Introduction
Everyday use is a short story authored by Alice Walker and published in the year 1973. The story in the book is told in first person by an African American woman known as Mama. She lives with her two daughters Maggie and Dee in the Deep South. The story brings out the great difference that exists between Mrs. Johnson (Mama) two daughters who have different personalities. Maggie is still young and shy but values tradition and Wangero or Dee is successful and well educated. Dee however does not value tradition as she scorns her roots in errand of ostentatious identity. Walker portrayed Dee as someone selfish and proud who openly discards her heritage.
When Dee visited home from college, a conflict between her and Maggie arose over family possessions. This reflected how diverge their characters and thoughts were on family heritage. A good example is at dinner when Dee asks for butter dish. She believes that it is a way of showing respect to the uncle and also to her heritage since the dish was made of wood got from the family tree. However, Dee’s intentions with the butter dish were wrong and self-centered; decoration. Another instance is when Dee demanded Mama’s quilts in pretence of appreciating her heritage. The quilts should be given to Maggie since she appreciates and understands the connection of the quilts in the family. Dee does not understand it and she may end up selling the quilts or even throwing it away after she has gone back to college. However, at the end of the story, we see Mama struggling to make a choice on whom to give the family quilt which they have held for many generations.
Everyday use teaches a great lesson on family inheritance on who is fit to receive it. The story centers on the stitched quilts which is a symbol for true inheritance. Mama, Dee and Maggie are a symbol of African American tradition and cultures. The three characters in the play clearly depict and enable us understand one of the major weaknesses that most African Americans faced and that was identity crisis and struggles. Dee characterizes misguidance and confusion that young Americans underwent in late 60s and early 70s. She is a selfish and proud person with less understanding of her own heritage. Dee is the source of conflict in the story since she is never satisfied by what the family offers her. First and foremost, Dee was never satisfied by the rural world she was brought up in; she actually never felt part of the society which she resides from. Dee considered herself to be beyond the quality of life that her sister and mother lived. She made this clear when she tried to take the family quilts that Mama had promised Maggie. According to Dees thoughts: “Maggie can’t appreciate these quilts… she’d probably be backward enough to put them to everyday use” (Roberts and Jacobs 103). Dee thinks that using the quilts for a different purpose other than the original intent is respecting family heritage. This is however not the case since her desire to display the quilt is not different from white capitalism: she will definitely sell the quilt when she goes back to college as it acts as ethnic artwork for the whites. Dee has been consumed by Americans dealings and that is why her actions are against African American culture of selling family possession (quilt) instead of keeping it. In real sense Dee is an epithet of struggle for unifying identity since she does not recognize her role in the society she comes from.
Body
Maggie on the other hand is a generous and simple. She is a bearer of true value, sacredness and tradition. Maggie can be considered to be brighter than the sister Dee even though she is not learned. This is because Maggie understands the true meaning and value of heritage. Despite being looked down by Dee, Maggie preserves ancestral importance of quilts which is utilitarian necessity. Cultural significance is reinforced by Walker in Everyday use when Mama showed courage by refusing to let Dee have her ways through pretence: “I did something that I never had done before: hugged Maggie to me, then dragger her on into the room, snatched the quilts out of Miss Wangero’s [Dee’s] hands and dumped them into Maggie’s lap” (Roberts and Jacobs 103) Maggie intention with the quilt was to maintain a lasting relation with her heritage, and that is why, Mama decided to give her the quilt. She represents an African American society that has a custom of passing on heritage without dwindling between generations.
Mama represents most African American mothers who are not educated but have practical character. Mama is proud of her nature and her heritage, and that is why, there is no day she complained about where she came from. She respects and loves her ancestors, and this is evident on how she treats the quilts: “They had been pieced together by Grandma Dee and then Big Dee and me had hung them on the quilt frames on the front porch and quilted them… in both of them were Grandpa Jarrell’s paisley shirts. And one teeny faded blue piece… that was from Great Grandpa Ezra’s uniform that he wore in the Civil War” (Roberts and Jacobs 104). The quilt acts as a direct connection between Mama and her ancestors, and that is why, it is important and of great value to her. The dasher handle is symbolic, touching; it is similar to holding the hands of the ancestors.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Everyday Use is a book that represents social dilemma and dynamics among African Americans. It elaborates on those people who look down on their past and their own less fortunate peers instead seeking for fortune and fame in capitalist world. The countryside is a slow place where people value family with their traditions and that is why they find it hard to cope with urbanism. Those who become lucky to leave traditional black Africans culture become ashamed of their humble background after their progress. However, they hold on to their culture by trying to keep cultural antiques, souvenirs and artifacts. Dee comes back home to take her articles which is quite ironical since she was delighted when their house was burned down with fire. Dee generally addresses identity struggle and misguidance that occurred during 70s. On the other hand, Mama and Maggie fully comprehend importance of preserving culture. Walker was eager to make African Americans respect and be proud of their cultural heritage. She also challenged them to respect the cultures and heritage of others.
Works Cited
Roberts, Edgar and Henry Jacobs. Literature: An Introduction to Reading and Writing. New Jersey: Prentice Publishers, 2007. Print.