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Everyday Use Character

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Everyday Use Character Essay The story, “Everyday Use”, by Alice Walker takes place in the yard and house in the early 1970s. There are 3 main characters in this story. The characters’ names are Mama, Maggie, and Dee. Each character has different personality traits. They’re personalities’ changed from the beginning to the end. In the story, “Everyday Use”, the character Dee changes from not liking her heritage to following her heritage. This affects the theme personal values and identity. In the beginning of the story, Dee thinks she’s better and nobody has ever said “no” to her. She changed her name to Wangero, so it could sound more like her heritage. “Her sister has held life always in the palm of one hand, that ‘no’ is a word the world …show more content…

Dee wanted to have the quilts that her grandma pieced before she died. “Out came Wangero with two quilts. They had been pieced by Grandma Dee” (Walker, 57). Dee was told no because Mama promised Maggie that she would give it to her, when she gets married. This relates to the theme, the meaning of heritage, because in the end of the story, Dee believes that Mama and Maggie don’t understand heritage. “‘You just don’t understand,’ she said, as Maggie and I came out to the car” (Walker, 59). It is clearly Dee who doesn’t understand about heritage. Dee wasn’t able to get the quilts she wanted. Mama gave Maggie the quilts because she promised them to her. Since, Dee didn’t get the quilts she wanted, she felt that Mama and Maggie didn’t understand their heritage. In conclusion, The story, “Everyday Use”, has a character named Dee who changes throughout the story. Dee is someone that you can’t say “no” too. She always get whatever she wants. Dee didn’t get a happy ending because she didn’t get what she wanted. The theme of the story was the meaning of heritage because Dee felt that Mama and Maggie didn’t understand about heritage but it was her who didn’t understand

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Dee (Wangero) is depicted as a meticulous person. This is seen through her particular care about how she would treat the quilts, accusing her sister of being, “... backwards enough to put them to everyday use.” She accuses her sister of not knowing how to properly care for such delicate and precious items, saying that under her sister’s care, the quilts would, “...be in rags.” This shows that Dee (Wangero) tries to convince her mother to give her the quilts through degrading. She makes her sister and her

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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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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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Then we are on the stage and Dee is embracing me with tears in her eyes.” Her dream shows how the mother dreams of a better relationship with her daughter than the one she has. Dee seems to be embarrassed by her mother and where she comes from. The author shows this when she talks about the burning of their house. She seemed happy to see her house burn down, “Why don’t you do a dance around the ashes?

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Dee, unlike Maggie, has a shallow understanding of the heritage which results in her immediately trying to claim several household items, such as the quilts and the butter churn as symbols of her

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Dee doesn’t truly know what her culture represents, but instead she tries to use everything from college to apply to everyday life. Dee never appreciated her roots as a child, and she still don’t. Mama and Maggie used the churnand dasher daily with care, and all Dee wants to do with the churn and dasher is “think of something artistic to do with it” ( Walker 273.) She sees the churn as a project she can work on; on the other hand Mama and Maggie see it as a churn with a lot of meaning behind it. Maggie and Mama cherish the handmade quilts that were made by Grandma Dee.

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“Maggie can’t appreciate these quilts! She said. “she’d probably be backward enough to put them to everyday use.” (walker). This shows that dee really wants the quilts but not for the reason her mother wants.

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In attempts to reconnect with her African roots, Dee has changed her name to Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo. Dee has also taken an interest in embracing her African heritage and has dressed in traditional African clothes to visit her mother. Her mother knows that Dee’s intentions are not genuine. Worrying more about taking pictures of her mother and collecting items that represent the African culture to take back home, Dee neglects to spend time with her family. Her mother notices that Dee, “Lines up picture after picture of me sitting there in front of the house with Maggie cowering behind me.

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When Dee put up with towards the end of the story, that Mama and Maggie are unable to understand their heritage, was basically wrong because Dee herself was not able to understand the real essence of heritage. When Maggie uses the guilt, she also appreciates her heritage, as it reminds her to ancestral lineage. Dee ponders that linking with a person's roots or heritage is a new thing. Dee was very much concerned about the future ownership of guilt; she also link the meaning of her name to that of guilt. Dee thinks that her name itself is a symbol of the oppressed; this is why she wants to change her name, so that she no longer is tied to her family.

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Dee rejects her family heritage and while Maggie embraces her heritage. Mama wants the quilt to be used as a cover by her child. She labels the quilt as having been meant to be used as an everyday use. She gives it to Maggie and it boosts her sense of self-worth. Maggie is chosen over Dee.

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Maggie, quiet and reserve, desperately wanted the quilts too. Mama eventually makes the decision to give the quilts to Maggie. Mama’s decision causes an uproar with Dee, who begins to cry that she deserves them more as Maggie will not preserve them. Maggie nearly gives into Dee’s demands, possibly because she too feels she does not deserve them, but is stopped by Mama, who stands her ground.

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In the story, “Everyday Use,” the oldest sister Dee redefines her views of her family’s heritage. Dee leaves her rural home to receive an education in the city, but when returning back home she has changed completely. Specifically, Dee changes her name to Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo which creates difficulties for her mother. In the story Dee explains, “Couldn’t bear it any longer, being named after the people who oppress me" (Walker 318). She views her past name as a reminder that African Americans are not given original names.

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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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(Nancy Tuten) agrees by saying, "Mama's distaste for Dee's egotism is tempered by her desire to be respected by her daughter.” The Mom’s character changes during the quilt scene, as she realizes that Maggie shares the appreciation of culture and heritage, and Dee's appreciation is entirely different from theirs. During the quilt scene, Dee is demanding Mom to give her the quilts, and Mom says, "when I looked at her like that something hit me in the top of my head and ran down to the soles of my feet.” In other words the daughter who she has always thought so highly of knew little of their culture and had little appreciation for their heritage. Walker creates the “mom” character to help defend her point, which is the importance of upholding the values and traditions in the African American

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These quilts are a ways of honoring her African American heritage and to be given these was very significant in their culture. For once Dee sees the historical background because of the stitching and material used, but doesn’t find any use in using them. Dee is going to try and convince her mom to let her keep the quilts, when Dee says, “Maggie can’t appreciate these quilts!” (Walker 721) and “You just will not understand. The point these quilts, these quilts!”

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