Dee wants the old quilts for several reasons but mainly because she wants to display them as part of her "heritage" in her home in the city. She does not believe that they are appreciated in the country with Maggie and Mama because they actually use the quilts. For the two older women, heritage means passing down skills and practical heirlooms to the next generation. When Maggie thinks of the quilts, she remembers how she was taught to make them and uses them because she believes that that is what her grandma would want her to do. In contrast, Dee believes that the quilts should be displayed rather than used so that they will last and be able to be passed on for many years. While her desire to have the quilts certainly comes across as selfish and condescending toward her sister, I think that Walker uses Dee to demonstrate that humans (even within the same family) have different definitions of heritage and what it means to honor one's ancestors and culture.
Dee wants to hang the quilts in her home. According to her mother, Dee says this "as if that was the only thing you could do with quilts." Mrs. Johnson tells her that she's promised the quilts to Maggie. Dee condescendingly says that Maggie "can't appreciate" the quilts. Dee fears Maggie will use them every day. This is an absurd argument because the quilts were intended for "everyday use."
Dee puts value in the quilts themselves. She says they are "priceless." Given that she simply wants to hang them as priceless artifacts, she views the quilts as pieces of art, things to be shown in a fashionable way. Dee's new affinity for her African heritage is admirable but it is also motivated by her desire to be modern and fashionable. Dee does not recognize that the cultural meaning and spirit behind the quilts is that it connects the women of the family. The metaphor of the quilt is quite fitting because it is stitched together just as family is connected together. Dee would use the quilts superficially whereas Maggie would use them for their intended purpose. The warmth a quilt provides is indicative of the love put into the quilt by preceding generations. If Dee hangs the quilt on the wall, she is literally and symbolically distancing herself from this family heritage.
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 clothing that had been worn by past family members such as Great Grandpa Ezra's uniform from the Civil War. Mama intends to give the quilts to Maggie, who will put them to use when she gets married and moves out of the house. But Dee says that Maggie will use the quilts until they turn into rags, and she does not want the quilts to be destroyed. Dee wants...
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to put the quilts on the wall as artwork for her and others to admire. Mama does say that when Dee went away to school that she offered her one of the quilts, which Dee turned down. However, after Dee goes to school, she changes her perspective and now sees the quilts as cultural artifacts.
In "Everyday Use," why is the mother reluctant to let Dee have the quilts?
The mother is reluctant to let Dee have the quilts because they have been promised to Maggie who is about to be married. Also, she knows that Maggie cherishes the quilts as part of her family heritage. Maggie's tender feelings are shown clearly when she speaks so lovingly of her grandmother who made one of the quilts. Dee, however, values them only as material possessions, objects of art that she can carry away to hang on her walls where they will look fashionable in a folk-art kind of way. Although Maggie is prepared to give them up, her mother will not allow it. The quilts will go to Maggie, where they will be treasured.
in "Everyday Use," why does Dee want the quilts that her mother has?
My reading of "Everyday Use" is a little different from that of the previous post. Yes, Dee wants to acknowledge her heritage, but at heart, she wants her mother's things for materialistic reasons. All her life, Dee has looked down on her upbringing. When her mother and the church collected the money to send her to school, she thanked her mother by writing to her that "no matter where we 'choose' to live, she will manage to come see us." She didn't offer to have them come and live with her.
Now educated and socially aware, Dee has changed her name to one that sounds more African, and she wears clothing and has adopted a lifestyle that reflects that heritage. But she has forgotten her real heritage. She doesn't want the quilts because they were lovingly stitched from old clothing that tells a story. She wants to hang them on the wall and show her friends how "hip" she is. Dee was named after grandmother and her aunt, but she ignores that heritage by calling herself Wangero. She has lost sight of what is really important. It is by using those things as they were meant to be used that she honor her true heritage.
in "Everyday Use," why does Dee want the quilts that her mother has?
Dee in "Everyday Use" wants the quilts, which her mother and sister Maggie actually still use for everyday use around the house, as a symbol of her heritage and her connectedness to her ancient ancestors. This is a point of misunderstanding between Dee and her mother because her mother defines her own connectedness to her ancestry through her memories of her mother and grandmothers, whose hands made the quilts.
Dee has become educated through a college education and has come to value a connectedness that overrides the past identifier of "slave" since the new definition of connectedness supersedes the time of slavery by reaching back to the era before her ancestors were ever held captive for and by Americans.
Dee wants the quilts to display them in her home as symbols of this greater heritage and as symbols of that which defined her ancestor's humanity before captivity dehumanized them. Neither Dee nor her mother are right or wrong since Dee's mother's sense of ancestry extends only to her valued and cherished memories.
Why does Dee want the quilts in "Everyday Use"?
The struggle of African American women with racism and prejudice was the theme of many of Alice Walker’s writing. “Everyday Use” was published in a time when these problems were at their apex.
The characters in the story represent two distinct generations. Mrs. Johnson believes that family is the heart and soul of life. Her life has been given to her daughters in trying to provide for their needs. Her youngest daughter Dee does not understand or appreciate the sacrifices that her mother’s has undergone for her.
Mrs. Johnson is uneducated and naïve. This does not mean she is not intelligent. However, she waits on the lawn for a daughter who does not appreciate her mother or sister. Dee believes that she is above the family for which, in truth, she has been ashamed.
Dee has even changed her name to one that she believes makes her closer to her African heritage. Dee brags:
"She's dead," Wangero said. "I couldn't bear it any longer, being named after the people who oppress me."
With little protest, her mother seems to accept her persona and even her name. Dee gives her mother nothing but a superior attitude.
It has been so long since Dee has been home that her mother’s imagination runs wild hoping that Dee will be happy to be home. Dee has an ulterior motive for coming home. Not to be a part of the family again but to take things that she can show to others as actual antique, African artifacts.
Dee lays claim to a couple of quilts. Because she has always gotten her way, she does not dream that her shy sister Maggie will not allow her to take them. When her mother supports the older sister by telling Dee that she cannot have them, Dee is livid.
"Maggie can't appreciate these quilts!" she said. "She'd probably be backward enough to put them to everyday use."
The quilts have no value to Dee except as wall hangings. On the other hand, Maggie plans to use the quilts as they were intended to be used: by actually living within the African and family heritage. The story disproves Dee’s superficial attitude that it is a new day for the African Americans
Why does Dee want the quilts in "Everyday Use"?
Dee wants the quilts in "Everyday Use" because she believes it is important to preserve familial artifacts as a way to keep culture intact and alive. The quilts contain pieces of fabric that were once part of the clothing of family members, such as "one teeny faded blue piece. . .that was from Great Grandpa Ezra's uniform that he wore in the Civil War." Dee knows that if the quilts are actually used, the fabric will get dirty and wear thin, rendering the precious pieces of past clothing garbage. Dee wants to take the quilts and use them as tapestries in her home so that she and her friends can look on them while recalling the cultural past. Dee does not believe that using the quilts is a way to honor her family's heritage, and instead, she believes that all should be done to preserve these artifacts for future generations.