Sibling Rivalry In Everyday Use By Alice Walker

The short story “Everyday Use,” by Alice Walker, was hard to understand through the first read. As I read it multiple times I understood the main concept of the story, sibling rivalry between two sisters over who will get to keep their grandmother’s quilt. This is also a story of African Americans, and the value of passing on heritage to generations to come. The quilt was a representation of their past, and the importance of knowing where they come from; the quilt has clothing from their great grandmother and grandfather. They also have a chute with a dasher that has been passed down to them that still has fingerprints engraved in the wood. This story is about two different views on heritage and differing perceptions through inherited objects. Maggie is the first sister we see in this story, and as we read on we realize that she is the opposite of what her sister Dee is; she is shy, has low confidence,

Dee wants to have the things Maggie is getting, material wise, but Maggie isn’t like that she’d rather give her sister her things so she won’t be upset with her. Maggie seems as if she’s scared of her sister because she doesn’t do anything to try and defend herself from her sisters insults or hurtful comments; She basically lets her do and say what she wants. Maggie tries to avoid any sort of conflict with her sister, she’s just trying to be apart of her life but in the shadows. Dee is upfront about things and Maggie doesn’t really know how to deal with that or how to defend herself in any way. Dee will backlash her sister if she ever tried to step up for herself or go against anything she says; She hasn’t ever heard no and things have always gone her way, so she won’t allow her sister to be the first to say no. Maggie’s timidness gets in the way of her actually getting out of her comfort zone and experiencing something she hasn’t