Themes: Rural versus Urban Black Identity
Mama and Maggie live in a three-room house with no windows. The house is in a pasture, where Mama maintains livestock. Their yard is “like an extended living room,” meaning that, for them, there is little delineation between indoor and outdoor space. Mama narrates that she “can work outside all day,” wash with ice, and cook pork over the open fire after killing and cleaning the hog herself. Mama asserts her independence and resourcefulness without bragging about it. There is no man in the three-room house, and the reader knows that Mama doesn’t need one, due to her “man-working hands.” Walker establishes Mama and Maggie’s rural lifestyle as one characterized by a resourcefulness that urban Black people like Dee overlook. Worse, Dee views rural life as both backward and quaint. Mama and Maggie are oblivious, she thinks, to the changes in the world. The common objects that Mama and Maggie put to daily use—quilts and churns—are, for Dee, antiques for display.
Walker uses the difference with which the women look at objects to signify the division between rural Black life and urban Black life. The difference is also illustrated when Dee’s partner, Hakim-a-barber, tries to give Maggie the “soul shake,” but both Maggie and Mama are clueless about what he’s trying to do. What had become a convention in the urban Black world didn’t make sense in the rural one. As a result, Mama figures that he doesn’t know how to shake hands properly. Maggie’s lack of hipness is read by Mama as Hakim-a-barber’s lack of proper manners.
Black people who moved to the cities, like Dee, became disconnected from their agrarian roots and developed a different relationship to space. While Maggie and Mama see the area outside of their house as being as much theirs as the house itself, Dee is focused on interiors: the churn is for her alcove table, and the patchwork quilts, she insists, should be hung. These are choices that she is able to make regarding how to organize her domestic space. She mistakenly equates her ability to make these choices with Mama and Maggie’s “choice” to remain on the farm. Dee is oblivious to the ways in which poverty and racism have made another way of life unthinkable.
Dee’s urbanity has also instilled in her a more conventional approach to domesticity and urbanity. While Mama is characterized by her masculine strength and her inability to exhibit a more palatable mode of Black feminine identity—that is, to be “a hundred pounds lighter” with lighter skin—Dee arrives at the farm in the company of a man and still wears a dress. Mama, on the other hand, wears overalls during the day. Though Dee thinks that she is more sophisticated, she reiterates the gender conventions that were instituted by the oppressor that she frequently mentions. It is Mama, unable to be the way Dee wants her to be, who is the less conventional figure in the context of their time.
Expert Q&A
What does Dee imply by calling Maggie "backward" in "Everyday Use"?
When Dee calls Maggie "backward," she implies Maggie is uneducated and ignorant of their cultural heritage, while Dee considers herself knowledgeable after receiving an education. Dee believes Maggie would use the heirloom quilts for their intended practical purposes rather than preserving them as cultural artifacts. However, Dee overlooks that Maggie's everyday use of the quilts reflects a deeper, lived connection to their heritage, while Dee's appreciation is more superficial.
Compare Maggie and Dee's motivations, personalities, and views on heritage.
Maggie and Dee have contrasting motivations, personalities, and views on heritage. Dee is confident, ambitious, and views heritage as material possessions to display, whereas Maggie is shy, practical, and sees heritage as a living part of daily life. Dee seeks social status and uses heritage to enhance her image, while Maggie values the functional use of family items, reflecting a deeper connection to her roots.
What does it mean that Dee in "Everyday Use" is referred to as a child who has "made it"?
Dee is described as a child who has "made it" because she has escaped her humble beginnings and created a prosperous life for herself, marked by education and a more urban lifestyle. Despite her achievements, which include wearing fashionable clothes and having a new name, Dee is somewhat disconnected from her roots and family. Her success contrasts with her family's ongoing struggles, highlighting her separation from their traditional way of life.
Do you agree with the decision to give the quilts to Maggie, not Dee, in "Everyday Use"?
Comparing and contrasting the differences between the two sisters in "Everyday Use" by Alice Walker
The two sisters in "Everyday Use" by Alice Walker are markedly different. Dee is confident, educated, and deeply concerned with her cultural heritage, often in a superficial way. Maggie, on the other hand, is shy, uneducated, and bears physical and emotional scars from a house fire, but she has a practical connection to her heritage and family traditions.
Why is Wangero collecting old items in "Everyday Use" despite disdain for her family's lifestyle?
Wangero, formerly Dee, collects old items to showcase her recently embraced heritage, despite her past disdain for her family's lifestyle. She wants these items, like hand-sewn quilts, as symbols of African folk art to display in her home, rather than for their familial connections. Unlike her mother and sister Maggie, who cherish the quilts for their personal memories, Wangero views them as cultural artifacts rather than functional or sentimental objects.
What are Mama and Dee/Wangero's differing views on personal development in "Everyday Use," and their consequences? How would the narrative change from Dee/Wangero's perspective?
In “Everyday Use,” Mama and her daughter Dee/Wangero see personal development differently in regard to individual fulfillment, family responsibility, and what constitutes heritage. Mama’s responsibility to her daughters kept her close to home, and she values immediate family and local cultural influences. Dee’s desire to broaden her horizons and to reach her fullest potential sent her north to school. As the narrator, Wangero might seem more sensitive and less critical than her mother presents her as being.
Cultural Tension and Heritage in Alice Walker's "Everyday Use"
Alice Walker's "Everyday Use" explores cultural identity and family dynamics through the conflict between two sisters, Dee and Maggie, over family quilts. The story contrasts Dee's embrace of African heritage with Maggie's connection to her immediate family history. Dee, now Wangero, seeks cultural identity by distancing herself from her roots, while Maggie values tradition and practicality. Walker draws on her own experiences with cultural identity and physical challenges to depict these tensions, ultimately advocating for honoring one's heritage through everyday use.
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