Maggie’s ideas are limited because she only knows about her family’s history, but she has no clue about African-American history. In addition, Maggie stopped going to school, so she does not have the same knowledge and education that Dee has in the story. Throughout the story, Mama talks about how Dee is always making her and Maggie listen to her while she reads to them, which makes Maggie and Mama uninterested when Dee comes to visit. As a matter of fact, Dee’s ideas are limited as well because of how she is not aware of how much history is involved in her family and the quilts. Both characters seem to have differences when it comes to having an education because Dee is the one that went away to college and got the education that she always wanted. Maggie never wanted to go to school because she knew she had to stay with Mama and live the rest of her life at home. …show more content…
She hears that Dee tells Mama that she is going to put the quilts to “everyday use”, but she does not seem too upset about it. In addition, Maggie does not seem too upset because she knows she can make another quilt. Maggie has been with Mama her entire life, and has already learned how to quilt from Mama, her grandmother, and Aunt Dee. An indication in the story is, “I can ‘member Grandma Dee without the quilts”(321). Maggie knows the history that the quilts have and Dee does not understand the family, as Maggie
How does the difference between the way Dee (Wangero) and Maggie would use the quilts represent their two different ways of defining and treating their family’s heritage? Does the narrative give approval to Dee’s way or Maggie ’s?
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 main objects of topic throughout the story are the quilts that symbolize the African American Woman’s history. Susan Farrell, a critic of many short stories, describes the everyday lives of African American Women by saying “weaving and sewing has often been mandatory labor, women have historically endowed their work with special meanings and significance” and have now embraced this as a part of their culture. The two quilts that Dee wanted “had been pieced together by Grandma Dee and then Big Dee and me [Mother] had hung them on the quilt frames on the front porch and quilted them” (par. 55) showing that these quilts were more valuable as memories than they were just blankets. The fabrics in the quilts “were scraps of dresses Grandma Dee had worn fifty and more years ago. Bits and pieces of Grandpa Jarrell’s paisley shirts. And one teeny faded blue piece, about the piece of a penny matchbox, that was from Great Grandpa Ezra’s uniform that he wore in the Civil War” (par. 55) putting forth more evidence that these are not just scraps, but have become pieces of family history. The q...
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
Did you realize that in many family, there is always one child who is so different from the other children? They are not only different from appearance, but also different from many aspects. In Alice Walker's "Everyday use", Walker tells us about her two daughters, Dee and Maggie, are raised by the same parent under the same environment, but turned out as two totally different persons due to many reasons.
Mama asks, "What happened to Dee?"(488) Mama gets her answer. Dee makes her point by saying, "She 's dead." She explains that she is no longer defined by her previous identify as Dee. "I couldn 't bear it any longer, being named after the people who oppress me."(488). Mama is bothered by this because Dee was named after her Aunt Dicie, who was named after her grandma, who was named after her mother. Dee has distanced herself even further from her family and heritage. She 's more focused on herself. She 's blindsided by the fact those possessions don’t have to do with who she was or who she 's becoming. When Dee goes to ask for the quilts she 's manipulative about it, "Mama," Wangero said sweet as a bird. "Can I have these old quilts?" (490) When she learns that Mama has been saving them for Maggie she 's outraged and explains that Maggie couldn 't appreciate the quilts, she 'd use them for what they were actually intended for. It 's ironic that Dee is asking Mama for the quilts since she before declined them. "I didn 't want to bring up how I had offered Dee (Wangero) a quilt when she went away to college. Then she had told me they were old-fashioned, out of style."(490). Dee’s temper rises and claims that the quilts are priceless, seeing them as works of art whereas Mama sees them as practical value. It 's again mentioned that Maggie would use them for their true intent. "Maggie would put them on the bed in
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
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.
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.
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
The differences in attitude that Dee and Maggie portray about their heritage are seen early in the story. When the family's house burned down ten or twelve years ago, Maggie was deeply affected by the tragedy of losing her home where she grew up. As her mother describes, "She has been like this, chin on chest, eyes on ground, feet in shuffle, ever since the fire that burned the other house to the ground" (409). Dee, on the other hand, had hated the house. Her mother had wanted to ask her, "Why don't you dance around the ashes?" (409). Dee did not hold any significance in the home where she had grown up. In her confusion about her heritage, it was just a house to her.
...round behind, when she decided to change her name she broke a pattern and a symbol that meant a lot to her family, and when she tried to define what exactly a quilt or any aftifact as a matter fact should be used she made it look like her mother and sister really didn’t know anything or at least not as much as she though. When she told her sister to make something of herself and that Maggie might not be something big at all because of the way she lived it showed that Dee was embarrassed or at least trying to not look but on how she was raised. Dee's decisions to move, to change her name, to not know how to quilt, an important task her whole family including Maggie knew how to do, and failure to be interested in the actual people who made these artifacts are all good points in proving Dee's lack of desire to carry on her family's heritage, to be proud of her roots.
To begin with, a quilt is defined as a “coverlet made of scrapes and fragments stitched together to form a pattern” (Webster). The quilt in “Everyday Use” was made by Grandma Dee, Big Dee, and Mama from scraps of dresses and shirts and is part of Grandpa’s Civil War uniform. It is filled with memories and was hand stitched by the family. Mama suggests that Dee take other ones, but Dee rejects the offer because they were “stitched by machine”(Walker, p.114) and the old ones were done by hand. Mama says that she had promised them to Maggie.
The traditional society condemns men to bread-wining responsibilities. However, with modernity, comes the change in roles. Women have an equal share in role taking. The modern society not only permits women but also gives them an opportunity to provide for their families among other responsibilities. However, this drastic change is a factor towards competition, a need for supremacy or pride. Therefore, regardless of their different struggles, conflicts or challenges they face, every woman has a zeal towards success. In “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker, the narrator’s extensive description of her daughters’ difference in character and personality clearly shows that she is biased towards Maggie, who is more inclined to support her cultural beliefs