In "Everyday Use" by Alice Walker, two sisters want the handmade quilt that is a symbol of the family heritage. Alice Expresses what her feeling are about her heritage through this story. It means everything to her. Something such as a quilt that was hand made makes it special. Only dedication and years of work can represent a quilt. A symbol is when the author uses an object in the story to represent a greater meaning. The quilt is a symbol of the family heritage that can only be appreciated by certain people. It symbolizes a long line of relatives. As you pick up a quilt and look at it, it has several pieces of cloth that are sowed together. The Grandmother made the quilt by hand, which makes it very special. 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. I found many of these quilts to carry the thought of love with them. They all represent people who are missed. One of the quilts that I observed had many meanings to it. It had pictures that meant believing in Jesus. They had a picture of a broken heart.
And "Everyday Use, she says “explore the power of the quilt for a variety of African American
... 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.
...have been handed down from generation to generation, and that in itself is admirable. But since the narrator wants more for the quilts, I agree with her decision. I am sure the quilts would look nice hung on a wall, but I think that they would be enjoyed more on a bed or couch, as Maggie would use them. It is also what her grandma and other older generations would have wanted. These quilts were made to be used. And as they become tattered, she can repair them and even add to them. I think Maggie would get the most enjoyment of them.
Everyday Use ends with Dee leaving, not with the quilts, thus making room for the new bond between Mama and Maggie. Dee may believe that she has won in some way because she is the educated sister who appreciates her heritage, but the reader sees it is in fact Maggie who has become victorious by having her way of life validated by Mama’s support and Dee’s envy. Maggie’s system of values is redeemed by creating a new relationship, with herself, in which she is no longer silenced and can truly appreciate the beauty of her home even in its everyday use. While there is little growth seen from the experience on Dee’s side, we know that Maggie is forever changed, giving her more power than she ever had. There is still and will always be a struggle between her and her sister, but Maggie now knows she does not need redemption from Dee, nor anyone else, because it is she who carries the importance of the past into the future.
Mama is hoping that Maggie will use the quilt as a practical everyday item. She sees the quilts for their functional use that they were made to use in everyday life. Meanwhile, Dee finds this absurd. She thinks they are too valuable and priceless to be using as everyday necessities. Instead she will hang them. These two ideas of how to use the quilts are in complete contrast of one another. Mama finds them practical, Dee finds them fashiona...
Walker tells a story of a mother and her two children, where the older has always gotten what she wanted. Dee, or Wangero, comes home and immediately goes for items she has wanted, telling her mother that she wants them. Dee continues on, and picks up the family quilts. At this point; however, the mother finally stops her, having promised them to her younger child, Maggie, for her marriage. "[Dee] gasped like a bee had stung her "(64). Never having been rejected before, Dee is surprised and enraged. She had been spoiled all her life, and now someone was opposing her. She goes on to state points that they are priceless and that Maggie would merely ruin them by using them for their actual purpose. "These are all pieces of dresses Grandma used to wear. She did all this stitching by hand. Imagine! (64)." To Dee, the quilts symbolize the history of her predecessors and their life that should be cherished and honored. The mother disagrees by stating that they are merely quilts. Quilts to be used as what they were made, for not a tapestry. As she rejected Dee's want by giving the quilts to a shocked Maggie, Dee supplied a retort. "You just do not understand you heritage (65)". As simple as some history and memories seem, others may not even start to compare. Here, Dee thinks that ; hence, her reasoning is right, she is right. Of course, it also depends on who's memories they are. After all, everyone has their own opinion, even if that
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 a real appreciation for the quilt, and can pass it on to her. Dee and Maggie shed a new light on the actual meaning of heritage through their personality traits, lifestyle decisions, and relationships with specific family members.
In “Everyday Use” Alice Walker used symbolism throughout the story. Symbolism is an object that has a special meaning for person. For example, Puerto Rican flag have one star and the star represent one colonies of United State. It also has three stripes. The stripes represent when you United State freedom us from Spain. The Egyptians use symbols to communicate by writing. Symbols are use in math equations, shape and sets of numbers. In the equation 1+2-4=-1, the symbols - is use for subtraction or to show a negative number, and the symbol + is use for addition.
Alice Walker’s Everyday Use has the dedication, “For Your Grandmama” (Walker 933). At first it is not clear why Walker has added this dedication until the reader gets to the end. The story is about a woman and her two daughters, Maggie and Dee. In this story Maggie is Walker. When Walker was eight she suffered and injury that left scar tissue, “This made me shy and timid, and I often reacted to insults and slights that were not intended” (Editors). Maggie is painfully shy because when their previous house burned down she was burned and now has scars that she is ashamed of. Dee is headstrong and is not satisfied with the simple life that she and her mother and sister have. Dee has moved away, but now is coming for a visit and bringing a gentleman that Mama is not sure is Dee’s husband. While Dee was gone she has tried to rid herself of her past and transformed herself into the woman she thinks she should be. After they all have dinner she starts going through the house wanting to take items to decorate her own home with. When she attempts to claim two quilts Maggie gets upset and hides. These quilts were made by their mother and aunt with some tops that their grandma had pieced together before she died. Dee wants these quilts to hang in her home, but mama has already promised them to Maggie when she gets married. Dee is appalled because she knows that Maggie with use them for everyday use and they will fall apart. Then, “something hit me in the top of my head and ran down to the soles of my feet” (Walker 939) Mama puts her foot down and does not let Dee take the quilts, because she knows that Maggie will appreciate them more because she learned to quilt from her grandmother and aunt. Dee thinks that to honor the past she has to put these things on display and not use them, whereas, Mama and Maggie know that to use them with love is a better way of honoring their
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).
Walker communicates through Dee that Maggie “ ‘probably be backward enough to put them [the quilt] to everyday use’ ” (82). This portrays Maggie as a rural character, who owns the minimal and uses all her belongings as an instrument to help in survival. For her, the quilt is a form of cover. Also, that fact that this dialogue is coming from Dee shows that Dee is very inconsiderate of other’s feelings and disrespectful to her sister, and rudely snatches the quilt for the purpose to “ ‘hang them’ ” (82). The reality that Dee wants to hang the quilt shows that Dee would want the quilt for the purpose of decoration. This shows her value of tradition, which she believes should be showcased, rather than lived. It also tells that audience, as stated earlier, that Dee prioritizes fashion and showcasing. Another example of Maggie being a foil is that Maggie is a character that “stand[s] helplessly in the corners, homely, and ashamed” (77). This uncovers the lack of confidence in Maggie, who is still not completely over the trauma of her house burning down. Maggie is a character who is defeated and ashamed of herself, clearly lacking self esteem. Because of this, the audience starts to sympathize for Maggie, who has lost herself somewhere in the fire that burned down their house. This is the exact opposite of Dee herself, who is “determined to stare down any disaster in her efforts” (79). This
In the short story, “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker, is written in manner to inspire the reader to show them how deep some family traditions can go. Walker, in her writings, tend to talk about issues that she had experienced in her life, and being an African American, she has learned the value of certain things in her life that her parents and grandparents had taught her. The quilt is so important to Dee because it is something that tells a story of the previous generation; the quilt actually consists of pieces of material that the family once used. The issue of the quilt also sets the mood for the story. It helps the reader to understand the deep rooted power simple things can have when it comes to family relations. All this helps explains
It is important to follow culture and traditions. A culture and traditions gives a unique identity to an individual. Culture is something that everyone follows on that group or society. Such as beliefs. Tradition is something that pasted over generation to generation where people follow culture and its custom. “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker is about an African American family and how the two daughters of that family follow and values their culture and traditions in different ways. The story discusses the mother-daughter bond related to their heritage. The mother is the narrator of the story and she is very hard-working woman who spends her entire day working on a farm. Dee is the elder sister and she goes to the school and becomes more knowledgeable;
Walker's view is very clear at the end of the story. By Dee wanting to hang the family heirloom on the wall to look at from a distance, she is alienating herself from her family heritage. That is exactly what Walker thinks is the wrong thing to do. Walker would prefer the quilts to be used and integrated into daily life, like Maggie and her mother prefer. The same idea applies to all of the other household items that Dee has her eye on: the churn top, the dasher, and the benches for the table that her daddy made. They all are a part of life for Maggie and her mother. Walker believes that the only value that they hold for Dee is that they would be good trinkets to show off in her house. By using the quilts in this symbolic way, Walker is making the point that family heirlooms can only have meaning if they remain connected to the culture they sprang from - in essence, to be put to "Everyday Use."
When Dee finds out that her mama promise to give the quilts to her sister, Dee gets very angry and says that she deserves the quilts more than Maggie because Maggie would not take care of them like she would. Dee feels that she can value and treasure heritage more than her sister Maggie. Dee does what she wants, whenever she wants and she will not accept the word no for any answer. “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.” Maggie is used to never getting anything. Throughout the entire story, it says that Maggie gives up many things so Dee can have what she needs or