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Olivia Ellison
Dr. Christopher Anderson
ENGL 230
29 June 2015
Explication: Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use”
In “Everyday Use”, Alice Walker explores black culture and what heritage means to
black individuals. The story focuses on Mama, the narrator, and her two daughters, Maggie and
Dee. Dee has decided to reclaim her African heritage and renamed herself Wangero Leewanika
Kemanjo. She arrives with a man named Hakim-a-barber to the family dinner. Page 2240 and
onward, Dee lays claim on a few family possessions. Ultimately, she ends up arguing with Mama
on who should possess her grandmother’s quilts – Dee or Maggie. In these couple of pages,
Walker has created a family dynamic that reveals jealousy and selfishness. She also challenges
readers to appreciate their culture and that individuals can do so in different ways.
“Everything delighted her. Even the fact that we still used the benches her daddy made
for the table when we couldn’t afford to buy chairs.” (Walker 2240) starts the audience off with
Dee’s desire for her family’s possessions. She dives right into admiring her father’s work and
tells Hakim-a-barber that “You can feel the rump prints” (Walker 2240), showing how long the
benches have been a part of the family. Dee later lays claim on the churn top and the dasher,
whittled by family members Uncle Buddy and Henry respectfully. Walker has described the
dasher, “You didn't even have to look close to see where hands pushing the dasher up and down
to make butter had left a kind of sink in the wood. In fact, there were a lot of small sinks; you
could see where thumbs and fingers had sunk into the wood. It was beautiful light yellow wood,
from a tree that grew in the yard where Big Dee and Stash had lived.” (Walker 2240) Not only
goes this description show how long the items have been in the family, but Walker has taken the
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time to describe the dasher in closer detail to show more of the family’s history, such as the
dasher came from the tree Big Dee and Stash’s yard.
In fact, Maggie is the one who knows who whittled the dasher. Her voice is described as
“so low you almost couldn’t hear her.” (Walker 2240). Unlike her sister, Maggie is quiet and
insecure. Earlier in the narrative, she is described as having burn scars on her skin from when the
family’s house burnt and Mama carried Maggie out of the fire while Dee watched in resentment.
However, while Dee denies her African American heritage, Maggie does not and represents that
side of the family. Walker adds in Maggie’s memories of the history of homemade items, giving
Maggie a sympathetic appeal from the audience whenever Dee fights for the quilts that she has
no knowledge of. Dee comments on Maggie’s memory, calling it “like an elephant’s” (Walker
2240), but then goes right on saying that “’I can use the chute top as a centerpiece for the alcove
table," she said, sliding a plate over the chute, "and I'll think of something artistic to do with the
dasher.’” (Walker 2240). This small passage reveals Dee’s insensitivity and even though Dee
claims she is trying to take back her heritage, she continuously denies her own. She does not
truly care about these items, unlike Maggie who has memorized where and when they were
made. This passage makes Dee sound like she only wants the items as conversation pieces rather
than truly appreciating where and when they came from.
“Out came Wangero with two quilts. They had been pieced by Grandma Dee and then
Big Dee and me had hung them on the quilt frames on the front porch and quilted them… In both
of them were scraps of dresses Grandma Dee had worn fifty and more years ago. Bits and pieces
of Grandpa Jattell's Paisley shirts. And one teeny faded blue piece, about the size of a penny
matchbox, that was from Great Grandpa Ezra's uniform that he wore in the Civil War.” (Walker
2240) brings us to the start of the conflict between Dee and Maggie. Like with the dasher,
Walker takes the time to describe the history of the quilts, emphasizing their importance to the
family. When Dee asks her mother for the quilts, her voice is described as “sweet as a bird.”
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(Walker 2240). The audience can trust that Dee means well, that her trying to reclaim her
heritage is an admirable trait, but her continued denial of her African American heritage such as
her name tracing all the way back before the Civil War paints her in a continued insensitive and
arrogant light. So when Walker has described Dee’s voice, the audience knows she is insincere.
After Dee’s question, Mama “heard something fall in the kitchen, and a minute later the kitchen
door slammed.” (Walker 2240). Earlier in the paragraph, “Maggie hung back in the kitchen over
the dishpan.” (Walker 2240). We can assume that Maggie caused whatever to fall in the kitchen
and proceeded to slam the door. Such an angry act is surprising from such a quiet woman, yet the
audience knows that it comes from Maggie’s jealousy and resentment of Dee. Early on in the
narrative, Mama had described that Dee “burned them with knowledge”, showing more of Dee’s
arrogant side. She has a solid education backing her, but instead of educating her family with a
sense of love, she does so with arrogance and holds herself higher than her mother and her sister,
thus causing jealousy and resentment from the two of them.
Mama tries to dissuade Dee from taking the quilts, as they have been promised to Maggie
for when she marries John Thomas, but Dee is persistent. She holds them tightly in her arms and
when Mama reaches to touch them, Dee “moved back just enough so that I couldn’t reach the
quilts. They already belonged to her.” (Walker 2241). This small, subtle action Walker adds
continues to characterize Dee and her insensitivity. Dee’s later surprise that Maggie is supposed
to take the quilts worsens her character appeal to the audience even more, “She’d probably be
backward enough to put them to everyday use.” (Walker 2241). The audience finally gets the
title and Dee’s continued characterization of her sense of superiority over her mother and sister.
Mama even recalls a time when “I had offered Dee (Wangero) a quilt when she went away to
college. Then she had told they were old-fashioned, out of style.” (Walker 2241). Again, Walker
continues to show audiences just how insensitive Dee really is. She may be on a personal journey
to find her individualism and her history, yet she is approaching it in a less than admirable way.
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Throughout the argument, Mama tells Dee that Maggie knows how to quilt to show that
the quilts will be in proper care and the audience knows that Maggie knows every piece on those
quilts. She knows the history and the stories, while Dee does not. Dee only sees a long time
family heirloom, while Maggie sees the memories. However, Maggie, in her defeated way, tells
Mama and Dee that Dee can have the quilts and she can remember Grandma Dee without them.
Mama “looked at her hard… It was Grandma Dee and Big Dee who taught her how to quilt
herself. She stood there with her scarred hands hidden in the folds of her skirt. She looked at her
sister with something like fear but she wasn’t mad at her.” (Walker 2241). Maggie is used to Dee
getting what she wants. Even though she is the one who holds all the knowledge and memories,
she is willing to give the quilts up for Dee because that’s all she knows. In that moment, Mama
felt like “something hit me in the top of my head and ran down to the soles of my feet. Just like
when I’m in church and the spirit of God touches me and I get happy and shout.” (Walker 2241).
In this scene, Mama gives the quilts back to Maggie, to both of the children’s surprise. Mama
tries to compromise with Dee by telling her to take another quilt, but Dee has none of it. Instead,
she goes back to Hakim-a-barber and tells her family that they do not understand their heritage.
She tells Maggie to make something of herself and then leaves. The story ends with Mama and
Maggie sitting outside, both happy, until it was time to go to bed. By telling Mama and Maggie
that they did not understand reveals even more of Dee’s arrogance and illusion. She believes she
is reclaiming her heritage – an idealized African heritage – but she keeps denying her own.
However, the audience can rejoice because Maggie, who is so quiet, insecure, and sweet,
triumphs and gets the quilts back as the audience knows that she is the only one who can truly
appreciate them and the history behind it.
Ultimately, the story is about appreciating your culture even though individuals have
different ways of doing so and the fight between idealized heritage and true heritage. Dee does
want to reclaim herself, an admirable trait to have, yet she is insensitive and arrogant, asking for
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her family’s belongings. She claims to need them, but her only purpose is to use them as
conversation pieces in her own home. The audience can respect and understand her and her
wishes for her self-improvement. Dee wants to reclaim her heritage and so changes her name and
dresses in traditional African clothing. This is all idealized, though. She has a heritage but
refuses to see it. Maggie represents that heritage. She knows the history and the stories that have
been passed down, which is why at the end of the story, the audience roots and sympathizes with
her because we know that she is the only one who can truly appreciate the quilts. Despite the
differences, though, Walker has emphasized the importance of reconnecting with your heritage
and culture and appreciating where you came from. There is no wrong or right way to do it, as it
is different for each individual.
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Bibliography
Walker, Alice. “Everyday Use.” The Bedford Anthology of American Literature: Beginnings
to the Present. Ed. Susan Belasco and Linck C. Johnson. 2nd ed. Boston/New York:
Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2014. Print.