Everyday Use Alice Walker Theme

Everyday Use short story

Alice Walker'due south short story "Everyday Utilise" from 1973 is 1 of her best known. Information technology'south frequently anthologized and often read by students.

Summary of "Everyday Use"

Mama Johnson tells us she's expecting a visit from her girl Dee. Her other daughter, Maggie, still lives at home with her. Mama plans to expect in the freshly cleaned front thousand.

Maggie will be nervous and self-conscious during the visit because of her burn scars and Dee's advantages.

Mama sometimes dreams of being on one of those Idiot box show where someone who's succeeded is surprised on air by their parents. She would be brought out and a man like Johnny Carson would compliment her daughter. Dee would hug her and they'd have a loving and tearful reunion.

On the show, Mama would exist the style Dee would want her to be—slimmer, lighter skinned, with glistening pilus and a quick wit. Mama knows this is incorrect even in a dream. She'southward a large, heavy adult female who wears practical wearing apparel and works difficult and can kill her own nutrient. Dee is bold and confident. She'south lighter skinned than Maggie, with nicer pilus and a fuller figure.

Maggie gets dressed for the visit and comes into the m. She'due south been extremely shy and diffident ever since the fire that burned their other house. She was burned but Dee wasn't. Dee hated the old house and Mama thought she hated Maggie too, before she went off to school.

With the church building's help, Mama raised the money to ship Dee to Augusta to schoolhouse. She overwhelmed her Mama and Maggie with what she learned, and lorded her education over them. Dee wanted squeamish things and had her own style.

Mama only has a 2nd grade education. Maggie reads to her sometimes, but she tin't see that well. Maggie is engaged to John Thomas and will soon be out of the firm. Mama will be free to sing to herself, although she'southward not good at it. She's ever been meliorate at man'due south work.

The new firm is a lot similar the old one—3 rooms, holes for windows and congenital in a pasture. Maggie will probably want to tear it downward. She said she wouldn't bring friends at that place, merely she'south never had many friends. She institute so much fault with her sometime beau that he ran off to marry a girl from the city.

Dee pulls upwardly to the house with a invitee, a short, stocky man with long hair and a long bristles. Dee wears a long, loud dress with long earrings and other accessories. Her hair stands up like wool and has stylized pigtails. Maggie tries to get within but Mama stays her.

Dee uses an African greeting and her guest uses a religious Muslim one. Dee tells Mama not to go up. She goes back to her car for a camera. She takes several pictures of Mama and Maggie, making sure to get the house in also.

Maggie recoils from a hug offered by the invitee. He tries to requite her an unusual handshake but gives up.

Dee has inverse her name to Wangero Lee-wanika Kemanjo. Her old name was given by her oppressors. Dee is named later her aunt, and Mama traces it back to the Civil War. The discussion peters out. The man's proper noun is longer and harder to pronounce, so they settle on Hakim-a-hairdresser.

Mama associates him with the beef-cattle farmer nearby who utilise the aforementioned greeting. He agrees with some of their teachings. Mama doesn't know if Wangero and Hakim are married, and she doesn't ask.

They sit downward to eat. Hakim doesn't eat pork and doesn't want the collards. Wangero loves everything. She also admires the benches made by her begetter, and Grandma'southward butter dish and dasher, which were whittled from a tree. She wants to accept the dish and dasher for display.

After dinner, Wangero goes to Mama'southward torso in her bedroom and takes out two one-time family quilts that she wants to take. Mama suggests taking other ones that have meliorate stitching, done by machine. Wangero wants the hand-sewn ones and acts like they're already hers. Mama has promised them to Maggie when she gets married.

Wangero can't believe this because Maggie would only use them daily until they're worn out. Wangero wants to hang them up. They argue over who should go them.

Maggie timidly says her sister can take the quilts. Mama is struck by Maggie's appearance and demeanor in the moment. She hugs Maggie and brings her into the room onto the bed. She takes the quilts from Wangero and gives them to Maggie, telling Wangero to take some of the others.

Wangero leaves without a word and goes to the car with Hakim. Mama and Maggie encounter her off. Wangero talks nearly their heritage and tells Maggie to brand something of herself.

Maggie smiles and the motorcar pulls away. Mama and Maggie sit contentedly in the yard until bedtime.

Theme: Heritage and Identity

The crux of the story is a consideration of heritage and the broader issue of identity.

Dee's attitude toward her heritage undergoes the nearly obvious change, but it's only a superficial one. Every bit a young person, she'southward not happy with where she's from.

Dee hated the sometime firm that burned down. Her distance from information technology was mirrored by her continuing away from it and her family unit later it burned. She doesn't similar the new house, either, which is very similar to the old one. She's said she won't bring friends there.

Mama believes Dee hated Maggie when they were kids. Maggie personified the traditional family unit background, being darker skinned and without whatever want to get out or pursue education.

When Dee visits, her mental attitude toward her family background seems to accept changed. She takes several pictures, being sure to get the firm (which she had previously disparaged) in them. She delights in the traditional Southern nutrient. She sees the benches her dad made with fresh eyes. She also wants the butter dish and dasher that were mitt whittled.

These things all build up to the most significant scene of the story. Dee wants the hand-stitched quilts fabricated from some one-time patches of article of clothing from Grandma and Grandpa.

Despite the newfound appreciation Dee has for her heritage, it proves to be superficial. As she leaves, she says to Maggie, "It's actually a new day for us. But from the manner you and Mama nevertheless live, you'd never know it." Dee's attitude toward her family heritage seems to be the same. So why is she and then interested in it?

Dee wants to display the items she takes, including hanging up the quilts. We get the sense that Dee wants them as conversation pieces, so she can talk about her background as something she rose above, that she'south "made information technology". She wants symbols of her heritage, merely doesn't want to alive it.

Her view is made clear when she says Maggie couldn't capeesh the quilts, that she'd be "backward enough to put them to everyday apply." Mama and Maggie are living their heritage. Dee thinks they're backward, and merely wants her heritage represented by objects. It'south not going to be a role of her daily life.

Dee as well rejects her family heritage by adopting an African name. She views her family name as coming from oppressors, which is a valid view, withal, it's not the just valid view. Mama traces the family history of Dee's name, viewing it as coming, non from oppressors, but from people who loved, taught and paved the way for her.

Every bit Wangero, she says that Dee is dead. Symbolically, she has killed Dee, and her connexion to her family heritage. Literally, nosotros see that the old Dee is still very much alive; her mental attitude is the same as always. The new name hasn't changed her identity.

In dissimilarity, Maggie is steeped in her family heritage. She's marrying a local man and will continue to alive in the area. She knew the dasher's provenance—who carved it and what people called him. This is probably something Dee heard many times, but she didn't intendance to think it. Maggie has learned from her family how to quilt, and can go on to make them, even if they wear out from daily use.

Other Themes

Alter could be considered as a theme:

Dee has changed her educational level, where she lives, and her name and hair way to emphasize her African heritage.
Mama is facing a meaning modify as Maggie is soon to married, so she'll be living by herself.
Maggie'southward life will change when she marries. She likewise experienced a modify during the story, as she genuinely smiles at the end. (come across question below)

Assertiveness could also be considered as a theme:

Dee is highly individual and makes her preferences clear, even amongst white people.
Maggie is the opposite—nervous, ashamed and painfully shy.
Mama is the well-nigh balanced but not equally assertive as she would like. She wouldn't await a white human in the middle. When she goes to meet the Muslim farmers who are taking a stand up against white oppression, we come across that Mama approves of this and would like to have more than of this quality.

Irony in "Everyday Use"

Some examples of irony include:

It was Dee's mother and church (office of the heritage she rejects) that allowed her to go to school in Augusta, setting her upwardly to go out it behind completely.
When Dee connects with her African roots, she ignores her family roots.
Dee wants to display objects from her grandparents but disdains their legacy.

Why does Maggie smile at the end?

Every bit Dee prepares to drive away, "Maggie smiled; perchance at the sunglasses. But a real smile, not scared."

First, nosotros'll consider the possible caption given, that she smiled at Dee's sunglasses.

It seems more likely her smile is related to the scene that just played out. Maggie feels Dee has had all the advantages in life, that "'no' is a word the world never learned to say to her." Mama has just given her a definitive "no" over the quilts, to Maggie's advantage. She could be grin at this function reversal, at this affidavit of her worth.

Where is the story set?

Information technology'due south set in small town rural Georgia, as Dee was sent to school in Augusta.

What do the quilts symbolize?

The quilts symbolize the Johnson family heritage.