essay questions for 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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Literary Theory and Criticism

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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107 Everyday Use Essay Topics

🏆 best essay topics on everyday use, ✍️ everyday use essay topics for college, 🎓 most interesting everyday use research titles, 💡 simple everyday use essay ideas, ❓ everyday use questions.

• Family and Heritage in “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker
• Tradition in “Everyday Use” by Walker and “The Lottery” by Jackson
• Everyday Use’ by Alice Walker
• African-American Narration in Walker’s “Everyday Use”
• Critical Analysis of Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use“
• The Problem of Heritage in Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use”
• Comparison: “A Pair of Tickets” by A. Tan and “Everyday Use” by A. Walke
• Literature Comparison of The Yellow Wallpaper and Everyday Use The issue of loneliness and the slow descent into madness discussed in the two famous novels, The Yellow Wallpaper and Everyday Use. These two novels share a number of common and different elements.
• Alice Walker’s 1955 and “Everyday Use”: Artificial vs. Genuine This essay will examine Walker’s stories 1955 and “Everyday Use” and discuss a common theme of artificial vs. genuine in the American culture.
• “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker: Précis and Critique “Everyday Use” is a short story authored by Alice walker that represents social dilemmas and dynamics among African Americans.
• Comparing Two Kinds and Everyday Use The topic of cultural conflict is the main similarity of Two Kinds and Everyday Use. They explain two ways that can affect people, making them to oppose families and society.
• “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker Analysis The essay critically analyzes the aforementioned social issues in the “Everyday Use” narrative and demonstrates their relevance to society.
• Heritage and Tradition in ”Everyday Use” by Alice Walker The story Everyday Use, written by Alice Walker, portrays two different overviews of the two polar viewpoints belonging to people within the same family.
• Characters of Walker’s “Everyday Use” and Their Heritage This paper aims to compare the distinctive features of the main characters of the short story “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker and find out what could cause these differences.
• Maggie’s Story in Everyday Use by Walker In Everyday Use by Walker, a conflicted story is presented, opposing superficial cultural values. The paper offers an alternative scene in the short story from Maggie’s perspective.
• The Perception of Heritage in “Everyday Use” In her story “Everyday Use,” Alice Walker presents the motivations of people resulting in the emergence of particular views on heritage.
• The Story “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker Alice Walker in her story “Everyday Use” uses illusion or appearance as the principal theme of the story to highlight the role of the past in the characters’ current life.
• Preserving Cultural Heritage: Conflict in Walker’s “Everyday Use” The story suggests that the best way of preserving a group’s heritage, be it physical objects or spoken language, is not putting it on display, as in a museum.
• Heritage in Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use” The family conflict based on a different perception of the concept of heritage is the key theme of Walker’s Everyday Use.
• “Everyday Use” a Book by Alice Walker Everyday use is an allegorical story that intertwines the African heritage and the modern world practices. Written by Alice Walker the story focuses on the lives of the African Americans.
• “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker addresses an issue of heritage through the relationship between the characters and its relation to the cultural background.
• “Everyday Use” Short Story by Alice Walker The coming revolution of nationalism and the eternal opposition of the big city, the world of diversity and consumption, is compared with the small courtyard of the Johnson family.
• Analysis of “Everyday Use” Story The paper analyzes “Everyday Use” story and discusses on the differences between the two sisters’ views on their heritage, and the values each character attaches to the items.
• Cultural Context in the Short Story ”Everyday Use” by Alice Walker “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker is a short story about an African American family of Mama and her two daughters, Dee and Maggie.
• The Main Themes in “Everyday Use” by Walker The themes of family relations, sister rivalry, traditions, heritage, and the struggle for civil rights intertwine in Alice Walker’s short story.
• The Book “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker Maintaining African American cultural legacy features prominently as a theme in Alice Walker’s book “Everyday Use.”
• Language of “Everyday Use” Story by Alice Walker “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker is about the hardships of African American women. It is about the milestones of heritage implied in terms of African American mothers.
• Alice Walker’s Concepts of Everyday Use In Alice Walker’s short story “Everyday Use”, the author places two sisters side by side for an afternoon of visiting.
• Exploitation in “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use” presents several important topics to contemplate, the most crucial ones being those of family relationships and attitude toward heritage.
• Afro-Americans in Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use” “Everyday Use” is a short story authored by Alice Walker. The story is told in the first person by an African American woman known as Mama.
• Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use”: Traditions, Relationships, and Identity
• Building the Story From Symbols: “Everyday Use” by A. Walker
• How Alice Walker Explores the Meaning of Heritage in “Everyday Use”
• Alice Walker’s Self Portrayal in “Everyday Use”
• Dominance and the Quest for the Self in Alice Walker’s ‘”Everyday Use” and Ernest Hemingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants”
• Rejecting Heritage: Wangero’s Greed Illustrated in Walker’s “Everyday Use”
• Central Conflict Between Mother and Daughter in Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use” and Any Tan’s “Two Kinds”
• The American Dream Represented by Dee in Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use”
• “Everyday Use”: Alice Walker’s Writing Style and How It Helps Tell the Story
• Dissimilar Lives Create Different Expectations in “Everyday Use”
• Mother and Daughter Relationship Conflicts in “Beloved” by Toni Morrison and “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker
• Cultural Themes Through “From Prada to Nada” and “Everyday Use”
• The Black Empowerment Movement Within Bambara’s “The Lesson” and Walker’s “Everyday Use”
• Alice Walker’s Women: Oppression and Victory in “Everyday Use” and “The Color Purple”
• Past and Present Connections: Alice Walker’s Use of First Person Point of View in “Everyday Use”
• Comparing the Shared Representation of Greed in Maupassant’s “The Necklace” and Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use”
• Situational and Dramatic Irony in “Story of An Hour”, “Everyday Use”, “The Necklace”, and “The Lottery”
• Capitalist and Classism Ideologies in “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker
• The Educational and Race Issue in “Everyday Use”
• “Everyday Use”: Is It Possible to Leave the Past Behind?
• Character Analysis of Dee Image in “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker
• The Value and Purpose of Cultural Heirlooms in “Everyday Use”, a Short Story by Alice Walker
• “Everyday Use”: Defining African-American Heritage
• The Archetypes of Mother and Crone in “Everyday Use”, “A Worn Path” and “Mothers Tongue”
• “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker: Contrast Between the Sister’s Beliefs About the Guilt
• Comparing Love and Acceptance in “I Stand Here Ironing” and “Everyday Use”
• “Everyday Use” and “Good Country People” Are Short Stories With Similar Themes
• Relationship Between Two Generations in “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker
• Alice Walker’s Interpretation of the Ideas of Household and Family in the Story “Everyday Use”
• Comparing the Similarities and Differences Between Maggie and Dee in “Everyday Use”, a Short Story by Alice Walker
• The Themes and Narration Techniques of “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker
• “Everyday Use”: Sisters With Nothing in Common
• Mother Figure Who Critiques the Actions of a Young Woman in “How Far She Went” by Mary Hood and “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker
• Symbolism and Character Development in “Everyday Use”
• Black Woman Spirituality in “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker
• The Concepts of Denial and Acceptance in Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use”
• Narrative Imbalance in “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker
• Conflicting Ideas About Identities and Ancestry in “Everyday Use”
• The Relationship Between Maggie and Mama in the Novel “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker
• The Symbolism of a Quilt in Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use”
• “Everyday Use”: Today’s View on Culture and Heritage
• Conflict, Irony, and Symbolism in Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use”
• The Different Views and Conflicts Between a Mother and Her Two Daughters in the Short Story “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker
• How the Relationships Between Parent and Child Are Depicted in Joe Johnson’s “October Sky” and Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use”
• Cultural Identity and Problems in “Everyday Use”
• The Language and the Quilt in “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker
• “Everyday Use”: Are Mama and Dee Sympathetic Characters?
• What Is the Significance of the Story Title “Everyday Use”?
• What Is the Rising Action of the Story “Everyday Use”?
• How Is Dee a Static Character in “Everyday Use”?
• When Was “Everyday Use” First Published?
• Which Conflicts Are Not Resolved in “Everyday Use”?
• What Is Point of View in “Everyday Use”?
• What Is the Class Mobility in “Everyday Use”?
• How Is the Main Conflict Resolved in “Everyday Use”?
• What Goes on in Dee’s Mind in “Everyday Use”?
• Does Maggie Steal Dee’s Boyfriend in “Everyday Use”?
• How Does Maggie Change in “Everyday Use”?
• What Does Dee Value in “Everyday Use”?
• Does Walker Side With Maggie or Dee in “Everyday Use”?
• What Type of Story Is “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker?
• How Old Are the Characters in “Everyday Use”?
• What Qualities Does Mama Wish She Has in “Everyday Use”?
• What Happens at the End of “Everyday Use”?
• Who Is the Protagonist in “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker?
• Who Is the Narrator in “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker?
• What Is the Setting of the Short Story “Everyday Use”?
• What Does Mama Symbolize in “Everyday Use”?
• Who Does Alice Walker Dedicate “Everyday Use” To?
• What Is the Importance of Memory in “Everyday Use”?
• What Do the Handmade Quilts Symbolize in “Everyday Use”?
• Is There Any Debate in “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker?
• What Is the Mothers Attitude Towards Dee in “Everyday Use”?
• What Are the Cultural Differences in “Everyday Use”?
• Who Is the Antagonist in the Short Story “Everyday Use”?
• Why Did Maggie Smile in the End of “Everyday Use”?
• What Is Alice Walker’s Purpose in “Everyday Use”?

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StudyCorgi. (2022, July 14). 107 Everyday Use Essay Topics. https://studycorgi.com/ideas/everyday-use-essay-topics/

"107 Everyday Use Essay Topics." StudyCorgi , 14 July 2022, studycorgi.com/ideas/everyday-use-essay-topics/.

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StudyCorgi . "107 Everyday Use Essay Topics." July 14, 2022. https://studycorgi.com/ideas/everyday-use-essay-topics/.

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These essay examples and topics on Everyday Use were carefully selected by the StudyCorgi editorial team. They meet our highest standards in terms of grammar, punctuation, style, and fact accuracy. Please ensure you properly reference the materials if you’re using them to write your assignment.

This essay topic collection was updated on December 28, 2023 .

Conflict in Everyday Use Essay

In the short story Everyday Use , Alice Walker talks about the conflict that exists between Mama and Dee. This observation is shared by many. All the literary critic and commentator will agree that there is conflict between the mother and her eldest daughter. All of them will also agree that Mama chose to stand beside Maggie and supported her while she turned her back on Dee. However, there is no universal agreement when it comes to who is right and who is wrong.

There are those who said that Mama recognized the superficiality of Dee while she favored the moral strength of Maggie. On the other side of the fence there are those who said that Dee had the correct worldview and that she was justified her attempt to transform Mama’s old way of thinking. The reader must not take sides and instead find a way to reconcile the opposing worldviews of Mama and Dee.

Nancy Tuten echoes the sentiment of most readers and most commentators who said that Dee was a bad example of how a girl should behave. This is evident in the introduction to an article that she had written on this subject and she wrote “Commentaries on Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use” typically center on Mama’s awakening to one daughter’s superficiality and to the other’s deep-seated understanding of heritage (Tuten, 1993, p.125). There are many examples in Alice Walker’s story that supports this view.

In the very beginning of the story one can already see the reason why Tuten disapproved of Dee’s actions and supported the desire of Mama and Maggie to continue with their way of life. There was a romantic air to Mama’s description of her home. She said it with affection and pride:

A yard like this is more comfortable than most people know. It is not just a yard. It is like an extended living room. When the hard clay is swept clean as a floor and the fine sand around the edges lined with tiny, irregular grooves, anyone can come and sit and look up into the elm tree and wait for the breezes that never come inside the house (Walker, 1973, p. 284).

The simple life is favored over the sophisticated life of the urban dwellers. Based on the world view of Tuten someone has to preserve the best of yesteryears, when the world was all about the beauty of family and enjoying the slow-paced lifestyle. A world populated by people who are not pressured to buy the latest gadgets and be updated with the latest trend.

Tuten’s commentary is a criticism to the lifestyle chosen by Dee. Tuten condemned her using a strong word and she said that is superficial. In other words she implied that Dee is all about the outward appearance and yet unable to fathom and appreciate what is deep and real.

Tuten’s made some valid arguments but she must also consider the importance of progress. It is being overly romantic to keep on wishing that the old days will not pass away. Sooner or later change will overtake every country and every community. The well swept hard clay may be nice during summer but what will happen when there is heavy rain? Is it possible that Mama and Maggie will not be able to come out of the house because the place is all muddied and they can even walk to buy their food?

On the other extreme Susan Farrell disagrees with the worldview of Mama and Maggie and instead favored the forward-thinking attitude of Dee. Susan Farrell made an emphatic argument against those who try to put down Dee and she wrote: “We must remember from the beginning that the story is told by Mama; the perceptions are filtered through her mind and her views of her two daughters are not to be accepted uncritically” (Farrell, 1998, p.179).

This is in direct opposition to Tuten’s analysis of the short story. However, Farrell went to the extreme. It is difficult to understand why she turned a blind eye to the faults of Dee.

It has to be made clear that Farrel’s understanding of Alice Walker’s story is an acceptable argument. One has to question who had the correct worldview. It is no loner convenient to praise Mama and Maggie’s dedication to preserve traditions and to condemn Dee for her progressive thinking.

It has to be said that perhaps Dee was not materialistic but simply wanted to improve her life. She simply wanted progress over backwardness and chose improvement over stagnation. However, Farrell just like Tuten went to the extreme in their praise and condemnation of the main characters.

Both Mama and Dee needed to see the big picture. Mama cannot keep on postponing her date with the present reality. It is time for her kids to experience what it feels like to be educated. There is nothing wrong with the fact that Dee decided to go to school and desire for a better life. It is wrong for her in not encouraging Maggie to reach for the stars.

She seemed justified in her actions because of Maggie’s injuries but even with a disability a child must go to school. There is no indication that Maggie is retarded and so it begs the question why she is attached to her mother like a cat’s tail to a cat.

On the other hand Dee must learn to value family and traditions. She must value it the way Mama and Maggie values their family history and heritage. It seems that Dee can only manage to appreciate what they have on an intellectual level while Mama and Maggie were able to embrace what they went through and their past history from an emotional and spiritual level.

It can be argued that Alice Walker is suggesting that the qualities of Mama and Dee must be fused. This is perhaps the reason why she inserted Maggie in the story. Maggie does not hate Dee’s sophistication and learning, in fact she wants to be like Dee. But at the same time Maggie is sensitive enough to honor and respect her mother and their traditions.

Maggie is the embodiment of what is possible if Mama’s conservatism and Dee’s progressive mindset can be combined in one person. The only thing that Maggie needed to do is to get out of her shell and not use her injuries as an excuse to grow and mature as a person.

It is not correct to take sides to choose between Mama and Dee. Both of them are correct and both of them are wrong when it comes to specific areas of their lives and their worldview. Mama cannot force her daughters to be like her – uneducated and living in a mud hut. On the other hand it is wrong for Dee to reduce everything into an intellectual treatise.

She knew the value of the quilts from a historical and analytical perspective but she is unable to show her mother and sister how much she respects the spiritual and emotional value of those quilts. Both mother and daughters must learn to live in the modern world without forgetting where they came from.

Works Cited

Farrell, Susan. “Fight vs. Flight: A Re-evaluation of Dee in Alice Walker’s ‘Everydayuse’”.

Studies in Shrot Fiction . 35.2 (1998): 179. Academic Search Premier. Web.

Tuten, Nancy. “Alice Walker’s Everyday Use.” Explicator . 51.2 (1993): 125. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web.

Walker, Alice. “Everyday Use.” Fiction: Reading, Reacting, Writing . Laurie Kirszner & Stephen Mandell. FL: Harcourt Brace & Company, 1994.

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IvyPanda. (2024, February 28). Conflict in Everyday Use. https://ivypanda.com/essays/everyday-use/

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Everyday Use

By alice walker, everyday use quiz 1.

• 1 What does Mama think Hakim-a-barber's name is when they are first introduced? Asalamalakim Amos Wangero John Thomas
• 2 What does Dee insist on being called? Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo Hakim Al-Barber Big Dee Asalamalakim
• 3 Who carved the butter dash? Cousin Jacob Mama Uncle Stash Mama's husband
• 4 How are Maggie and Dee related? They are mother and daughter They are not related They are sisters They are step-sisters
• 5 How many years ago did the first house burn down? 7 years ago 1 year ago 5 years ago 10 or 12 years ago
• 6 Dee is whose namesake? Her grandmother A Catholic saint Mama's cousin Her aunt
• 7 What does Dee/Wangero find in the trunk by Mama's bed? Two quilts Dee's old self made clothes A family painting Medals from the Civil War
• 8 Since when has Maggie shuffled with her eyes to the ground? Since she was kicked by a horse Since she was burned in the fire Since her sister left for school Since Dee's visit
• 9 What are Dee's plans for the chute top and butter dish? To use as a night stand To churn butter according to "real" African tradition To use as decoration for her flat To sell to a museum
• 10 Before leaving, what does Dee/Wangero tell Maggie she really ought to do? Make something of herself Stop looking so pathetic Not to marry John Thomas Go to college
• 11 What does Mama wear on an average day? Overalls A "moo moo" A dress Traditional clothes from Africa
• 12 Why did Dee read to Mama and Maggie at home? To educate them To entertain them at night To show them how ignorant they were To share in her love of learning
• 13 Why did Dee refuse to take a quilt to college? She thought they belonged with Mama She thought they were worth too much money She wanted to hide her real upbringing She said they were old-fashioned and out of style
• 14 What did they call Dicie after Dee was born? Big Dee Dorothy Maggie Wangero
• 15 Who poisoned several of the cattle herders' cows? John Thomas An angry neighbour Black extremists White men
• 16 What T.V talk show does Mama imagine she and Dee to be on? Jay Leno Johnny Carson Merv Griffin Show David Letterman
• 17 What does Mama compare Maggie to? A lame animal A cat A scarecrow A mouse
• 18 Who helped Mama raise the money to send Dee away to school? Anonymous donation The community church The community center Mama’s extended family
• 19 Where was Dee sent away to school? Dallas Mobile Little Rock Augusta
• 20 Up to what grade did Mama go to school? Grade three Grade two Grade five Grade four
• 21 What happened to the school mama went to? Colored children had to go to a different school School closed down School burned down Stopped after grade five
• 22 Who will Maggie end up marrying? Thomas Barber Will James John Thomas Amos Henry
• 23 What year was Mama “hooked in the side” buy a cow? 1948 1952 1949 1950
• 24 Where is Mama’s house located? On the edge of a forest On a meadow On a pasture On a hill
• 25 How many rooms does Mama’s house have? 2 6 1 3

Everyday Use Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for Everyday Use is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

Everyday Use by Alice Walker

From the text:

I never had an education myself. After second grade the school was closed down.

In paragraphs 61-72, how does the conversation between Dee and Mama about the quilts develop the theme?

I'm sorry, please provide the text in question.

I saw my brother sneaking out of my room, his (1) movements slow and silent. When he saw me the poor kid was flinching, practically (2) under my gaze. "I was just looking at your CDs," he told me. At least he admitted he had been (3) _. annoyed, I decided

Is this related to the book Everyday use? What are you asking here?

Study Guide for Everyday Use

Everyday Use study guide contains a biography of Alice Walker, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

• About Everyday Use
• Everyday Use Summary
• Character List

Essays for Everyday Use

Everyday Use essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of Everyday Use.

• Identity Confusion in Alice Walker's "Everyday Use"
• The Black Empowerment Movement within Bambara's "The Lesson" and Walker's "Everyday Use"
• Pride and Heritage in “Everyday Use”
• "Everyday Use" from an Antipatriarchal Perspective
• A Comparison of Dee and Mathilde

Wikipedia Entries for Everyday Use

• Introduction
• Publication details

Home — Essay Samples — Literature — Books — Everyday Use

Essays on Everyday Use

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Interpreting African-american Heritage in Alice Walker's Everyday Use

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"Everyday Use" by Alice Walker: Summary

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Comparison of Characters from Everyday Use and The Necklace

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Alice Walker

Short story

Dee, Mama, Maggie, Hakim-a-barber

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Everyday Use Essay Topics: Show that You Really Like the Story

Published as far back as 1973, a short story entitled “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker is still widely read and discussed. It belongs to a collection of stories known as ‘In Love and Trouble’ and it has become a subject of academic writing on everyday use essay topics as it highlights topical issues and focuses on eternal matters that never lose their value. In 2003, there was a film version of this short story which is also a subject for debates and analysis.

As the author was passionately engaged in the process of preserving the African-American heritage and her feelings about the ruined culture were genuine and bright, it is evident in the story as well. “Everyday Use brings forth an idea of heritage that should be valued and appreciated by all generations. It is a simple story of a family that consists of the mother and two daughters, Wangero or Dee, and Maggie. This family is used as an example of contradictory views of the cultural heritage. The plot takes place in the 1860s when the black nationalists from African-American population formed their groups.

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The narrator of the story is Mama who knows that one of her daughters, Dee, belongs to this group, while it is Maggie who values their legacy and heritage genuinely. The girls are absolutely different in their attitude to their background and family history. Alice Walker tells the story, using bright symbols, effective development of her characters, and original presentation of the story setting to let the readers see the value of national heritage and the importance that the African-American culture has for the whole nation.

The students can choose among everyday use essay topics to find an aspect that will be the core idea of their research and writing.

• Dee in “Everyday Use”: analysis of the character
• What is Alice Walker’s interpretation of the idea of tyranny in the story?
• What is Alice Walker’s interpretation of the ideas of household and family in the story?
• How does Alice Walker define the rights of African Americans?
• What is the main religious idea in the short story “Everyday Use”?
• The concept of cultural identity presented by Alice Walker in her “Everyday Use.”
• What is the relationships between the mother and her daughters in the short story “Everyday Use”?
• Are all the values in “Everyday Use” true?
• What is the meaning of cultural legacy in Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use”?
• The concepts of denial and acceptance in Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use”.
• The symbolism of a quilt in Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use”.
• Is it possible to leave the past behind? Use the examples from Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use”.
• Is there anything common between the sisters in Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use”?
• Generation gap in Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use”
• The concept of identity and cultural heritage in Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use”
• Are Mama and Dee sympathetic characters?
• Is Alice Walker’s story “Everyday Use” relevant today?

You will definitely find at least one of the everyday use essay topics interesting for you. We are glad that we could help you!

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OJJDP FY24 Juvenile Justice Evidence Translation Project

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With this solicitation, OJJDP seeks to support the development and dissemination of translational tools and resources – current knowledge about what works packaged in accessible, comprehensible, actionable form for use by everyday youth serving (nonresearcher) practitioners, and lay persons to effect and sustain positive change – on key topics spanning the juvenile justice continuum in order to improve the juvenile justice system and prevent juvenile delinquency.

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