Everyday Use by Alice Walker Summary Analysis

An Analysis of the Short Story Everyday Use by Alice Walker

Everyday Use is a story of a mother and two daughters. The mother's name is Mrs. Johnson, while her daughters are Dee and Maggie. Mrs. Johnson always felt that Dee despised Maggie recalling one incident when their house burnt down, but Dee did little to help her sister. This event has left many scars on Maggie’s mind and body to be healed.

Dee is sophisticated and studies out of town, while Maggie is more traditional and stays with her mom back at home. Since Dee left their native land to study, she changed her name to Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo. She comes back home with her boyfriend Hakim – a barber. The mother despises her dress and her appearances but does not make a fuss out of it.

Throughout the story, we see the Maggie, being more like her mother whereas Dee believes they need to be more modern as times have changed for black Americans. Both Maggie and Dee love their family heritage but in different ways. Dee wants them to show how sophisticated she is and use it as a means to show off her heritage.

Maggie admires and knows the practical value of such artifacts. She does not want them as a means to show off but have sentimental value attached to it.

While Dee is back, she asks for a quilt made by her grandmother. The mother hesitates for a bit because they all hold this quilt dearly. Dee wants it to decorate her new home, and Mrs. Johnson is afraid that she will not use the quilt for what it is intended. Mrs. Johnson knows that the quilt is not just an exotic object to be shown off. They have practical use and not as objects of luxury.

The story's climax takes off when Dee argues to take the quilt. But Mrs. Johnson refuses to give it to her. She refuses to hand them over to Dee as she had promised to Maggie. Mrs. Johnson further argues, stating that Maggie knows how to sew them and can use them better.

But Dee further argues, stating that Maggie uses it like an everyday use material and does not appreciate the heritage like she does. The mother gets furious and refuses Dee to hand over the quilt, dumping it on Maggie’s lap.

The story ends with Dee leaving the house in rage with her boyfriend and Maggie and Mama being left at the house alone.

A Critical Analysis of Everyday Use

Set in the 1960s, every use can be seen as a story of modernization tied with traditional values. While we see Dee as sophisticated and modern, we see her mother and younger sister still holding on to their traditional values.

In this story, we see Dee returning to her home from college. Dee was rebellious, which could be understood because she first left home. Next, she changed her name, which showed her ways of meaning to escape from the reality in which she was bought up.

To the mother, Dee is easily influenced and easily forgets her main roots. For her, the family heritage is just a means as of showing off as luxury objects rather than respecting them how they should be. The quilt has been passed down through generations, and they are meant to offer warmth and comfort and not just as a means to put it up for show to others. The quilt marks preserving the love which is passed down for years.

It is quite visible that both Dee and Maggie have a love for their family’s heritage but in different ways. While Dee is more interested in the artifacts as means to flaunt n brag, Maggie understands the real sentiments behind them and honors them as homely means.

The remarks Dee states, “Maggie will use them as everyday use," shows how she wants to demean her sister and make her feel bad, unworthy and poor.

However, the mother understands the intent of Dee and passes it down to Maggie instead of Dee. We also have to notice that Dee did not get the first-person narrative meaning that we simply see her mother’s projection of her. But let’s just say that her boastful nature and demanding traits paint an absolute picture of how she could have been. View Examples

Character Analysis

The Mother’s Nature

The mother here loves both her daughter and knows each of them well. Just because she passed down the quilt to Maggie does not mean she hated Dee. She was hesitant at first and did not reject her in the beginning.

From the very start, we also saw her excited to meet her daughter after so long. Although she disapproved of Dee's dress and appearance, she did not create any scene or outburst for it.

When it comes to Maggie, she knows how timid and sensitive she is, so she deals with her with love and care. Always being at home, her ideologies and behavior greatly differ from Dee's.

Dees’ Nature

Dee loves to flaunt and likes to boast of things. Living abroad, she has opened up to the world, which has changed and shaped her ideologies and perspectives. From what we know, she did respect her family lineage although she tried to escape it.

Instead of openly accepting who she was, she was more interested in accepting her heritage to show off to other people.

Ultimately, we also see her demeaning nature when she tries to assert her demands on Maggie.

Maggie’s Nature

Maggie is shy, sensitive, and timid. She has been at home and never left for college like Maggie. Dee. She has only studied a few classes. She was more of a homebody interested in traditional things like sewing, cooking and more.

In other stories, we would see mothers loving their daughters who go abroad to bring pride to the family. But here we see that the mother loved both her daughters differently.

The mother loves Maggie as she is, and in the end, we see her hand over the quilt rightfully to Maggie, which is valued for family sentiment and not just for decoration purposes.

She might be unattractive and the opposite to Dee, but to the mother, she is more alike to her and makes her feel more comfortable.

Conclusion

Everyday use is a powerful theme about family, inheritance, lineage and traditions. This story shows how similar, yet dissimilar members of the same family are. They all value the same things but with a different mindset.

Everyday use focuses on everyday things passed down to us by our parents. While Dee looked at them as objects of happiness and things that needed to be recognized and valued as treasures, her mother and sister were happier by simply using them as everyday items. To them, the meaning of everyday things is different, and their love holds different meanings.

It is a beautiful portrayal of love for heritage but from a different point of view. The presence of contrasting characters will appeal to audiences with different mindset and we are sure many will relate to at least one or more characters.