Everyday Use Literary Analysis Essay

Everyday Use Literary Analysis

“Maggie will be nervous until her sister goes.”(Pg.50 line7) This is quote from the story Everyday Use by Alice Walker. The story revolves around a girl called Dee, her mom and sister Maggie. They have different opinions on different subjects especially relating to heritage. 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. (Pg.57, lines 210-211) It is considered one of the main conflicts because of how valuable the quilts are to Maggie and

Dee waned to take the butter churn and use it as decoration in her house however Maggie and Mama’s life depend on the butter churn since they actually use it. “This churn is what I need…artistic to do with the dasher.”(Pg.57, lines 191-201) This shows how much Dee didn’t even know where did the churn come from which shows her ignorance about her own family and she didn’t know its real value but she just wanted it for decoration. Another thing that made the conflict more intense is how Dee considered the butter churn hers without her mother telling her to take it. “When she finished wrapping the dasher the handle stuck out.”(Pg.57, line202) This elaborates that Dee already considered the butter churn her property and already wrapped it to take it home being inconsiderate to whether her mother and sister actually use it. Dee showed a prodigious amount of selfishness during this conflict, which only made it worse for her family but in the end she didn’t take