Everyday Use

3 Pages 797 Words

“Everyday Use,” a short story written in the first person perspective by Alice Walker, was first published in 1973. This story takes place in rural Georgia, during the early 1970s. Walker uses narration to show, I think, the black woman’s dilemma about how to face the future – whether to continue as her ancestors or become involved in the contemporary world. She does use symbolism, i.e. the contested quilt, yet I am going to focus on the characters themselves – the mother, Maggie, and Dee. In short, the story centers on an educated farm girl, Dee, who went to the big city for college and assimilated into modern society. She then returns for a visit to her old-fashioned mother and sister. Dee expects to take some of the old hand-made items particularly some quilts, with to her to display for her “enlightened” friends. However, Dee’s mother finally asserts herself with her daughter and firmly says no, that Maggie would be better suited to have them.

The most developed character of the story is the Mother, who describes herself as a “big-boned woman” who can “kill and clean a hog as mercilessly as a man” (174). Yet, she is also a humble and furtive woman who never had the courage to say “no” to her daughter. It appears that her low self-esteem comes from a severe lack of education, only finishing the second grade. Mother seems to dwell on the past, especially her shortcomings. Even though she knows them, she doesn’t take steps to improve or change her situation. She is a woman given to fancy, dreaming about being the person her eldest daughter wants her to be: slim, unblemished complexion, with well-educated manners and speech. At the end of the story, she realizes that she can say, “No” to Dee, at least concerning the quilts.

Maggie is a character who is not discussed much in the story. The author describes the girl as a person who walks around shuffling, with her head down, and eyes...