In Alice Walker’s short story “Everyday Use”, we see the differences between the relationship a mother has with her two daughters. A surface level reading will reveal the obvious, that the mother finally ends up rejecting the ostensible values of the daughter she has always treated better than the other and as a result was educated and propelled towards success, whilst the other was never given such opportunities and instead was raised on traditional/practical values. However, upon closer inspection, it becomes evident that Walker uses many points of comparison in order to highlight the story’s recurring theme: African-American heritage. We see how Dee’s superficial attempt to immerse herself in her African heritage, leads to her completely erasing her American Heritage, whilst her sister embraces it and is ultimately chosen to propel their family’s heritage into the future.
The first attempt to erase her family’s heritage both physically and symbolically can be seen when the story alludes to the fact that she burnt down the old house that they had lived in before she had left for college when Mama says, “Why don’t you do a dance around the ashes? I’d wanted to ask her. She had hated the house that much” (133). This was an attempt to separate herself from a heritage that she has long been ashamed of, by “purging” it with fire. So that she may rise from the ash like a phoenix to claim a new life. While Maggie is left to pick up the pieces of her life as is evident when Mama states, “She has been like this, chin on chest, eyes on the ground, feet in shuffle, ever since the fire that burned the other house to the ground” (133). This shows Dee’s lack of care for the heritage, but it highlights Maggie’s connection to it as it deeply scars her both physically and emotionally. Dee’s new life sees her returning to visit her mother and Maggie looking and acting completely different, almost as if she was an archeologist taking photos and collecting artifacts, when Dee says “Don’t get up…..then out she peeks next with a Polaroid…she stoops down quickly and lines up picture after picture of me sitting there in front of the house with Maggie cowering behind me” (135) stated Mama. The strained relationship between Maggie and Dee also highlights the separation of Dee from her heritage in that Maggie represents the living heritage.
Upon Dee’s return, she not only acts different, but she has a new name, a new style of dressing and a male companion, who it is unsure if they’re married or not, as the text doesn’t mention them being affectionate to each other in any way. This is a testament to her flippant attitude toward her new awareness of her heritage. These changes highlight how superficial Dee really is. Her ignorance of both African and American Heritage is evident where she states, “I couldn’t bear it any longer, being named after the people who oppress me” (136). Even though she knew that she had been named after her “Aunt Dicie” (136), she is not aware that the name was one passed down for several generations and that by changing it and taking on the name “Wangero” (136) and stating that “Dee is dead”(136) she is erasing a part of her family’s heritage. However, the undertaking of the name was just for show as are many other things that Dee does when she gives the illusion that she is trying to connect with her family’s heritage.
Even though there are a lot of negative descriptions of Maggie in comparison to Dee, the difference between the way they see the symbolic objects mentioned in the text, is very important in that Dee’s superficiality is shown as she sees the objects as “show pieces’ relevant only to make a statement. Whilst Maggie sees the objects from a practical viewpoint as what they are intended for, which is “Everyday Use”. Which ironically is the reason Dee states that “Maggie can’t appreciate these quilts” (139). Whilst she is the one who never appreciated them and still has no real sense of appreciating heritage as she is erasing hers. This is shown when Dee tries to take the butter churn to become a centerpiece (for show). She also wants the dash even though she doesn’t even know the history behind it. However, Maggie does as she said, “Aunt Dee’s first husband whittled the dash…” (138). Dee isn’t even certain what she will do with it, but she knows that it will be used as a fixture somehow. She takes it without any regards for Mamma and Maggie’s feelings. This again shows her superficial nature in comparison to Maggie’s practical one.
There is a major contrast of Maggie’s education of heritage versus Dee’s formal education and how it manifests itself in the scene of the quilts, where Dee in a bid to connect to her roots, wants to take quilts which are tangible pieces of heritage woven together. However, she is ignorant as to whose garments are woven into the quilts. Mama spoke, “In both of them were scraps of dresses Grandma Dee had worn fifty and more years ago. Bits and pieces of Grandpa Jarell’s Paisley shirts. And one teeny faded blue piece about the size of a penny matchbox, that was from Grandpa Ezra’s uniform that he wore in the civil war” (138) as well as some of her old dresses that her mother had passed down to her. So, these quilts were strategically placed in the story to show a connection between the past and the present. It is then stated that “…. some of the pieces like those lavender ones, come from old clothes mother handed down to her mama said moving up to touch the quilts” (139). This is indicative of the fact that she is “reaching out” to “be in touch” with the people/heritage that the quilts represent. However, “Dee moved back just enough so that I could not touch the quilts” (139) said, Mama. This is symbolic in that she is hindering her mother from “handing down” that heritage to Maggie. The same heritage her mother tried to bestow on her (quilt) before she went off to college, and she refused stating that it was “old-fashioned” (139). Being her superficial self, she only wants them as a showpiece to parade in her home, as she stated in response to her mother when asked what she would do with them, “Hang them” (139), but not to put them to good use like her sister Maggie would. Dee points out that, “She’d probably be backward enough to put them to everyday use” (139) which is what Mama hopes that will happen. This again shows up Dee’s disconnect from her heritage and further drives home the point of her superficial nature. “She can have them, Mama…I can member Grandma Dee without the quilts’ (140), shows that Maggie’s tie to heritage is not through objects, but by actually living and embracing the heritage, while Dee clings to Items that lack significance if the history behind their heritage is lost.
Whilst Dee tries to connect with a history that she denied all her life. She is still not trying to get to it for the right reasons. She looks down on Maggie’s simplistic and “backward” way of life. She even implied that the quilts would be destroyed if Maggie had them. However, Maggie ends up being the one chosen to carry on the heritage in the symbolic moment when Mama said, “I did something I never did before…hugged Maggie to me…. snatched the quilts out of Ms. Wangero’s hands and dumped them into Maggie’s lap” (140). This is an allegory for Mama realizing that Dee was not the right daughter to be tasked with carrying on the family’s heritage and when she grabs the quilts from Dee’s hands, At this moment Dee loses the shred of “heritage” that she had hoped to connect to, and when Mama drops them in her lap it becomes like a mantle that she now needs to carry. Maggie is also able to replicate their heritage. It is evident when Mama states that, “She can always make more” (139) in reference to the quilts, but also continue to make new strides. Though Maggie isn’t formally educated she is educated on heritage and keeping traditions alive. She is connected to the heritage in a different way than Dee tries to be. As a result, she can now become the portal through which the heritage will be propelled to future generations.
In conclusion, Mama begins to see Maggie through new eyes and is finally able to deprive Dee of the attention given to her all her life where she was always able to get what she wanted. Instead, focusing on Maggie and giving her something that Dee wanted for a change. This built tension in the story and sees Dee once again turning her back on her heritage when not granted her superficial request for the quilts. The symbolic quilts that appear as tangible heritage are passed on to Maggie whose “scarred hands” have the family’s heritage running through her veins. After all, she was proud of the family’s heritage and it was only right for her to carry the figurative torch.
Works Cited
- Wolfe, Joanna. “Everyday Use.” Digging into Literature Strategies for Reading, Analysis, and Writing, edited by Laura Wilder, Bedford St Matin’s, 2016, pp. 130–140.
