Alice Walker Setting

Alice Walker is a twentieth-century American literature writer. Walker uses much of her own knowledge in her writings. Walker also likes to write about the relationships between the north and the south, and between individuals and individual communities. One of her most famous short stories is “Everyday Use.” In “Everyday Use,” Walker uses setting, symbolism, and characterization to introduce a theme of how education, or the lack thereof, has the power to divide families.

To begin, Walker uses the setting to showcase the ways of living for the educated, and the ways of living for the uneducated. The story is set in Georgia in the early 1970’s. The mother is outside in the yard with her younger daughter Maggie. The mother and Maggie are cleaning

It shows how Dee thinks, and how her uneducated mother and sister think about certain items in the house. As the story continues Dee enters her old house. Dee notices a few items she wants for decoration in her new house. Dee wants the old butter churns and dasher. Dee has no knowledge of how old these items are. Dee simply wants them for decoration. Her mother and sister know that these items have a deep meaning. These items belonged to their ancestors. In spite of Dee having no knowledge of the churn and dasher the mother gives the items to Dee. Next Dee goes into the bedroom and sees some old quilts she want for decoration. The quilts mean a lot to the mother and sister. The quilts were pieced together by their ancestors. The mother refuses to give the quilts to Dee, due to the fact she doesn’t care about the sentimental meaning of the quilts. The mother wants Maggie to have the quilts instead. Dee is frustrated and shouts “Maggie can’t appreciate these quilts!” (Walker 1229). Dee also shouts, “She’d probably be backward enough to put them to everyday use.” (Walker 1229). The mother feels shocked, and takes the quilts away from Dee. The mother knows that Dee will never value the old quilts. Dee simply wants them for decoration. These actions show that Dee will never value the simply things in life. Dee will always want