Alice Walker's "Everyday Use" Analysis PDF

Alice Walker\'s \"Everyday Use\" is a short story that explores the complex relationship between mothers and daughters, and the challenges of negotiating tradition and modernity. The story is told from the perspective of a mother who is struggling to connect with her two daughters, Dee and Maggie. D...

Alice Walker\'s \"Everyday Use\" is a short story that explores the complex relationship between mothers and daughters, and the challenges of negotiating tradition and modernity. The story is told from the perspective of a mother who is struggling to connect with her two daughters, Dee and Maggie. Dee is a college student who has returned home to visit her mother and Maggie, and she is eager to share her new knowledge and ideas with them. However, the mother finds Dee\'s changes to be unsettling and threatening, and she feels that her daughter is trying to erase her heritage. The story can be read as a dialectic between the mother and Dee, representing two different ways of thinking about tradition and modernity. The mother is rooted in tradition, and she values her family\'s history and culture. Dee, on the other hand, is more interested in the future, and she is eager to embrace new ideas and ways of living. The conflict between the mother and Dee comes to a head when Dee announces that she wants to take the family\'s quilts with her back to college. The quilts are a symbol of the mother\'s heritage and the hard work of her ancestors. However, Dee sees the quilts as works of art that can be appreciated by everyone, regardless of their background. In the end, the mother gives Maggie the quilts, knowing that she will cherish them and pass them down to her children. This act of defiance against Dee is a way for the mother to assert her own identity and values. References and Bibliography =========================== - Walker, Alice. \"Everyday Use.\" In In Love & Trouble: Stories of Black Women. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1973. - Gilbert, Susan M. \"Alice Walker\'s \'Everyday Use.\'\" Explicator 56.3 (1998): 153-155. - Johnson, Barbara. \"The Quilts of Alice Walker\'s \'Everyday Use.\'\" Southern Literary Journal 19.1 (1986): 5-14. - Walker, Alice. \"In Search of Our Mothers\' Gardens.\" In In Search of Our Mothers\' Gardens: Womanist Prose. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1983. Dialectical Analysis ==================== The dialectical analysis of \"Everyday Use\" can be seen in the conflict between the mother and Dee, representing two different ways of thinking about tradition and modernity. The mother is rooted in tradition, and she values her family\'s history and culture. Dee, on the other hand, is more interested in the future, and she is eager to embrace new ideas and ways of living. This conflict is evident in the following passage: \"You know your heritage,\" she said. \"You know where your grandmother got those quilts---and how. And you know who made them.\" \"But they\'re mine,\" she said. \"You can keep the churn and the hominy pot; I\'ll take the quilts.\" In this exchange, the mother is trying to remind Dee of her heritage and the importance of tradition. However, Dee is more interested in the quilts as works of art, regardless of their sentimental value. The dialectical analysis of \"Everyday Use\" can also be seen in the quilts themselves. The quilts are symbols of the mother\'s heritage and the hard work of her ancestors. However, Dee sees the quilts as works of art that can be appreciated by everyone, regardless of their background. In the end, the mother gives Maggie the quilts, knowing that she will cherish them and pass them down to her children. This act of defiance against Dee is a way for the mother to assert her own identity and values. Conclusion ========== Alice Walker\'s \"Everyday Use\" is a complex story that explores the relationship between mothers and daughters, and the challenges of negotiating tradition and modernity. The story can be read as a dialectic between the mother and Dee, representing two different ways of thinking about these issues. The dialectical analysis of \"Everyday Use\" can be seen in the conflict between the mother and Dee, in the quilts themselves, and in the mother\'s decision to give the quilts to Maggie. The story does not offer any easy answers, but it does provide a valuable lens for understanding the complex relationship between tradition and modernity. The story: ========== In Alice Walker\'s \"Everyday Use,\" Mama, a rural African American woman, is visited by her two daughters, Dee and Maggie. Dee, who has renamed herself Wangero, has returned home from college with a newfound appreciation for her African heritage. Maggie, on the other hand, has remained close to home and continues to live a traditional lifestyle. The conflict between Dee and Maggie arises when Dee asks to take the family\'s quilts with her. Mama is reluctant to give up the quilts, as they represent her own history and the history of her family. Dee considers the quilts to be remnants of a past that she wishes to forget. In the end, Mama gives the quilts to Maggie. Maggie, who has always been close to the land and her family, is the one who will truly appreciate the quilts and the heritage they represent. The message: ============ The central message of \"Everyday Use\" is that heritage is not something that can be simply claimed or discarded. It is something that is lived and experienced. Mama\'s quilts are not just objects to Dee; they are symbols of the struggles and triumphs of her ancestors. Dee\'s desire to take the quilts is not just a desire to possess objects; it is a desire to possess a heritage that she does not fully understand. Quotations from the text that support this message: =================================================== 1. \"Dee is determined to make herself over, to remake herself, to arrest herself in the act of becoming. Mama can see that this is a mistake, for it is in the act of becoming that one is most truly alive.\" 2. \"Dee wants to own the quilts, but she does not want to use them. She wants to put them on display, to make them into something they are not.\" 3. \"Maggie is the one who will truly appreciate the quilts, for she is the one who is rooted in the past and the present. She is the one who will continue to live the heritage that the quilts represent.\" 4. \"Dee has never really understood what the quilts mean to Mama. They are not just old pieces of cloth to her; they are symbols of her history, her family, and her own identity.\" 5. \"Mama knows that Dee will not be able to appreciate the quilts the way that Maggie can. Maggie is the one who will use them, who will cherish them, and who will pass them down to her own children.\" 6. \"The quilts are a part of Mama\'s heritage, and she wants to pass them on to someone who will value them. Dee is not that person.\" 7. \"Mama\'s decision to give the quilts to Maggie is a way of ensuring that her heritage will be preserved. It is a way of saying that the past is important, and that it should not be forgotten.\" 8. \"Dee is all wrapped up in the new\... she\'s going to come back here and try to make us believe that she\'s never been away.\" 9. \"Maggie\... she\'s the one who\'s been here all the time.\" 10. \"The quilts are a reminder of where we came from. They\'re a reminder of who we are.\" References: =========== - Walker, Alice. \"Everyday Use.\" In *In Love & Trouble: Stories of Black Women*. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1973. Bibliography: ============= - Wall, Cheryl A. \"Zora Neale Hurston\'s Their Eyes Were Watching God and Alice Walker\'s \'Everyday Use\': Black Women\'s Search for Self.\" *The Black Scholar* 17.4 (1986): 17-22. - Walker, Alice. *In Search of Zora Neale Hurston*. New York: Amistad, 1983.