Everyday Use

1 Pages 372 Words

In the short story “Everyday Use” the character Dee can be described as secure, confident, beautiful, smart, yet scornful, remorseful, and high demanding young woman. This can look as having a supercilious attitude, but it is just Dee wanting what is best for herself and her family. Her attitude observed by her family and others kept them at arms length, but she tried to make up for it once she reached a certain age; then she began to try to appreciate her family, but she did it for the wrong reasons.
In the end, only her mother truly understands her. Dee is described as having light skin, nice hair, and a fuller figure than her sister. In the mid-sixties, those with light skin and nice hair were treated better because they were closer to white. Being so beautiful, Dee wanted nice things, such as clothes, although her family could not afford them. She therefore makes her own clothes out of other people’s old clothing. She is a very confident and secure young lady. She knows what she wants out of life and no one is going to stop her from getting it. She knows she has an advantage with her light skin to get ahead in life, and she is going to try to get there and let nothing get in her way.
Dee has forgotten where and what she has come from. Now that Dee has been off to college, she has earned an education but also has learned the fancy ways of the city. Dee now dresses herself according to the dictates of a faddish Africanism. According to David Cowart, “an American who attempts to become an African succeeds only in becoming a phony” (172). Dee’s attitude towards her family has also changed. She despises her sister, her mother, and the church that helped to educate her.
Dee and her sister Maggie are at conflict morally in this story. Mamma has maid a beautiful quilt with a little of the families history on it. Dee wants the quilt for all of the wrong reasons. She wants the quilt for materialistic reasons and not f...