Growing up most, not all, children are impulsive and think that they should everything their heart desires. When they do not get it they become upset, sometimes throwing temper tantrums. These things can be the newest and greatest toy, having a more sophisticated life, or a parent that is estranged. What they do not know is that it is usually for the best when they do not get everything they want. In Reunion and Everyday Use, readers learn that it does not always turn out the way they think it should when they try to reconnect with the past or try to put the past on display instead of honoring it with love. Sometimes it is best to not try to reconnect with a person who does not make the same effort. In John Cheever’s Reunion Charlie is traveling …show more content…
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
It is often ignored that legacy is responsible for the unity of a family. As Walker lightens the reader with the importance of quilts in “Everyday Use”, she amplifies the significance of it by presenting Maggie, the younger of
She went to college after high school and didn’t return home after she graduated. She got married to a Muslim man and she became so concerned with her family’s history. When she arrived, she became so concerned with taking pictures of the farmhouse she grew up in a soon as she got their she didn’t even greet her mother and sister Maggie right away. When she entered the home she immediately began to scan the room for things that she felt were good enough to go into her apartment in the city, she also wanted included things that she felt were good enough to impress her friends and to show her where they are from. When she reached the home, she mentioned a few things that stood out to her which included a butter churn and 2 quilts. The two quilts in particular stuck out to her because the two were hand sew by her grandmothers and aunt , along with her mother. Maggie her sister states, “She can have them, Mama,” She said, like somebody used to never winning anything, or having anything reserved for her. “I can member’ Grandma Dee without the quilts’” (Walker). Maggie her younger sister who still lived at home with her family let her sister know she could have them simply because she knew that it wasn’t the quilts that were going to make her remember she’s remembers the years they spent together unlike her sister who was never really around the house as much as Maggie and this was giving Maggie as sense of pride
In Alice Walker’s story “Everyday Use,” symbolism, allegory, and myth stand out when thinking about the characters, setting, and conflict in the story. The conflict is between the mother and her two daughters (Maggie and Dee). There is also the conflict between the family’s heritage (symbolized by the quilt, bench, and butter chum) and their different ways of life. Dee chose a new African name, moved to the city, and adopted a new way of life while Maggie and her mother have stay behind. The quilt (the most important symbol) represents the family’s heritage in that it is made of scraps of clothing worn by generations of family members. The quilt has been sewn by family hands and used on family beds. It has seen history and is history. Maggie and her mother see that that history is alive but Dee thinks it is as dead as her name. Dee does not see that name as part of her heritage. By analyzing these symbols, a number of possibilities for a theme can be seen. Walker could be suggesting that to understand the African-American heritage, readers have to include the present as well as the past. However, the theme could be that poverty and a lack of sophistication and education cannot be equated with ignorance. Lastly, she could be telling her readers that dignity or self-respect rise from and are virtually connected to one’s entire heritage- not just a selected part of it.
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...
The idea of heritage is very different from one person to another. The story of “Everyday Use” shows a dynamic picture of two sisters that see their family history and upbringing nearly opposite points of view. The quilts become the catalyst for a cultural battle between Dee’s (Wangero) new “enlightened” lifestyle and Maggie’s contentment with her upbringing.
Point of view is described as the perspective from which a story is told (Literature, G25). In the story "Everyday Use" the point of view is that of first person narrator or major character. The story is told by the mother in the story. The theme of this story is that of a mother who is trying to cope with changing times and two daughters who are completely different. Having the story told from momma's point of view helps to reveal how momma feels about herself and how she defines her daughters Dee and Maggie.
In the story 'Everyday Use', by Alice Walker, the value of ones culture and heritage are defined as a part of life that should not be looked upon as history but as a living existence of the past. Walker writes of the conflict between two Black cultures. Dee and Maggie are sisters whom do not share the same ideals. Mama is torn between two children with different perspectives of what life truly means. In the story, Walker describes the trial and tribulations of one daughter whose whole life is tormented by fear, failure and weakness; while the other "has held life always in the palm of one hand"(61) and moves to a better lifestyle. The possessions of the past will ultimately change the relationships of the future.
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
Heritage in a family can be preserved in many different ways. Be it a diary written by your great great grandpa or a pot your grandma passed on to your mum who passed it on to you, nothing compares to the great comfort in understanding ones heritage especially when it involves the deep love and devotion of a strong mother. In the poem "My Mother Pieced Quilts" by Teresa Acosta and the short story "Everyday Use" by Alice Walker, both authors use imagery and figurative language to establish a quilt as a symbol for a mothers love of her children to illustrate their themes.
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
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."
Dee then replies that Maggie would “be backward enough to put them to everyday use” (Walker, p.114). Mama says she hopes Maggie will use them every day. This begins with what it means to use and misuse heritage. 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.
The story 'Everyday Use', written by Alice Walker, is a story of heritage, pride, and learning what kind of person you really are. In the exposition, the story opens with background information about Dee and Maggie's life, which is being told by Mama. The reader learns that Dee was the type of child that had received everything that she wanted, while Maggie was the complete opposite. The crisis, which occurs later in the story, happens when Dee all of a sudden comes home a different person than she was when she left. During the Climax, Mama realizes that she has often neglected her other child, Maggie, by always giving Dee what she wants. Therefore, in the resolution, Mama defends Maggie by telling Dee that she cannot have the household items that she wants just to show others, instead of putting them to use like Maggie.
Author Alice Walker, displays the importance of personal identity and the significance of one’s heritage. These subjects are being addressed through the characterization of each character. In the story “Everyday Use”, the mother shows how their daughters are in completely two different worlds. One of her daughter, Maggie, is shy and jealous of her sister Dee and thought her sister had it easy with her life. She is the type that would stay around with her mother and be excluded from the outside world. Dee on the other hand, grew to be more outgoing and exposed to the real, modern world. The story shows how the two girls from different views of life co-exist and have a relationship with each other in the family. Maggie had always felt that Mama, her mother, showed more love and care to Dee over her. It is until the end of the story where we find out Mama cares more about Maggie through the quilt her mother gave to her. Showing that even though Dee is successful and have a more modern life, Maggie herself is just as successful in her own way through her love for her traditions and old w...