In this story “Everyday Use,” Alice Walker gives us a great story about grandmothers. Education was very rare in the nine teen forties and African American mothers made sacrifice to take care of their families. This story will allow a person to realize that everyone has a mind of its own and it needs to be open up to think for self. These three characters was very different but yet the same because they was a family with different personalities and mind set. Mom dropped out of school when she was in the second grade,” school closed,” and she was taught the old fashion way. Dee has a personality of her own and so do Maggie.
First of all, mom is described as a big boned woman, hands hard like a man because she did everything with them. Very stubborn when it came to what was right and wrong,” head strong”. Her husband died and she had to raise Dee and Maggie and the first house burned down tweleve years before this story. At night time she wore a gown like most women does and in the day time she wore overalls like most men do. Mom will work outside all day and can kill a hog better than a man until nineteen forty nine when she was hooked on her side. She would think about the man her daughter Maggie will marry,” John Thomas,” and imagine herself singing at the wedding knowing that she cannot sing good. The best individual two daughters can have to lead them to being responsible in life but that was not accepted by Dee, she had a mind of her own. Mom explains that the new house was in the middle of nowhere like the first house was ,and the roof was made of tin, holes was cut in to make a window with raw hid as shutters outside the house.
The second person to discuss in the book, “everyday use,” is Dee. She was very private and did not like bringing her friends to her house because she was embarrassed of where she lived. It acknowledges that she was lighter that her sister, nicer fuller hair and a nice figure. She liked nice thing, loved attention, and at the age of sixteen, she had a style of her own but she hated the house she was staying in. After finishing high school, Dee would meet a Muslim by the name of Hakim-a-Barber. He was described to be a short stocky build person. When they arrived, Dee got out the car with a loud dress on and her sister Maggie had to get closer to see her sister because the sun was so bright.
The two sisters greeted each other with a hug and her boyfriend replied, “Asalamalakim” to mom and tried to hug Maggie as she falls back. Dee and her boyfriend went to see her mom to tell her the news that she have changed her name to Wangero Lee Wanika Kemango due to dislike of the history of her family name and religion. When mom got the news, she was not pleased and explained to Dee that she was name after her auntie dicie. Dee mind was made up about the name changing. Before she left the house there were a couple of items she wanted to take with her. The quilts her grandmother handmade is an item Dee want to take with her. Because of her new religion, she gave the quilts to Maggie. She and her new boyfriend packed up and Dee told Maggie that she needs to open up to other opportunities and make something out of herself. They watched the car leave, “dust everywhere,” mom asked Maggie to bring her a dip of snuff enjoying each other until it was time to go to bed.
Last person to discuss is Maggie. She is a very fragile in size, she walks with her head to the ground and her self-esteem is very low. Her hair and arms got burned due to a house fire twelve years ago. For some reason she was very mean to guys and she believed in everything her mom say. Maggie and Dee was to different people and it became obvious later because her sister was trying to get her to, “step out the box,” and Maggie stayed at the house a lot according to the author Alice Walker. This situation is typical in a family when everyone personality and desires are different. Maggie wanted to be with her mom and Dee didn’t like her mom mentality. She looked up to her big sister but was afraid to do what her sister does. One of the biggest things that made Maggie feel special is when Dee gave her those two quilts before leaving with her boyfriend,” Hakim-a-Barber”. If Maggie would have explored her mind to dating, she would have been a good woman for that special man.
In conclusion, Alice Walker notes good qualities about this family and gives good views on the different personalities these three characters had. Education was not important in those days as it is today. Dee had a mind to explore when Maggie mind was to live with her mom for the rest of her life. This story allow us to realize what lack of education will do to our mental of thinking.
