Everyday Use

Perhaps the key element of the short story, characterization is employed by authors in order to move the action of the plot forward with conflicts and actions that develop the story's theme....

After leaving home, Dee spent time researching her African ancestry and decided that she could no longer bear being named after her "oppressors." This statement greatly troubles her mother, who...

Mama, the narrator, ultimately gives the family quilts to Maggie instead of Dee (Wangero) because she recognizes that Dee gets everything she wants, that she's even already claimed the quilts as...

In "Everyday Use," Dee wants the quilts because she wants to preserve them as artifacts of her family's heritage. The quilts were made by women in the family, and the cloth came from scraps of...

In Alice Walker's short story "Everyday Use," Dee is portrayed as a supercilious, progressive woman who outwardly embraces her African heritage and is severely critical of Mama and Maggie's rural...

I would argue that the setting of this short story is of the utmost importance, because it provides a clear illustration of the different life choices that have been made by Mama, Maggie, and Dee....

In "Everyday Use," Dee asks to have two quilts that were made by relatives. However, Mama explains that she plans to give the quilts to Maggie. Dee becomes upset and claims that Maggie will not...

In this story, Dee, the oldest daughter of the family, has become ashamed of her heritage and where she comes from. Mama is aware of this. She also understands that Dee is more beautiful, clever,...

The short story "Everyday Use" by Alice Walker is told in first person by a poor African American woman who has two daughters. The younger one, Maggie, lives with her. Maggie is simple-minded, shy,...

In "Everyday Use," the mother dreams about appearing on a television show with her daughter, Dee. In the dream, the mother describes herself as being exactly what her daughter would want her to be;...

The location of the story is never explicitly specified. It takes place on a farm in a rural area. The narrator and her youngest daughter, Maggie, live in small shack with a tin roof in the middle...

The primary difference between Dee's attitude and her mother and sister's attitudes can be summed up in Mama's simple statement that "Dee wanted nice things." Mama describes Dee as someone with a...

Mrs. Johnson narrates the short story "Everyday Use" and is depicted as a sincere, genuine woman, who loves her children deeply and understands the importance of her family's complex heritage. Mrs....

In American culture as well as other cultures, a patchwork quilt represents a labor of love, as well as resourcefulness and often a glimpse into a family's past. Quilts became well-known as both an...

As an extension of the main idea that heritage exists in everyday experiences and everyday objects, I would also like to stress Walker's usage of the adverb "everyday" to indicate that heritage is...

When Mama tells Dee that she's already promised the family quilts to Maggie, Dee actually calls Maggie "backward" because Maggie would put the quilts to "everyday use." This is precisely what Mama...

Imagery is description that uses any of the five senses. In this story, Mama, the narrator, uses much visual imagery to set the scene and emphasize the contrast between her life and the life of...

Mama's relationship with Dee in this story is complex, and the reader senses that it has always been difficult. The way Mama remembers Dee as a child—particularly her memory of Dee's "look of...

For Mama Johnson, the narrator, the butter churn and the dasher remind her of her family, especially of those individuals who made them by hand. These are items that feel essential to her and her...

The quilts represent an intimate bond to community and family identity for Maggie and Mrs. Johnson. To a great extent, the quilt embodies the personalized connection that both mother and daughter...

Maggie believes that Dee has not been exposed to any real struggles, and to some extent, she is jealous of her sister. Maggie is of the opinion that she has sacrificed a lot for her sister’s...

At this moment in “Everyday Use,” Mama had been “hit” with a deep understanding of the nature of her two daughters, and with the knowledge of who the rightful owner of the quilts was. Hearing...

One of the most prominent literary techniques that Alice Walker uses in "Everyday Use" is irony. Dee's lack of understanding of her own heritage makes her final comment to her mother ironic when...

In "Everyday Use," Alice Walker explores the theme of cultural identity through depicting a conflict between two sisters, Dee and Maggie, over a family quilt. When the story begins, Dee returns...

In her short story “Everyday Use,” Alice Walker uses a first-person narrator who is the mother of two very different daughters. One has stayed home near her mother in their rural Southern...

The old house that burned and caused Maggie to be burned and disfigured is symbolic of the older part of their life, the part that Dee wanted to escape so badly. Although she is not happy that...

A good thesis statement will make some kind of arguable claim that can be defended with evidence from the text (i.e. quotations) as well as offer some idea of how that claim will be argued. You...

The major conflict of "Everyday Use" is between Mama and her daughter, Dee (Wangero). There seems always to have been an antagonism between Dee and Mama and her other daughter, Maggie. Mama...

The narrative of Alice Walker's short story "Everyday Use" hovers around the decision of which of a mother's daughters will receive the family's heirloom quilts. Maggie and Dee are the narrator's...

In Alice Walker's celebrated short story "Everyday Use," the theme of cultural identity and heritage is explored through Dee's rejection of her traditional family name and the characters'...

The tone of a story concerns the attitude of the narrator or character toward the subject matter or the attitude of the author toward the subject matter. In “Everyday Use,” we would describe tone...

Mama imagines such a talk show program, where "the mother and father weep, the child wraps them in her arms and leans across the table to tell how she would not have made it without their help."...

In Alice Walker's "Everyday Use," the quilts represent a static art for Dee, one that can be framed like a museum piece. For Maggie, the quilts have a functional and sentimental beauty, and they...

The irony in "Everyday Use" is that Dee, who has a shallow idea of what heritage is, actually believes that her family fails to understand their heritage. Dee believes that heritage is all about...

Dee is determined and successful. She aims to be a modern woman who is worldly, cultured, and educated. When she goes to college, she learns of her African heritage and embraces it, thus...

There are some basic similarities between the two mother-daughter relationships. Both daughters receive love and acceptance from their mother. She accepts the girls' very opposite lifestyles. She...

Figures of speech allow speakers to say things more vividly and forcefully than if they were to simply say something directly. Besides having the freshness to their ideas that using figures of...

One other point is interesting in regard to Walker's choice of "Wangero" as signifying Dee's new African identity (as opposed to her identity with her family):  the name was...

While none of the three women in "Everyday Use" change, as you say, from beginning to end, the mother reaches a realization near the end of the story, and, thus, she is the only character who may...

It is arguable that both Dee and the rest of the family see value in the family's possessions, but they do so for radically different reasons. The benches, butter churn, and quilts have all been...

Unfortunately you have asked more than one question. Enotes regulations specifies you are only able to ask one, so I have edited your question to focus on the resolution of the plot. Remember that...

In addressing themes of heritage and culture, a conclusion could be made by showing how certain characters interpret those themes. Maggie and Mrs. Johnson appreciate their culture and heritage in a...

Mama's refusal to give Dee the quilts indicates a permanent change in her perspective on her daughters. When she looks over at Maggie, who has already said that Dee could take the quilts which Mama...

In "Everyday Use," it is important that Mama is the narrator: Mrs. Johnson is the narrator of this story, overseeing its events and interpreting, more through her actions than her words, their...

Dee comes to visit to appropriate many of the handmade items that Mama and Maggie use every day. After years of finding her family embarrassingly backward, Dee regards the objects that her family...

Alice Walker's "Everyday Use" provides insight into the importance of heritage and legacy to not only African-American but to all families. There is a problem in this family which stems from two...