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Everyday Use Analysis

835 Words4 Pages

The title of Alice Walker’s story Everyday Use proves significant because it is used as a measurement to determine value and importance. Dee wants the churn and quilts to be pieces of decoration, while Maggie would put them to everyday use as they were intended. To Dee everyday use would devalue the churn and quilts while her mother and Maggie, see everyday use as adding value, not subtracting it. Dee’s view on things and the value of them is quite different than that of her mother and sister. Her arrival causes mixed emotions. Maggie and Mama are excited to see her but they also ready themselves to be judged. Dee's superficiality and materialistic manner conflicts with the appreciation and high value that her mother and sister place on their …show more content…

She discards the name that hold’s significant value to her family, that was passed down through the traceable generations one to which she holds some false connection to. Wangero is tied to the African heritage, in which she has only recently decided to stake claim, that is not closely related to her; while Dicie is rooted in her family for generations. It was valuable enough to her mother to deem it worthy enough for everyday use. Dee shows further apathy to value by telling her mother “that [she does not] have to call her that if [she does not] want to”(747). She does not show any real attachment to either …show more content…

These quilts are described as being made from swatches of clothes once worn or owned by at least a century’s worth of ancestors, making the worth of them in Mama and Maggies’ eyes exponential. Dee only wants them to be admired at face value not for the true use. Just as she cannot understand the legacy of her name, passed along through four generations, she does not understand the significance of the quilts. Dee only sees the value of the hand stitching and material used. Mama had promised the quilts to Maggie, and Maggie's reaction to the news that Dee wants them shows that Maggie has an emotional attachment to them as well. "Maggie can't appreciate these quilts!" Dee says. "She'd probably be backward enough to put them to everyday use." (paragraph 66). The fact that at defines the argument the author is trying to make.

Dee’s devaluation of her heritage serves as a source of conflict. When her name was Dee, she hated the objects around her for their lack of beauty and style. When she changed her name to Wangero, she saw these old items as a part of her heritage and works of art. At no time, however, did she ever have a real use for

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Professor Joe Sarnowski’s academic journal criticizes the characters of the story, “Every Day Use”. He examines the conflict between the mother and her oldest daughter, Dee. Sarnowski asserts that Dee is trying to justify her personal gain, since she cherishes the economic value of the quilts more than that of the heritage they represent. The author continues to compare Dee’s ego with that of her sister Maggie. Who in contrast, has true appreciation for her heritage.

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Dee still has yet to educate her family but counties to make fun of them and chastise them about not having the cognitive ability that she us. Dee moved toward other traditions and went again her own traditions involving her on family, in resulting in quest if trying to link into her “African

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1147 Words | 5 Pages

Furthermore, Dee-Wangero’s relationship with her mother and sister is very strained. Throughout the story you can see Mrs. Johnson’s resentment towards Dee-Wangero. Dee-Wangero’s persistence in trying to teach her mother and sister and lack of respect for her family’s heritage also cause a gap between her and Mrs. Johnson. Misunderstandings play a role in their relationship, for example, Mrs. Johnson used to think that Dee-Wangero hated her and Maggie (Walker 744). However, according to Susan Farrell, “elsewhere, as well, we see that Mama is often wrong about her expectations of Dee and her readings of Dee's emotions” (1998).

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154 Words | 1 Pages

Dee and Maggie’s behavior did not change throughout the story, but Mama’s attitude proves to be drastically transformed by the end. As Dee is introduced towards the beginning, the author implies that Maggie 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”. However, while Dee and Mama argue over the quilts, Mama claims, “I did something I never had done before: hugged maggie to me, then dragged her on into the room, snatched the quilts out of Miss Wangero’s hands”. This action from Mama distinctly epitomizes her denial towards Dee. Mama’s rejection perfectly exemplifies her change, because in retrospect, Dee is portrayed as a girl who never had to think twice about

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634 Words | 3 Pages

Dee is also really selfish which makes her have tension between her family since she only cares about herself. Throughout the story, there were a lot of conflicts between Dee and her family which shows with the quilt incident, butter churn controversy and lastly different views on heritage. One of the main conflicts in Everyday Use is the quilt incident. The conflict started when Wangero (Dee) came out with two quilts that had been pieced by Grandma Dee and big Dee.

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664 Words | 3 Pages

She doesn 't know how hard life is with her sister and mother. Dee only cares about what she wants and she talks down on her family. She believes her sister could not use the quilts in a way she thought they should be used. " Maggie can 't appreciate these quilts!" she said.

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424 Words | 2 Pages

Quilt Essay Family memories not only hold us together during the tough times but also provide a foundation especially when enhanced by a mother's love. Some people are able to appreciate their family heritage, while others do not recognize or take it for granted. In the poem "My Mother Pieced Quilts" by Teresa Acosta and the short story "Everyday Use" by Alice Walker, both authors use figurative language and imagery to establish the quilt as a symbol for a mother's love and respecting family heritage to illustrate their themes. In her poem Teresa Acosta displays the quilt as a symbol for the mother's love.

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524 Words | 3 Pages

The narrator and her children feel the quilts symbolize generations of war and poverty that their family endured over the years. On the other hand, not all family members share the same appreciation for the quilts. Adopting a different culture after going to college the oldest daughter, Dee, appreciates the quilt for being part of her legacy. She can't believe that the quilt was handmade. "These are all pieces of dresses Grandma used to wear.

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636 Words | 3 Pages

Mama wanted nothing but the best for her; she did everything in her power to get her to college because she wanted her to have a better life than she did. However, Dee used her education against Mama and Maggie in efforts to present her culture in a “better” way. Changing her name to Wangero because her birth name “Dee”, as she informed them “I couldn’t bear it any longer, being named after the people oppress me” (Walker 27). In contrast, Mama and Maggie never changed the way they dressed “African descent” or change their names to portray their true

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1150 Words | 5 Pages

Walker uses the identity of a quilt to symbolize Dee’s family history, representing her family’s African American heritage. Dee chooses to see the quilt as art rather than use it as it is meant to function. On the other hand, Maggie and her mother believe the quilt represents something more on a personal level. The ancient quilt is described as having “scraps of dresses Grandma Dee had worn fifty and more years ago, bits and pieces of Grandpa Jarrell's Paisley shirts…” showing the cultural heritage the quilt signified (Walker, pg. 5). The quilt represents family history and connection to the family’s older generations.

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1032 Words | 5 Pages

Sarnowski describes Maggie by stating, “She ekes out an existence on the family farm and has neither the intelligence nor the physical attributes of Dee/Wangero” (Sarnowski 278). This statement shows that Maggie lives a conservative type of farm life, and due to this lifestyle, she is less intelligent than her sister. This statement also shows how the character Maggie is described in a sense as inferior to Dee because of her lack of education and physical attributes. Maggie’s traditionalist ways show, however, when she tells her mother, “"She can have them, Mama,” … "I can 'member Grandma Dee without the quilts"” (Walker 6).

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869 Words | 4 Pages

The story is told from the point of view of their mother, Ms. Johnson, and it is from her that we learn about the difference in the sister’s characters. Dee, who changes her name to Wangero, is outspoken and is the educated sister. Maggie is shy and appears to be ashamed of the burns on her skin. “[Maggie] thinks her sister has held life always in the palm of one hand, that ‘no’ is a word the world would never learn to say to her” (Walker 6). This is important because, in the end, Dee does not get her way.

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498 Words | 2 Pages

Dee always stood higher than her family, her town, her community, which made her mother and sister learn to roll with her punches. Finally, Mama says no to Dee, she takes a stand and we see the courage that the heritage and family behind mama help her take a stand and protect the family quilts for Maggie. In the end Alice Walker, author of “Everyday Use,” signifies the meaning of heritage and how it is remembered through symbolism, specifically through the making of the quilts and the courage that it brings to the

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629 Words | 3 Pages

With determined ambitions and education resulted in a lack of sensibility in heritage, history, and self identity, which only family can implement. Dee presents herself almost as a weird, intimidating individual foreign to what her family has ever known. The conflict that Mama and Maggie are confronted with is that Dee is does not care about anything but herself. When being rejected to have possession of the quilts Dee stated “But they’re priceless! She was saying now, furiously; for she has a temper.”.

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1029 Words | 5 Pages

And, womanism here represented through Mama, calls for a critical relatedness to the heritage. The narrative articulates the shallowness of Dee’s

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