A Literary Analysis of Alice Walker's Short Story Everyday Use

In the short story, "Everyday Use," Alice Walker teaches us lessons on true inheritance; what it is and who can receive it. Two hand stitched quilts become the center of conflict in the story. They are also used to symbolize the true inheritance.

Like a quilt, a person's world view is made up of events, circumstances and influences that shape how they see and respond to the world. "Everyday Use" is a story of two worlds in conflict. Mama, acting as the narrator, guides us through the interaction of the two very different worlds embodied in her daughters.

How can two young women from the same rich inheritance of family, history and community be so different? Although the women are by no means rich according to the standard of the world, there is no hints of want in the circumstances that shape their lives. The source of conflict arises from within Dee. Whatever her family has to offer her is never enough. Dee, the eldest daughter, has ventured from the rural world she grew up in but never felt a part of. The story is set in the context of her returning home for the first time since she left for college. Maggie the younger daughter has never left home.

As the story unfolds Dee's motives become apparent. She has come home to retrieve objects from her former life that are meaningful to her. She plans to incorporate them into her décor. Mama relates her sad attempt to find value in her family and claim her inheritance.

Maggie's quiet backward nature on examination is a portrait of a person who receives from life whatever is given, just as a quilter often uses scraps she has at hand. Maggie brings Dee's dissatisfaction into sharper focus.

Mama reveals that "at sixteen she [Dee] had a style of her own; and knew what style was." (384) Style is the key to Dee's life. Like the sunglasses she puts on before she leaves, style is the color of glass Dee sees life through. She is blessed with looks, nice hair and a full figure. Her feet appear "as if God himself had shaped them with a certain style." (385) Even the bright African dress she wears does not overpower her but flows with her as she walks. Dee makes the strange hair do and tinkling jewelry complete her look. (385) Intimidated by Dee's command of life, Maggie believed "that 'no' is a word the world never learned to say to her [Dee]." (383)

Around Dee, Maggie is ashamed of the scars she received in the fire that destroyed their first home. She hides her thin body in a pink skirt and red blouse. Since the fire, she shuffles as she walks, "chin on her chest, eyes on the ground." (384) While Mama waits with a guarded anticipation for Dee's arrival, hoping she will be different this time, everything about Maggie seems to dread the encounter with her sister.

Mama dreams of being appreciated by Dee. It is a simple dream. Mama wants to hear Dee acknowledge that she helped shape her into the successful confidant woman that she is. Mama knows Dee does not appreciate many things about her; her large bones and body, her dark skin and the way she works just like a man and enjoys it. Dee's lack of appreciation never stopped Mama from finding a way to send her to college. (383-384)

Always in the background Maggie appears to not want or need anything. While Mama and Dee engage in conversation about Dee's name change, Maggie remains silent. They debate the origin of Dee's name, whether Dee was really named for "the people who oppress me [Dee]." (386) Maggie avoids shaking hands with Dee's male companion and only mutters "Uhnnnh" where conversation should go. (386)

It was during the discussion at dinner over the butter churn and who made the dasher that Maggie comes alive. She fills in the details of who crafted the dasher. She speaks in a low voice almost unheard. Dee passes over her contribution to the conversation laughing and telling everyone, "Maggie's brain is like an elephant's." (387) She then hurries on to reveals the proper place for the churn top in her decorating scheme. Dee gets up from the table to search for two quilts she has decided she needs to enrich her décor. The two hand stitched quilts she finds, made from clothes Grandma Dee wore 50 years ago, have been promised to Maggie for her wedding. (387-388)

Believing she will get what she wants Dee pleads her case; she is the best choice to be the recipient of the quilts. Dee concludes that only she can truly appreciate them. She fears Maggie will use them for everyday as opposed to her plan to place them on a wall as a works of art. (388) Dee's actions and attitudes speak against her. Mama holds her tongue remembering her refusal to take a quilt to college because she thought they were "old fashioned and out of style." (388) Dee is adamant that Maggie is incapable of appreciating the quilts. The quilts Mama offered Dee were machined stitched. Assessing them like a professional collector, she concludes they will never do. (388) Dee wants the quilts she believes were all hand stitched by grandma herself and all the cloth came from grandma Dee's dresses. (388) This isn't quite true so Mama tries to fill in the details of the quilt's history by pointing out that the lavender material was from her great grandmother. Caressing the quilts Dee acts as if she already possesses them. She could only exclaim, "Imagine!" (388) What Dee doesn't realize is she doesn't have to imagine but she can listen to Mama and Maggie fill in her family history. There are "Bits and pieces of Grandpa Jarrell's paisley shirts. And one teeny faded blue piece, about the size of a penny matchbox, that was from Great Grandpa Ezra's uniform he wore in the Civil War." (387) Mama and Maggie have an intimate knowledge and appreciation of the family's heritage. Mama knows the names of the quilt patterns; the Lone Star and Walk Around the Mountain.

Dee begins the conversation asking for the quilts in a voice as "sweet as a bird" (388), then becomes furious. She protests by saying the quilts are priceless as she looks with hatred at Mama who contributed to their completion. (388)

Dee almost succeeds in taking the quilts from Maggie. In a moment of clarity Mama sees that the quilts can never belong to Dee. Maggie has inherited what the quilts embody. Dee doesn't see that the people behind the quilts are what is important. Maggie doesn't need the quilts to remember Big Dee, her aunt and Grandma Dee who made the quilts alongside mama. These women whose name Dee has rejected taught Maggie the art of quilt making. Maggie has the ability to create them herself. Maggie carries her heritage inside. It has become a part of her. (388) Her heritage is something she can put to use everyday. It is something she can bring to life and create. The lessons she learned from the women who came before her shape and prepare her for the new life she is ready to begin as a wife.

Mama grabs the quilts from Dee and plops them into Maggie's lap. She is filled with what she compares to a touch from God. Everything inside her tells her the quilts belong to Maggie. (389) For once Maggie is more than the girl who hides from the world and concedes to a truth that tells her she is "somebody used to never winning anything, or having anything reserved for her." (388) It was the look on Maggie's face that resembled a fear free from anger that made Mama do what she had never done before.(388) The irony is that there were two daughters and two quilts, but Mama's final word was, "Take one or two of the others." (389) Dee could have received one of the quilts, but Mama's conviction now barred her from her inheritance. Dee walked out of the room for once in silence. (389)

As Dee pulls away she is unchanged from the encounter, insisting mama doesn't understand her heritage. (389) Her last remarks show she is the one who doesn't understand. She tells Maggie, "You ought to try to make something of yourself too. It's really a new day for us." (389) She can't resist adding a sting, "But from the way you and Mama still live you would never know it."(389) Dee pulls down her sunglasses and at that point Maggie smiles a real smile. (389)

In the closing scene the source of Maggie's smile is revealed. Sitting in silence in the yard until it's time to go to bed (389) the two women share something only the most intimate of relationships possess; a deep acceptance and contentment. The silence blankets them like a quilt. Their relationship like the quilts, speaks for itself; day after day, living together, their lives pieced together in a meaningful way. They share the silent witness of the women of their true inheritance. The women who came before them continue to speak even though they are physically gone from their lives. Their knowledge and influence continues in silent ways that even Mama and Maggie are not even aware of. They speak in ways Dee will never know.

Works Cited
Walker, Alice. "Everyday Use." Making Literature Matter: An Anthology For Readers and Writers. 2nd ed. Eds. John Schilb and John Clifford. Boston: Bedford/St.
Martin's, 2003. 382-89.