Ko-Seung-Duck, a renowned Korean lawyer and a candidate for education minister in the previous election, was defeated utterly by some unknown candidate. The primary reason for his defeat was that his daughter confessed that Ko lacked empathy, and did not communicate with his children. In Alice Walker’s short story “Everyday use”, we can also note such conflicts between family members. The narrator, a mother of two, is a tough women who can “kill and clean a hog as mercilessly as a man” (5). Dee, her second daughter (24), is egocentric character who didn’t have “hesitation as her nature” (12). The two have completely different ways of viewing Grandmother Dee’s quilt which represents the heritage from the past, and we can notice how such discrepancies beget conflicts and affects how the narrator forms her decision throughout the story. …show more content…
In fact, she plans to use the churn as a “centerpiece for the alcove table.” (54) Although not expressed in a direct manner, the mother deprecates Dee’s behavior by recalling the moments where it had been used as an “everyday use”. Nevertheless, she accedes to Dee’s request. Next Dee asks for the quilt. That was something that the narrator had reserved for Maggie, and she told Dee that fact, indicating that it simply wouldn’t be fair to yield that piece of quilt to Dee. After hearing that, Dee “gasped like a bee stung her”(65),and she shouted out words of anger towards Maggie. However in this case, mother seriously doubts on giving away the quilts to Dee. She remembers that Dee had refused her previous offer on taking the quilts, arguing that the quilts were “old fashioned and out of style”(70). She didn’t conformed to Dee as she did in the previous case, and the tension between two women
Aparently Dee has changed her name to together. Mama told Dee she can have the other quilts. In the end Mama did what was right, she stood up
Fabrics are the point of the story “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker, in which Dee (Wangero) attempts to persuade her mother that she, and not her sister Maggie, should have the quilts made by her grandmother, aunt, and mother. Two strategies Wangero uses for persuasion are repetition and diction to convince her mother that the quilts Grandma Dee had stitched should belong to Wangero, and not Maggie. These strategies
When she asks about taking the quilts, Mama has the thought, "I didn't want to bring up how I had offered Dee (Wangero) a quilt when she went away to college. Then she had told they were old~fashioned, out of style." Another example is Dee, in a reach to become more in touch with her blackness, has changed her name to Wangero
The irony of turning down one of these quilts before she left for college is lost on Wangero. Mrs. Johnson tries another tactic and tells her those quilts were promised to her sister Maggie, and Wangero states that Maggie cannot possibly appreciate them because she would put them to everyday use. When Mrs. Johnson hopes that Maggie will get some use out of them, Wangero is horrified at the thought of anyone using these suddenly priceless quilts. They are to be
Unfortunately, Mama has promised them to Maggie. Dee becomes disappointed and says, “Maggie would be
Dee thinks that the quilts are insignificant, and their place is hanged on the wall. However, Maggie values them because they were made by her grandmother. When she gets them ,"Maggie smiled; maybe at the sunglasses. But a real smile, not scared"( Walker, 1973/2017, p.324). She will use them for something in her every day life like keep warm with the quilts when she is
Dee wants to take the quilts away with her, insisting that they should be hung on the wall and preserved rather than being used. Mama, on the other hand, wants to give them to Maggie, who learned to quilt from Grandma Dee and Big Dee. Maggie and Dee have different opinions about their heritage. To Maggie, heritage is everything around her that is involved in her everyday life. Whereas, Dee believes that her mother’s family heirlooms are to frame on the wall, or display, as a reminder of her family history. She desires the carved dasher and family quilts, but she sees them as artifacts of a lost time, suitable for display but not for actual, practical use.
Maggie valued her family quilts differently than what Dee thought they meant. In the passage Dee states Maggie’s use of the quilts, “Maggie would put them on a bed and in five years they’d be in rags. Less than that!” little did Dee know that the purpose of these quilts were intended for everyday use. Maggie was taught to quilt by her grandmothers’ and she remembers them by using the quilts.
"Maggie can't appreciate these quilts!" she said. "She'd probably be backward enough to put them to everyday use." ( 351). Dee feels her younger sister's intention of the use of the quilts is not as important as hers.
"She 'd probably be backwards enough to put them to everyday use" (320). Dee thinks Maggie would be dumb to keep the quilts for “everyday use”. Also, she figured her family did not know their own heritage. Dee feels as though her sister should “make something of” herself. She states, “It’s really a new day for us” to show that Maggie needs to see a greater amount of the world.
These quilts are a ways of honoring her African American heritage and to be given these was very significant in their culture. For once Dee sees the historical background because of the stitching and material used, but doesn’t find any use in using them. Dee is going to try and convince her mom to let her keep the quilts, when Dee says, “Maggie can’t appreciate these quilts!” (Walker 721) and “You just will not understand. The point these quilts, these quilts!”
Dee has always demanded for her way of life. Mama and Maggie are acclimated to this and give Dee her way to save a headache. Towards the end of the story though, Mama sees things differently. It is almost as if she has built the courage to stand up to her. Dee starts kind of demanding for the quilts because Maggie “can’t appreciate these quilts” (Walker 16).
She found value in the aesthetic appeal of her heritage. During their meal, Dee mentioned that the chute would make for a good “centerpiece”, but her artistic venture did not end there, as Dee’s final move was to have the quilts to “hang them.” Even Maggie knew, or at least had an inkling, how Dee would use the quilt. Maggie “hung back in the kitchen” then their mother “heard something fall in the kitchen” , and later a “kitchen door slammed” immediately after Dee asked to have the quilts. Yet another instance of Dee shunning practicality was her vexed reaction to the machine stitched quilts.
The family leads a hard working, simple and minimalistic life that allows them just enough to get by. Mama is described as a “large, big-boned woman with rough, man-working hands” (Walker 418). Her day to day life doesn’t allow for the high standards of her eldest daughter Dee. Dee is described by Mama as being unappreciative and bratty. Mama makes is clear that the family’s socioeconomic status would never be good enough for the eldest daughter.
The short story, Everyday Use, is written by Alice Walker. This short story tells about the narrator, mama, and her daughter Maggie wait for a visit from Dee, mama’s older daughter. Throughout this short story, the reader can see the distraught relationship between mama and Dee. The reader can see how Dee is different than mama and Maggie; she thinks that she knows way more about her heritage than mama and Maggie, when she really does not. In the short story, Everyday Use, Walker uses imagery, symbolism, and point of view to show that heritage can only be understood when one is true to their roots.