thesis statement of everyday use

A Summary and Analysis of Alice Walker’s ‘Everyday Use’

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

‘Everyday Use’ is one of the most popular and widely studied short stories by Alice Walker. It was first published in Harper’s Magazine in 1973 before being collected in Walker’s short-story collection In Love and Trouble .

Walker uses ‘Everyday Use’ to explore different attitudes towards Black American culture and heritage.

‘Everyday Use’: plot summary

The story is narrated in the first person by Mrs Johnson, a largeAfrican-American woman who has two daughters, Dee (the older of the two) and Maggie (the younger). Whereas Maggie, who is somewhat weak and lacking in confidence, shares many of her mother’s views, Dee is rather different.

Mrs Johnson tells us how she and the local church put together the funds to send Dee away to school to get an education. When Dee returned, she would read stories to her mother and sister. Mrs Johnson tells us she never had much of an education as her school was shut down, and although Maggie can read, her eyesight is poor and, according to her mother, is not especially clever.

Mrs Johnson also tells us how their previous house recently burned down: a house, she tells us, which Dee had never liked. Dee hasn’t yet visited her mother and sister in the new house, but she has said that when she does come she will not bring her friends with her, implying she is ashamed of where her family lives.

However, Mrs Johnson then describes Dee’s first visit to the new house. She turns up with her new partner, a short and stocky Muslim man, whom Mrs Johnson refers to as ‘Asalamalakim’, after the Muslim greeting the man speaks when he arrives (a corruption of ‘salaam aleikum’ or ‘ As-salamu alaykum ’). He later tells Mrs Johnson to call him Hakim-a-barber.

Dee then tells her mother that she is no longer known as Dee, but prefers to be called Wangero Lee-wanika Kemanjo, because she no longer wishes to bear a name derived from the white people who oppressed her and other African Americans. Her mother points out that Dee was named after her aunt, Dicie, but Dee is convinced that the name originally came from their white oppressors.

Dee/Wangero now starts to examine the objects in the house which belonged to her grandmother (who was also known as Dee), saying which ones she intends to take for herself. When Mrs Johnson tells her she is keeping the quilts for when Maggie marries John Thomas, Dee responds that her sister is so ‘backward’ she’d probably put the special quilts to ‘everyday use’, thus wearing them out to ‘rags’ in a few years.

Although Maggie resignedly lets her older sister have the quilts, when Dee moves to take them for herself, Mrs Johnson is suddenly inspired to snatch them back from her and hold Maggie close to herself, refusing to give them up to Dee and telling her to take one of the other quilts instead.

Dee leaves with Hakim-a-barber, telling her mother and Maggie that they don’t understand their own heritage. She also tells Maggie to try to make something of herself rather than remaining home with their mother. After they’ve left, Maggie and her mother sit outside until it’s time to go indoors and retire to bed.

‘Everyday Use’: analysis

The central crux of Alice Walker’s story is the difference between Dee and her mother in their perspectives and attitudes. Where Mrs Johnson, the mother of the family, sees everything in terms of the immediate family and home, Dee (or Wangero, as she renames herself) is more interested in escaping this immediate environment.

She does this first by leaving the family home and becoming romantically involved with a man of African Muslim descent. She also looks deeper into her African roots in order to understand ‘where she comes from’, as the phrase has it: not just in terms of the family’s direct lineage of daughter, mother, grandmother, and so on (Mrs Johnson’s way of looking at it, as exemplified by their discussion over the origins of Dee’s name), but in a wider, and deeper sense of African-American history and belonging.

This departure from her mother’s set of values is most neatly embodied by her change of name, rejecting the family name Dee in favour of the African name Wangero Lee-wanika Kemanjo. Names, in fact, are very important in this story: Maggie is obviously known by a European name, and ‘Johnson’, the family name borne by ‘Mama’, and thus by her daughters, doubly reinforces (John and son) the stamp of male European power on their lives and history.

Dee, too, is very much a family name: not just because it is the name the family use for the elder daughter, but because it is a name borne by numerous female members of the family going back for generations. But Dee/Wangero suspects it is ultimately, or originally, of European extraction, and wants to distance herself from this. Dee’s rejection of the immediate family’s small and somewhat parochial attitude is also embodied by the fact that she reportedly hated their old house which had recently burned down.

‘Everyday Use’ was published in 1973, and Dee’s (or Wangero’s) search for her ancestral identity through African culture and language is something which was becoming more popular among African Americans in the wake of the US civil rights movement of the 1960s.

Indeed, a productive dialogue could be had between Dee’s outlook in ‘Everyday Use’ and the arguments put forward by prominent Black American writers and activists of the 1970s such as Audre Lorde, who often wrote – in her poem ‘ A Woman Speaks ’, for example – about the ancestral African power that Black American women carry, a link to their deeper roots which should be acknowledged and cultivated.

However, Walker does some interesting things in ‘Everyday Use’ which prevent the story from being wholly celebratory off Dee’s (Wangero’s) new-found sense of self. First, she had Mrs Johnson or ‘Mama’ narrate the story, so we only see Dee from her mother’s very different perspective: we only view Dee, or Wangero, from the outside, as it were.

Second, Dee/Wangero does not conduct herself in ways which are altogether commendable: she snatches the best quilts, determined to wrest them from her mother and sister and disregarding Maggie’s strong filial links to her aunt and grandmother who taught her how to quilt. The quilt thus becomes a symbol for Maggie’s link with the previous matriarchs of the family, which Dee is attempting to sever her from.

But she is not doing this out of kindness for Maggie, despite her speech to her younger sister at the end of the story. Instead, she seems to be motivated by more selfish reasons, and asserts her naturally dominant personality and ability to control her sister in order to get her way. The very title of Walker’s story, ‘Everyday Use’, can be analysed as a sign of Dee’s dismissive and patronising attitude towards her sister and mother: to her, they don’t even know how to use a good quilt properly and her sister would just put it out for everyday use.

We can also analyse Walker’s story in terms of its use of the epiphany : a literary whereby a character in a story has a sudden moment of consciousness, or a realisation. In ‘Everyday Use’, this occurs when Mrs Johnson, seeing Maggie prepared to give up her special bridal present to her sister, gathers the courage to stand her ground and to say no to Dee. She is clearly in awe of what Dee/Wangero has become, so this moment of self-assertion – though it is also done for Maggie, too – is even more significant.

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Home › Literature › Analysis of Alice Walker’s Everyday Use

Analysis of Alice Walker’s Everyday Use

By NASRULLAH MAMBROL on May 24, 2021

Probably Alice Walker ’s most frequently anthologized story, “Everyday Use” first appeared in Walker’s collection In Love and Trouble: Stories by Black Women. Walker explores in this story a divisive issue for African Americans, one that has concerned a number of writers, Lorraine Hansberry, for instance, in her play Raisin in the Sun (1959). The issue is generational as well as cultural: In leaving home and embracing their African heritage, must adults turn their backs on their African-American background and their more traditional family members? The issue, while specifically African-American, can also be viewed as a universal one in terms of modern youth who fail to understand the values of their ancestry and of their immediate family. Walker also raises the question of naming, a complicated one for African Americans, whose ancestors were named by slaveholders.

The first-person narrator of the story is Mrs. Johnson, mother of two daughters, Maggie and Dicie, nicknamed Dee. Addressing the readers as “you,” she draws us directly into the story while she and Maggie await a visit from Dee. With deft strokes, Walker has Mrs. Johnson reveal essential information about herself and her daughters. She realistically describes herself as a big-boned, slow-tongued woman with no education and a talent for hard work and outdoor chores. When their house burned down some 12 years previous, Maggie was severely burned. Comparing Maggie to a wounded animal, her mother explains that she thinks of herself as unattractive and slow-witted, yet she is good-natured too, and preparing to marry John Thomas, an honest local man. Dee, on the other hand, attractive, educated, and self-confident, has left her home (of which she was ashamed) to forge a new and successful life.

Alice Walker/Thoughtco

When she appears, garbed in African attire, along with her long-haired friend, Asalamalakim, Dee informs her family that her new name is Wangero Leewanika Kemanio . When she explains that she can no longer bear to use the name given to her by the whites who oppressed her, her mother tries to explain that she was named for her aunt, and that the name Dicie harkens back to pre–CIVIL WAR days. Dee’s failure to honor her own family history continues in her gentrified appropriation of her mother’s butter dish and churn, both of which have a history, but both of which Dee views as quaint artifacts that she can display in her home. When Dee asks for her grandmother’s quilts, however, Mrs. Johnson speaks up: Although Maggie is willing to let Dee have them because, with her goodness and fine memory, she needs no quilts to help her remember Grandma Dee, her mother announces firmly that she intends them as a wedding gift for Maggie. Mrs. Johnson approvingly tells Dee that Maggie will put them to “everyday use” rather than hanging them on a wall.

Dee leaves in a huff, telling Maggie she ought to make something of herself. With her departure, peace returns to the house, and Mrs. Johnson and Maggie sit comfortably together, enjoying each other’s company. Although readers can sympathize with Dee’s desire to improve her own situation and to feel pride in her African heritage, Walker also makes clear that in rejecting the African-American part of that heritage, she loses a great deal. Her mother and sister, despite the lack of the success that Dee enjoys, understand the significance of family. One hopes that the next child will not feel the need to choose one side or the other but will confidently embrace both.

BIBLIOGRAPHY Walker, Alice. “Everyday Use.” In Major Writers of Short Fiction: Stories and Commentary, edited by Ann Charters. Boston: St. Martin’s, 1993, 1,282–1,299.

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An Analysis of 'Everyday Use' by Alice Walker

Appreciation, Heritage, and the Generosity of Effort

• Short Stories
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• Ph.D., English, State University of New York at Albany
• B.A., English, Brown University

American writer and activist Alice Walker is best known for her novel " The Color Purple ," which won both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. But she has written numerous other novels, stories, poems, and essays.

Her short story "Everyday Use" originally appeared in her 1973 collection, "In Love & Trouble: Stories of Black Women," and it has been widely anthologized since.

The Plot of 'Everyday Use'

The story is narrated in the first-person point of view by a mother who lives with her shy and unattractive daughter Maggie, who was scarred in a house fire as a child. They are nervously waiting for a visit from Maggie's sister Dee, to whom life has always come easy.

Dee and her companion boyfriend arrive with bold, unfamiliar clothing and hairstyles, greeting Maggie and the narrator with Muslim and African phrases. Dee announces that she has changed her name to Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo, saying that she couldn't stand to use a name from oppressors. This decision hurts her mother, who named her after a lineage of family members.

Claims Family Heirlooms

During the visit, Dee lays claim to certain family heirlooms, such as the top and dasher of a butter churn, whittled by relatives. But unlike Maggie, who uses the butter churn to make butter, Dee wants to treat them like antiques or artwork.

Dee also tries to claim some handmade quilts, and she fully assumes she'll be able to have them because she's the only one who can "appreciate" them. The mother informs Dee that she has already promised the quilts to Maggie, and also intends for the quilts to be used, not simply admired. Maggie says Dee can have them, but the mother takes the quilts out of Dee's hands and gives them to Maggie.

Chides Mother

Dee then leaves, chiding the mother for not understanding her own heritage and encouraging Maggie to "make something of yourself." After Dee is gone, Maggie and the narrator relax contentedly in the backyard.

The Heritage of Lived Experience

Dee insists that Maggie is incapable of appreciating the quilts. She exclaims, horrified, "She'd probably be backward enough to put them to everyday use." For Dee, heritage is a curiosity to be looked at—something to put on display for others to observe, as well: She plans to use the churn top and dasher as decorative items in her home, and she intends to hang the quilts on the wall "[a]s if that was the only thing you could do with quilts."

Treats Family Members Oddly

She even treats her own family members as curiosities, taking numerous photos of them. The narrator also tells us, "She never takes a shot without making sure the house is included. When a cow comes nibbling around the edge of the yard she snaps it and me and Maggie and the house."

What Dee fails to understand is that the heritage of the items she covets comes precisely from their "everyday use"—their relation to the lived experience of the people who've used them.

The narrator describes the dasher as follows:

"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."

Communal Family History

Part of the beauty of the object is that it has been so frequently used, and by so many hands in the family, suggesting a communal family history that Dee seems unaware of.

The quilts, made from scraps of clothing and sewn by multiple hands, epitomize this "lived experience." They even include a small scrap from "Great Grandpa Ezra's uniform that he wore in the Civil War ," which reveals that members of Dee's family were working against "the people who oppress[ed]" them long before Dee decided to change her name.

Knows When to Quit

Unlike Dee, Maggie actually knows how to quilt. She was taught by Dee's namesakes—Grandma Dee and Big Dee—so she is a living part of the heritage that is nothing more than decoration to Dee.

For Maggie, the quilts are reminders of specific people, not of some abstract notion of heritage. "I can 'member Grandma Dee without the quilts," Maggie says to her mother when she moves to give them up. It is this statement that prompts her mother to take the quilts away from Dee and hand them to Maggie because Maggie understands their history and value so much more deeply than Dee does.

Lack of Reciprocity

Dee's real offense lies in her arrogance and condescension toward her family, not in her attempted embrace of African culture .

Her mother is initially very open-minded about the changes Dee has made. For instance, though the narrator confesses that Dee has shown up in a "dress so loud it hurts my eyes," she watches Dee walk toward her and concedes, "The dress is loose and flows, and as she walks closer, I like it."

Uses the Name 'Wangero'

The mother also shows a willingness to use the name Wangero, telling Dee, "If that's what you want us to call you, we'll call you."

But Dee doesn't really seem to want her mother's acceptance, and she definitely doesn't want to return the favor by accepting and respecting her mother's cultural traditions . She almost seems disappointed that her mother is willing to call her Wangero.

Shows Possessiveness

Dee shows possessiveness and entitlement as "her hand close[s] over Grandma Dee's butter dish" and she begins to think of objects she'd like to take. Additionally, she's convinced of her superiority over her mother and sister. For example, the mother observes Dee's companion and notices, "Every once in a while he and Wangero sent eye signals over my head."

When it turns out that Maggie knows much more about the history of the family heirlooms than Dee does, Dee belittles her by saying that her "brain is like an elephant's." The entire family considers Dee to be the educated, intelligent, quick-witted one, and so she equates Maggie's intellect with the instincts of an animal, not giving her any real credit.

Appeases Dee

Still, as the mother narrates the story, she does her best to appease Dee and refer to her as Wangero. Occasionally she calls her as "Wangero (Dee)," which emphasizes the confusion of having a new name and the effort it takes to use it (and also pokes a little fun at the grandness of Dee's gesture).

But as Dee becomes more and more selfish and difficult, the narrator starts to withdraw her generosity in accepting the new name. Instead of "Wangero (Dee)," she starts to refer to her as "Dee (Wangero)," privileging her original given name. When the mother describes snatching the quilts away from Dee, she refers to her as "Miss Wangero," suggesting that she's run out of patience with Dee's haughtiness. After that, she simply calls her Dee, fully withdrawing her gesture of support.

Needs to Feel Superior

Dee seems unable to separate her new-found cultural identity from her own long-standing need to feel superior to her mother and sister. Ironically, Dee's lack of respect for her living family members—as well as her lack of respect for the real human beings who constitute what Dee thinks of only as an abstract "heritage"—provides the clarity that allows Maggie and the mother to "appreciate" each other and their own shared heritage.

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Everyday Use

Alice walker, ask litcharts ai: the answer to your questions.

Heritage and the Everyday

Heritage, and its relationship to daily life, is the central question that Walker explores in “Everyday Use.” Through the eyes of Mama , and through the contrasting characters of Dee and Maggie , Walker offers two varying views of what family history, the past, and “heritage” really mean.

In Dee’s view, heritage is a kind of dead past, distanced from the present through nostalgia and aestheticization (which means reducing something to a symbol or piece…

Through Dee , “Everyday Use” explores how education affects the lives of people who come from uneducated communities, considering the benefits of an education as well as the tradeoffs.

Alice Walker clearly believes that education can be, in certain ways, helpful to individuals. For one, education can empower people financially and therefore materially. Dee’s education rewards her with the “nice things” she has desired since she was a child: gold earrings, a camera, sunglasses. The…

Objects, Symbolism, and Writing

As Mama narrates “Everyday Use,” she uses a multitude of objects and material goods to tell her story. Through Mama and her attention to objects, Walker investigates the meaning of materiality in fiction and explores the various ways they can be used for storytelling.

In the first place, material goods work in “Everyday Use” to stand in for and help describe characters’ identities. For example, Mama marks Dee ’s difference from the rest of her…

Racism, Resistance, and Sacrifice

Race structures the social and economic conditions of characters’ daily lives in “Everyday Use.” From the first few paragraphs, Walker makes it clear that the oppression of African-Americans is built into the society of the Deep South, where Mama and Maggie live. This injustice manifests itself in a multitude of ways, ranging from Mama’s inability to look “a strange white man in the eye” to her mentions of racialized violence, like the time when “the…

Home — Essay Samples — Literature — Everyday Use — “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker

"Everyday Use" by Alice Walker: Summary

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Published: May 4, 2021

Words: 549 | Page: 1 | 3 min read

The essay explores Alice Walker's short story "Everyday Use" and delves into the themes of heritage and identity within the narrative. The story is narrated by Mama, a hardworking woman awaiting the return of her daughter, Dee, who has been away at school. Mama's younger daughter, Maggie, is also present but feels overshadowed by Dee's success and confidence.

Dee arrives with her boyfriend, Hakim-a-barber, and immediately shows an interest in family artifacts, such as a butter churn and some handmade quilts. She has changed her name to "Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo" to distance herself from her family's history of oppression. The conflict arises when Dee insists on taking the family quilts, which Mama had promised to Maggie. Mama ultimately decides to give the quilts to Maggie, recognizing her appreciation for their heritage.

The essay highlights the contrasting views of heritage and identity between Dee, who seeks to display her roots as a form of art, and Maggie, who values the practical and emotional significance of these items. It underscores the idea that heritage is not just about preserving objects but also understanding the experiences and traditions passed down through generations. In the end, Mama's choice to give the quilts to Maggie reflects her belief that heritage should be used and cherished rather than put on display.

Depiction of Heritage and Identity in Walker's "Everyday Use"

Works cited:.

• Al-Ibrahim, A. A., Al-Subhi, R. H., Al-Mujaini, A. H., & Ganesh, A. (2016). Perception of communication skills among medical students and their relevance in clinical practice. Journal of Taibah University Medical Sciences, 11(6), 568-573.
• American Medical Association. (2019). About the AMA.
• Brenner, A. M. (2017). The role of mentors in medical student career development. Journal of Medical Education and Curricular Development, 4, 2382120517718585.
• Dolmans, D. H., Wolfhagen, I. H., & Essed, G. G. (2005). Students' perceptions of relationships between some educational variables in the Maastricht medical curriculum. Medical Education, 39(5), 470-477.
• Global Health Workforce Alliance. (2016). A universal truth: No health without a workforce. World Health Organization. https://www.who.int/workforcealliance/knowledge/resources/GHWA-a_universal_truth_report.pdf?ua=1
• Jain, R. (2017). Healthcare delivery in India: Challenges and opportunities. International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications, 7(4), 87-91.
• Kumar, S., & Goyal, A. (2015). An analytical study of medical tourism: A review. Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Management, 3(2), 37-44.
• National Institutes of Health. (2021). MedlinePlus: Medical encyclopedia.
• World Health Organization. (2021). WHO guidelines for the management of cancer pain in adults and children. https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789241550369
• World Health Organization. (2022). Global strategy on human resources for health: Workforce 2030. https://www.who.int/workforcealliance/knowledge/resources/HRHStrategyWorkforce2030.pdf?ua=1

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Thesis Statement For Everyday Use- Find out

To acquire an impactful Thesis Statement For Everyday Use, one must comprehend the short story and pinpoint the themes and anthropologies that focus on the African cultural identity and one’s relations with their heritage. 

Everyday Use is a short story written by Alice Walker in 1973. It’s the part of the short story collection known as In Love and Trouble. The short story has been majorly analyzed and studied about African heritage and socio-cultural dynamics of the same.

As Everyday Use presents multiple notions regarding cultural heritage, racial heritage, family values and relationships,  adaptations and accommodations to other cultures ad their assimilation, it presents varying characteristic narratives echoed by the characters present in the story and can provide a different point of view.

Thus, the following are the possible thesis statements for Alice Walker’s Everyday Use:

Decoding the title: how ‘Everyday Use’ represents Alice walker’s narrative

One can put their stance on the significance of the title. As Alice walker portrays the daily lives of people and their relations with cultural and racial identity. Daily tasks such as weaving quilts and the argument of its purpose illustrate different narratives on how cultural identity is perceived with the distinction of how they use their quilts. 

As Maggie and Dee believe the quilt is used for providing warmth and comfort and they revel in the craftsmanship of it which is passed down from generation to generation and thus builds a cultural connection and community while Dee believes its purpose is to be showcased as an aesthetic and a label of what her cultural and racial identity is. One can consider the usefulness according to DEE and others and the contrast of such ideals.

The symbolism of the quilt portrayed by Alice walker

The quilt is the symbol of how cultural and racial antiquities are perceived. Walker illustrates its materialistic properties on how performative activism is rendered to physical efforts and not reaching the community to an interpersonal level to bring racial and cultural acceptance.

As Dee aspires to make it her showpiece for her aesthetic, she still questions its usefulness. The contrast acceptance of antiquities can be depicted in modern activism ( the political appropriation of Kente cloth in 2020, and the usage of black squares on Blackout Tuesday ).

Whereas Mama and Maggie view the quilt at a grounder level and its practicality with the communal harmony of passing its weaving technique from generation to generation which adheres to connecting their cultural identity.

The differing weightage regarding family relationships and cultural and racial heritage 

Alice Walker illustrates the Johnson family as a weighing scale. The daughters are the weights with differing opinions and attitudes, tilting the household ideals while Mama is the mediator. Maggie is closer to her mother, and values her ancestors and cultural values, and is depicted to have more knowledge of the same. As she’s capable of weaving a quilt, she is familiar with the cultural technique. Yet she’s not sufficiently educated on the matters of knowing the theory of her racial and cultural identity. Whereas Dee is incapable of connecting herself with her culture and family on an interpersonal level. She values the quilt as a materialistic show piece of her cultural identity and not as the symbol of community and its purpose beyond just a show piece for visual aesthetics. Even though she’s educated enough to distinguish her identities, her superficiality disbars her to practice the same rightfully.

The racial difference in rural and urban society

as ‘everyday use’ discusses how racism and its issues are discussed in the varied settings of both urban and rural societies, it depicts how the rural society might be nonchalant and indifferent towards this issue. Mama and Maggie aren’t particularly geared towards equality and racism as they don’t have the sufficient education or idealism to come to a stance. 

Whereas Dee is educated significantly enough to explore the idea of racial equality and racism, with her ideals of cultural aesthetics and her notions of progressing her identity clashes with her family’s. as Dee dons her cultural name Wangero While the Johnsons appear to be attached to their westernized name which gives insight to their differing opinions.

Dee’s possible relation with the burned-down house

Many critics have entertained the possibility of how Dee’s hatred for their previous house might have a possible connection with its fire arson that led to her sister being scarred for life. As Mama has hinted strongly and frequently enough about Dee’s hatred for the burned-down house. As recounting the experience as her of standing and watching it been to the round with a cold stare.

There is a requirement for more evidence to claim this thesis statement, with a character analysis of Dee one can show her self-centered she is. One can entertain both possibilities of whether she was the one who burned down the house or not. With only first-person narration provided, one should go through more plot analysis to thoroughly present thuds thesis.

What is a thesis statement?

A thesis statement is written as the conclusion of the introduction to a study or research. It consists of the main point of the essay or research paper. There are two types of thesis statements, direct and indirect: the direct thesis statements reason for their thesis in elaboration while the indirect thesis does not. The thesis statement then directs the remaining parts of a research paper, with body, conclusion and references and completes the whole layout.

How to write an impactful thesis statement?

One could make an intriguing thesis statement regarding what their claim is, it should be clear and concise with a direct narrative. It should be a complex statement unfamiliar and unique to general knowledge and backed with sufficient data. In the case of argumentative research study, unpopular thesis statement proves to be stronger thesis statements.

Conclusion 

In regards to Alice Walker’s Everyday Use, it’s important to highlight the major insights that provide the base, argument, research evidence, and satisfactory conclusion for your thesis statement. A reader should get a clear idea of what you’ve interpreted and analyzed from the story and what stands your claim with your thesis statement and provide a succinct message to your evaluators or readers.

Finally, as a researcher, you should have the qualitative experience and knowledge of thesis statement preparation and provision for the same.

Frequently Asked Questions 

• What’s the need for Thesis Statement?

The significance of the thesis statement is embedded in research papers or studies due to its writing direction and focus. It provides the main general idea of a paper and gives a clear summary or gist of the main theme of the paper.

• How to come up with a thesis statement?

you need to be clear about your research topic and familiar with it, to the point you can base necessary questions on it. Then, you need to come up with the main answer for your question and base your thesis statement around it.

• How do differentiate the thesis statement from the introduction?

To not amalgamate your introduction and thesis statement altogether, you need to place your thesis statement at the end of the introduction with distinct paragraph spacing as a conclusion to your introduction.

Everyday Use by Alice Walker Research Paper

Walker shows us what inheritance is through her short story, Everyday Use . The two hand-stitched quilts draw attention and become the center of conflict in the family of Mama and her two daughters. Walker also uses these quilts as symbolism for heritage. The author shows that different views, events, and situations shape one’s life in different ways as an individual responds to them. In the short story, we see the conflict within the family of Mama and her two daughters (SuperSummary 1-5).

Walker narrates the story of a conflict in relation to identities and heritage. The author presents the conflict through Maggie, Dee, and the Mother. All these characters show variations in beliefs due different experiences and ideologies in life. Mama lives a simple life based on her cultural heritage.

This is a fulfilling life to Mama because she believes in simplicity of life. As a result, Mama scorns Dee’s materialistic tendencies when relating to her culture. On the other hand, Maggie is shy and submissive almost like Mama in simplicity, but she still remembers her heritage. Dee shows a modern way of life that is out of touch with her culture and heritage. Dee’s characters and actions show that one can only value her culture for its artistic appeal.

Mama is happy and proud about her simple life. Dee has materialistic tendencies in which she only craves for “nice things” (Walker 384) in her life. Moreover, Dee believes that she can control her life and do anything she wants to do with it.

She demonstrates this trait by insisting on having the churn top and the dasher together with the quilts. However, Mama had promised to give these items to Maggie. On the contrary, Maggie has come into terms with her life. She believes that happiness comes from the heart and not from material possessions.

These characters also have diverse views about culture and heritage. Mama and Maggie consider a strong family tradition as their source of heritage. Mama believes that heritage is memories of the tradition and its practical aspects.

She believes that Maggie shall use quilts every day. Still, Mama also has fond memories of the benches when Dee admires them, she notes that Dee’s daddy made the benches “when they couldn’t afford to buy chairs” (Walker 385). Mama has a special affection to history because it brings sweet memory of her husband. On the same note, Maggie also likes tradition and its memories.

She can remember how Henry or Stash carved the dasher (Walker 386). Maggie could have learned such history from her Mama and kept it in her memory as a part of history and tradition. Maggie sees a great meaning in the quilts. She considers the quilts as sources of memory and tradition. For instance, she says, “I cannot remember Grandma Dee without the quilts” (Walker 386).

This shows that Maggie’s relation with the two quilts is expressive and special in her memory, traditions, and history. These quilts represent tradition and history to Maggie, not because they are hand stitched, but rather because of the history and heritage, they have in the family. On the other hand, Dee sees her tradition as African culture. In fact, Dee rejects her family heritage because it does not conform to African traditions.

According to Dee, her family tradition does not reflect her beliefs. For instance, after she receives education from the city and becomes stylish, Dee writes to Mama and informs her that she would visit home, “but will never bring her friends” (Walker 383). Dee does not want her friends to learn about her background, history, and tradition. Dee considers it as backward and unsophisticated life. Dee strives to embrace the root culture of Africans, but she refuses to accept her own heritage.

Dee sees her heritage in terms of materialistic qualities, rather than as history and heritage of her family. For instance, Dee informs her family that she changed her name to ‘Wangero’ and states that, “ I couldn’t bear it any longer, being named after the people who oppress me ” (Walker 385). According to her, the name has been “a form of oppression” (Walker 386), and changing it gives her a sense of self-determination.

One can realize that Dee’s new name is an African name, but has nothing in relation to her history, family, and traditions. Education has changed Dee’s attitude toward her family and heritage. She prefers new life and sophistication of the city. Dee is not aware of the art of making quilts, but she knows that such “old quilts in her family are priceless and invaluable” (Walker 386). The major concern for Dee is the appearance of the quilts and not their cultural representations.

According to Dee, the churn top is only suitable as “a centerpiece for the alcove table” (Walker 386). On the contrary, her mother and Maggie consider the churn top as an item of connection to their heritage. One can also notice that Dee “admires the benches because of their textures” (Walker 386), but she fails to notice whoever made them. Dee and Mama have different views about the quilts. Her mother believes that the quilts should be on everyday use as a way of keeping the past alive.

Conversely, Dee believes that the quilts should only serve decorative purposes. Dee wants her mother and Maggie to embrace the new life of sophistication. For instance, she tells Maggie that, “ It’s really a new day for us, but from the way you and mama still live, you’d never know it ” (Walker 388). However, Mama and Maggie have not embraced the new culture of Dee. Further, Mama and Maggie show confusion about the new state of Dee’s life.

They do not see any connection to the new name of Dee, ‘Wangero’ because Mama and Maggie can only find such memories in their heritage and history. They have such memories because of the role that heritage has played in their lives. Mama and Maggie believe that the family heritage is important in their daily lives. However, Dee believes that heritage is history that does not have any significant role in her present life, and any memory should only be of artistic value.

Dee has totally failed to recognize any value in her family heritage. Consequently, she finds a heritage that matches her education and sophistication. Dee believes that her new name, Wangero represents her heritage and cultural beliefs. Dee thinks that the name represents her African values.

However, one can observe that Dee has failed in this endeavor because the name and her African attires have no meaning because they are false and artificial. Besides, Dee does not understand her new culture. Dee constructs a culture that is beyond her history and reach.

Education has only served the role of alienating Dee from her family, true identity, and heritage. With haughty ideals from the city life and education, Dee lost her heritage and identity, which can only come from the family. Dee’s new life and a sense of identity scare Mama and Maggie because their simple lives cannot match the new identity of Dee.

Visibility, rights, and equal opportunities are the new ideals of Dee. While these ideals are not problematic, what is bothersome is that Dee has lost respect for her heritage and alienated herself from the family. Maggie is a contrast of Dee. She does not know of any other heritage apart from the family heritage. She lacks education that Dee has.

However, Maggie has accepted her situation and found her self-fulfillment. Walker manages to use contrast in order to reveal effects of lacking and having education between the two sisters. Dee’s insatiable search for education has led her to reject her heritage and simple life of Mama and Maggie. On the other hand, Maggie’s lack of education has stifled her, and made her to accept everything without questions. Walker shows that either having or lacking education can be detrimental in a family.

Walker has also written other short stories. For instance, You Can’t Keep a Good Woman Down is a collection of fourteen short stories that show the plight and triumph of African American women (Walker 3-138). Just like in Everyday Use , Walker tells her stories from perspectives of women.

Characters narrate their experiences of trauma and success. While such stories are common and may not be unique, it is the African woman’s viewpoint that makes the work outstanding. These ideas vary from pornography, gender issues to inequality among others. Some of these experiences may force women to superficiality.

For instance, Dee lives in a world of superficiality while Maggie maintains a deep understanding of her culture. As Mama realizes the simplicity of Maggie, she begins to appreciate it (Walker 389). Conversely, the new life of Dee has only led to confusion in the family.

Walker aims to assert that people should appreciate their heritage and culture. In addition, people should not look at heritage and culture as the ‘dead past’ that can only serve ornamental purposes. Instead, people should see their heritage as a living past. We should ensure that we put heritage in everyday use to sustain it.

Walker wrote Everyday Use in the 1970s when African Americans were struggling to find and control their identities. As a result, some of them could not match the social, cultural, and political aspects that developed. This led to confusion among African American women. Walker also notes contributions of African Americans through their arts. Such artworks connected their generations to the past. In fact, artworks survived through generations and served as important pieces of heritage.

Dee reflects the struggle among African Americans who wanted to establish their own identity through their original roots, Africa. However, such people often failed because their roots remained vague to them. The bleak history inspired people to trace their ancestry in order to grasp and reconnect with their roots. Overall, Walker’s short story shows African Americans who did not understand the concept of the black consciousness or its ideals.

Alice Walker is an “American author, feminist, poet, and activist born in 1944” (Walker 1). She has written several short stories and poems. In fact, Walker listened to black stories from her father, which influenced her late works. Events of her childhood and political, social, and historical development in the US also feature in all her works. She narrates these stories manly from African American women perspectives.

Works Cited

SuperSummary . “Plot Summary of Everyday Use by Alice Walker.” 2012. Web.

Walker, Alice. “Everyday Use.” Making Literature Matter: An Anthology For Readers and Writers. 2nd ed. Ed. John Schilb and John Clifford. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2003. 382-389. Print.

—. You Can’t Keep a Good Woman Down. San Diego: Mariner Books, 1982. Print.

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IvyPanda. (2018, December 19). Everyday Use by Alice Walker. https://ivypanda.com/essays/everyday-use-by-alice-walker-3/

"Everyday Use by Alice Walker." IvyPanda , 19 Dec. 2018, ivypanda.com/essays/everyday-use-by-alice-walker-3/.

IvyPanda . (2018) 'Everyday Use by Alice Walker'. 19 December.

IvyPanda . 2018. "Everyday Use by Alice Walker." December 19, 2018. https://ivypanda.com/essays/everyday-use-by-alice-walker-3/.

1. IvyPanda . "Everyday Use by Alice Walker." December 19, 2018. https://ivypanda.com/essays/everyday-use-by-alice-walker-3/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Everyday Use by Alice Walker." December 19, 2018. https://ivypanda.com/essays/everyday-use-by-alice-walker-3/.

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