Comparing Dee And Maggie In Everyday Use By Alice Walker

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Everyday Use
The short story, “Everyday Use,” by Alice Walker, tells a story of two sisters, their heritage, and some family quilts. The tale represents all disagreements and arguments around the world with siblings and a mother who knows best. In comparing and contrasting these two sisters, Dee and Maggie, there are a lot of differences and similarities that allows the reader to tell who respects and accept her heritage more. In contrast, Dee and Maggie have a different taste in style.Dee is a women of color’. She, dresses very loud and liked nice things. “Dee wanted nice things. A yellow dress to wear to her graduation from high school; black pumps to match a green she’d made from an old suit somebody give her... at sixteen she had a style …show more content…

Dee is a well-educated, strong, and determined woman. She is very confident about herself and feels as if she’s superior to her mother and sister because she has an education. After coming back home from college, she claims to have a better understanding of their African heritage. She comes to collect the quilts that were already promised to Maggie to display. “’Maggie can’t appreciate these quilts!’ she said. ‘she’d probably be backward enough to put them to everyday use’…’ what would you do with them’ Hang them… (Page 9, Faulkner).” Dee thinks she’s so well educated that she would put the quilt into better use than Maggie would. On the other hand, Maggie is a nervous, shy, kind and good hearted. She is insecure about the way she looks from the burn scars. Mama feels that Maggie’s sensitivity makes her better understand her heritage. When Dee demanded that she takes the quilt, she tells her its ok because she doesn’t need it to remember her grandma, her heritage. “I can ‘member grandma without the quilts (Page 9, Walker).” Mama had a powerful feeling upon thinking about her decision; she understood that Maggie had a better understanding of her heritage than Dee. The difference in Maggie and Dee is their personalities and their value of their

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