Everyday Use (Masterplots II: Short Story Series, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Alice Walker
- First Published: 1973
- Type of Plot: Social realism
- Time of Work: The late 1960's
- Setting: Rural Georgia
- Principal Characters: The narrator, Maggie, Dee, Dee's male companion
- Genres: Social realism, Short fiction
- Subjects: African Americans, Culture, Tradition, Rural or country life, Reality
- Locales: Georgia
The Story
“Everyday Use” is narrated by a woman who describes herself as “a large, big-boned woman with rough, man-working hands.” She has enjoyed a rugged farming life in the country and now lives in a small, tin-roofed house surrounded by a clay yard in the middle of a cow pasture. She anticipates that soon her daughter Maggie will be married and she will be living peacefully alone.
The story opens as the two women await a visit from the older daughter, Dee, and a man who may be her husband—her mother is not sure whether they are actually married. Dee, who...
[The entire page is 1432 words long]
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- Everyday Use (Masterplots II: Short Story Series, Revised Edition)
- Everyday Use (Magill’s Survey of American Literature, Revised Edition)
See Also:
See Also:
- - Everyday Use summary and study guide in the eNotes.
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