, her sister Maggie has no education but knows plenty about her family. Her new identity does not have true family value. This is why her new identity is self-centered and selfish. When she finds the quilts that she wants, she begs to her mother if she can have them. Wangero in a strong tone, “Maggie can’t appreciate these quilts!” and saying “She’d probably be backward enough to put them to everyday use”(Walker). This is significant in the text because Maggie would put the quilts to everyday use because she is proud of her culture and families previous history. On the other hand, Wangero would hang them up and keep them because they look
To begin with, in Walker's Everyday Use, the conflict is a result of clashing cultural values and of cultural point-of-view. Dee, who has adopted the Islamic culture and name the Wangero, returns to her African-American family for a reunion. While there, she asks that a pair of quilts from her deceased grandmother be given to her, not her sister, Maggie. Dee claims that her sister will ruin them through "everyday use." In fact, she charges during a discussion, "[Maggie would] probably be backward enough to put them to everyday use" (89). To these charges, her mother, the story's narrator, says, "I reckon she would [use the quilts daily] ... God knows I've been saving (the quilts) for long enough with no body using 'em. I hope she will" (89). Dee counters by saying, "You just don't understand ... your heritage" (90). She charges that her mother does not understand her heritage and therefore should give the quilts to her since she will preserve them. This conflict...
Dee Goong An, more popularly known as Judge Dee, was a well known magistrate of the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD). His popularity comes from his just perspective, which makes him a great magistrate. He addresses new cases with open ears and is determined to be fair at all times. He treats all people equally and relies only on hard proof to solve cases. With some help, he uncovers guilty criminals, using several techniques to find the truth. Going undercover and using torture to get people to confess, Judge Dee uses his persist approaches to make things right. He risks his job for the truth, and relies on his gut and experience to capture felons. Judge Dee's experience and righteous judgment to find the true criminals by proving them guilty, makes him an ideal magistrate of the time.
Dee is concerned with style, but she’ll do whatever is necessary to improve her circumstances” (Studies in Short Fiction). The mother can face the reality that Dee is trying to escape her old lifestyle to improve her life.
A discussion at first, Dee`s recreation of herself when she gets back from school. Her ways have changed dramatically from going from an ordinary girl to a walking billboard for African American appreciation. By doing this Dee had gone overboard; she never understood the story behind things, she just supported anything without any background or education on the specific outlook of her own background and heritage. By deconstructing Dee`s character we find how unreal and fake she is toward her family, all she cares about are others thoughts to her. The transformation Dee goes though is not a respectable one, she becomes disrespectful to her family because everything she wants, she doesn’t understand the rightful meaning of those pieces she wants in her house. Maggie realized that she really is going to be strong and optimistic for the future, she knows that she is treasured by Mama and forms a bond with her after Dee`s visit. Mama opens her eyes to reality with Dee she knows who is the real daughter now because of how much negativity Dee brought to the family Maggie was the pleasant
Many people show their appreciation for things in different ways. Dee appreciates the quilt for being her heritage. She can't express enough how she feels about it. She can't even imagine that the quilt was hand made with every stitch stroked in and out. As for Maggie, Dee believes she can't appreciate the quilt in the same way she can. "Maggie can't appreciate these quilts." Instead, she thinks that Maggie will use the quilt for about 5 or so years and it will turn into a rag. "She'd probably be backward enough to put them to everyday use." "Maggie would put them on the bed and in five years they'd be in rags. Less than that!" Dee doesn't feel Maggie deserves the quilt.
The fact is that Maggie will probably "put [the quilts] on the bed"(91)because she is active in her culture and views her heritage as part of her everyday life. She was severely burned as a child which left her very humble and scared to venture outside of her known world. Therefore, her culture is all she has, and she not only remembers it through the quilts but engages in her heritage by learning to make quilts. Consequently, when she is confronted by her demanding older sister she replies, "She can have them . . . I can [remember] Grandma Dee without the quilts" (91).
Dee is shallow and manipulative. Not only does her education separate her from her family identity and heritage, it prevents her from bonding with her mother and sister. If Dee could only push her arrogance aside, she would be able to develop a deep connection with her family. While connecting with her family, Dee would also develop a deeper understanding of her heritage. Maggie and Mama did not give in to the “whim of an outside world that doesn’t really have much to do with them” (Farrell par.1). In the attempt to “fit” in, Dee has become self-centered, and demanding with her very own family; to the extent of intimidation, and
...ran down to the soles of my feet. Just like when I'm in church and the spirit of God touches me and I get happy and shout." Indicating the mother's sense of God's pleasure with her new way of thinking. She takes the quilts from Wangero and gives them to Maggie. Wangero prepares to leave with her husband and tells Maggie and her mother "You just don't understand...your heritage," which is ironic because it is a heritage Wangero wants to eliminate in all ways that do not serve her immediate purpose. This mother clung to her heritage, preserving it for the daughter who appreciated the history, and at the risk of alienating the other daughter. Maggie and her mother "watched the car dust settle" as Dee sped off. Then ."..the two of us sat there just enjoying, until it was time to go in the house and go to bed." It would be fitting if they were wrapped in a quilt.
Acosta portrays the quilt as a memoir type deal and makes it into a precious piece of herself for her kids to have with them. Walker signifies the quilts as being special to her and her family heritage and refused to give them to someone who won't respect their meaning, even if it is her own daughter. Anything has what it takes to be of some significance and it doesn’t matter what that thing is. What means the most is how valued that significance is and how well the heritage is kept
Dee is unappreciative and disrespectful to her own mother and eventually, as with nearly everything; enough is enough and Mama stood up for herself, completely transforming herself as a character. It is necessary in life to treat others the way that you would like to be treated. This seems to be a saying that Mama lived by, but her daughter didn’t reciprocate back to her. “Everyday Use” teaches the reader many lessons of the importance of a family and how easily individuals could be shaped by the world around
Quilts symbolize a family’s heritage. Maggie adheres the tradition by learning how to quilt from her grandmother and by sewing her own quilts. Maggie also puts her grandmother’s quilts into everyday use. Therefore, when Dee covets the family’s heirloom, wanting to take her grandmother’s hand-stitched quilts away for decoration, Mama gives the quilts to Maggie. Mama believes that Maggie will continually engage with and build upon the family’s history by using the quilts daily rather than distance herself from
... attempts to change the way Mama and Maggie perceive tradition by using the quilts as a wall display. Mama refuses to allow it, Dee was offered the quilts when she was in college and didn’t want them at that time. Mama gives the quilts to Maggie as her wedding gift to be used every day as they were intended, knowing how much Maggie appreciates them. I agree with Mama and Maggie for keeping family memories and objects in daily use. It is important to maintain your family history in your everyday life to preserve those special memories.
Maggie feels less worthy than Dee. This is why she rejects taking the quit and offers it to her sister. Maggie should be excited about her sister arrival. Instead, Maggie is nervous about her sister coming into town. “Maggie will be nervous until after her sister goes; she will stand hopelessly in corners, homely and ashamed of the burn scars down her arms and legs, eyeing her sister with a mixture of envy and awe.” (Walker 380) Mama is under the impression Maggie is jealous of Dee. Maggie just is not seem comfortable being in her sister presence. Their mother favoritism may has impacted Maggie feeling embarrassed around her sister. If Dee is given a chance to tell her side of the story; she will feel misunderstood. Dee feels collecting items from her hometown and changing her name to Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo is embracing tradition. She will explain the quilt is memorabilia, she does not want to be ruined. Understanding Wanergo point of view will take away from her seeming unappreciative, rude, and bossy. Wanergo defines heritage as collecting material items, but she does not respect her family traditions. “You know as well as me you was named after your aunt Dicie.” Wangero goes on to say, “But who was she name after?” (Walker 383) Since leaving the south, she has forgotten where she comes from. So much so that she has changed her name to Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo. Mama
The quilts were pieced together by Mama, Grandma Dee, and Big Dee symbolizing a long line of relatives. The quilts made from scraps of dresses worn by Grandma Dee, Grandpa Jarrell’s Paisley shirts, and Great Grandpa Ezra’s Civil War uniform represented the family heritage and values, and had been promised to Mama to Maggie when she married. However, Dee does not understand the love put into the making of the quilts, neither does she understand the significance of the quilts as part of her family heritage. It is evident she does not understand the significance of the quilt, having been offered one when went away to college declaring them “as old-fashioned” and “out of style”. She does not care about the value of the quilts to her family, rather she sees it as a work of art, valuable as an African heritage but not as a family heirloom. She wants the quilts because they are handmade, not stitched with around the borders. She tells Mama, “Maggie can’t appreciate these quilts!... She’d probably be backward enough to put them to everyday use… But, they’re priceless!.. Maggie would put them on her the bed and in five years they’d be in rags. Less than that!” (317). The quilt signifies the family pride and history, which is important to Mama. She makes the decision to give the quilt to Maggie who will appreciate it more than Dee, to whom she says, “God knows I been saving ‘em for long enough with
exactly what's going on and begins to resent Wangero even more. The quilts themselves are symbols in the story, interpreted in different ways, by the narrator, the author, the reader, and Wangero. Again, Walker uses the narrator's simplicity to her advantage. While Wangero sees the quilts as a symbol of her heritage, the narrator. sees them only literally, as blankets to be used, not saved for. cultural posterity.