Everyday Use By Alice Walker

The debilitating experience of colleagues, friends, and family using an individual to achieve their own personal desires, and essentially “walking all over them” is a frustrating event that many people endure. Alice Walker, author and social activist, wrote “Everyday Use,” which describes two sisters who have very different temperaments and behaviors. The short story begins with the mother awaiting Dee, her eldest daughter, who was previously ashamed of her poor roots and who is coming home from college. When Dee arrives, she tries to take several heritage items from her old home to decorate her new home. However, many of these items are still being used every day or are reserved for Maggie, who is much more reserved than her sister. Dee attempts to take an old, sentimental quilt, and

At the beginning of “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker, the mother describes how her two daughters behaved differently when their previous home was burned down. She emphasizes that Maggie was burnt in the fire and was very distressed about their significant loss. Meanwhile, Dee stands a distance away as she concentrates on the destruction of the humble home she was ashamed to live in. Additionally, the mother describes how she and the church raised enough money to send her eldest to school, and how Dee would force her mother and sister to listen to her read in a degrading manner (491). Maggie is left scarred from her near-death experience, and she suffers from the traumatic aftermath. Alice Walker implies that Maggie had a profound connection with her home when she emphasizes the significant burns both Maggie and the house sustained. However, Dee vehemently disliked her house and constantly attempted to improve her situation by forcing her family to modernize despite their lack of funds. Indeed, ambition is an admirable trait, and there is no fault in desiring a higher quality of