Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Analysis on every day use
Everyday use analysis setting
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
“Everyday Use” was written by Alice Walker, and it can be found at www.cusd200.org. It was published in 1973. The book opens with Mama and Maggie at their new home after the last one burned down. The other daughter, Dee, moved away to college, and she comes home to visit. When home, she has changed, and Dee, now named Wangero, is belittling and rude. Dee’s three conflicts include Woman vs. Southern Heritage Dee vs. Maggie, and Wanjero vs. Mama. The first conflict is Dee vs. Southern Heritage. Dee converted into the Muslim religion, and she changed her way of dress to indicate her African roots. “A dress so loud it hurts my eyes. There are yellow and oranges enough to throw back the light of the sun.” Mama’s description of Dee’s outfit is one …show more content…
Mama. Wangero rummages through the house and comes upon quilts. The quilts were hand sewn by their Grandma Dee, and she claims that she understands their value, when she does not. Then, Wangero asks Mama if she can have them. “’The truth is,’ I said, ‘I promised to give them quilts to Maggie, for when she marries John Thomas.’” This causes Dee to argue with her Mama because she was used to the house bending to her will. Wangero says that Maggie would be backwards enough to use the quilts, which represent the bond of the generations of women in the family. Next, Maggie walks in and gives up her claim to the quilts. This causes Mama to finally stand up for Maggie. “I did something I have never done before…snatched the quilts out of Miss Wangero’s hands and dumped them into Maggie’s lap.” Mama finally cracked on Dee about her selfishness. In conclusion, Dee’s three conflicts include Dee vs. Southern Heritage, Dee vs. Maggie, and Dee vs. Mama. Dee gave up her heritage, and she lost her appreciation for her family. She belittled her mother, her sister, and her family’s history. In the end, Mama finally stood up for Maggie; this was something that had never happened to Dee, or Wangero, before. In brief, Dee lost her touch with reality and with her supportive
From a young age, Dee felt a detachment from her heritage. After her old house, and her sister Maggie, who she stoically watched burn from a fire. Mama even suspects that Dee burned their house and Maggie too, “She had hated the house that much” (Walker 25). Dee agrees when Mama sent her to Augusta to school. She wants to be a college student because she considers herself superior to those around her—she deserved a higher level of life, “She was determined to stare down any disaster in her efforts. Her eyelids would not flicker for minutes at a time” (Walker 25-26). Upon Dee’s return to visit Mama and Maggie, Mama
Dee tries to convince her mother that Maggie should not be given the quilts because Maggie would "probably be backward enough to put them to everyday use" ( Walker 388) and wear them out. Momma comes back with a hope that Maggie does use them since the quilts have been stored in t...
“Everyday Use” by Alice Walker shows the struggle in how the relationship and values of a family can be affected by different influences in their lifestyles. The story follows the main characters who are Dee, Maggie and Mama. Maggie is a humble character who leads a simple life without the knowledge and opportunities like Dee had. Dee is Maggie’s older sister, and is said to be a very educated and determined to get what she wants. Mama is their mother who is described as being middle-aged, big boned and has a body that is more like a man’s. The story begins when Dee visits after time away and a conflict between her and her mother over heirlooms begins. The struggle between the two characters over the heirlooms shows the contrast in ideas about their heritage and traditions. Throughout the beginning of the story Dee goes back and forth on being and rejecting her traditions. For example, when she wants the quilts that her mother has stating that she wants them because of the generations of clothing and effort put into making the quilt, showing her appreciation for her heritage. But the quilts have been promised to be given to Maggie by their mother. Dee says that the priceless quilts will be destroyed if given to Maggie and Mama sticks up for the younger saying she knows how to quilt and can make more of them if she wanted. Mama who usually gave Dee everythin...
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.
Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use” is a short story about an African American family that struggles to make it. Mama tries her best to give Maggie and Dee a better life than what she had. In Alice Walker’s short story “Everyday Use,” Dee is the older sister and Maggie is younger. Dee is described as selfish and self-centered. Maggie is generous, kind, and cares the family’s history together. She would go out of her way to make sure that her older sister, Dee has everything she needs and wants. Maggie is also willing to share what she has with her sister. Maggie is also shy and vulnerable. Mama is the mother of Maggie and Dee. Mama is fair and always keeps her promises to her children. Hakim-a-barber is the boyfriend
In the short story “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker, a relationship between a mother and daughter is destroyed due to conflicting views and insecurities. This story exemplifies the painful but honest truth in what can happen in families today. As children grow up and go off into the world, they cross paths with new people and become caught up in the never-ending whirlwind of differing opinions and a new identity within themselves. Many grow into the false realization that they have to come in touch with their culture, without first understanding where they are truly from. This story essentially comes down to a lack of connection between loved ones and their families.
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.
Culture is strongly demonstrated in “Everyday Use,” a short story by Alice Walker. The representation of African –American culture, heritage, and struggles powerfully takes over the story. “Everyday Use” was published in 1973. The story is focusing about a mother and her two daughters. The author shows their different identities and their ideas about heritage. In the story, Mama who is also the narrator shows how tradition and education in her family causes conflicts between both her daughters, Dee and Maggie. The Johnson family, experiences some stress when Dee, the daughter who does not live with the family comes back home for a visit. Dee is the only member of the family who has received a proper college education. Maggie, the younger daughter
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.
Walker, Alice. "Everyday Use." Harper Anthology of Fiction. Ed. Sylvan Barnet. New York: Harper Collins, 1991.
The objects that lead to the final confrontation between Dee and Mama are the old quilts. These quilts are described as being made from old material by family members, which enhances their value to Mama, and the detail with which they are described increases the sense of setting.
The story makes clear that Dee is equally confused about the nature of her inheritance both from her immediate family and from the larger black tradition. Dee struggles to move beyond the limited world of her youth, and it shines through by her materialistic attitude and hardship she gives her family. Given the self centeredness and aesthetic appeal she gives, Dee still has a lot of learning to do, and still has to understand herself and will do so from the future experiences in her life.