Dee In Everyday Use

1529 Words4 Pages

Who is Dee In the short story Everyday Use by Alice Walker she tells a story about a young woman dealing with a lot of identity changes. Dee was never happy with her life situation. She did everything she could not have to identify with her family. Dee goes thru multiple changes over the years of life trying to separate herself from where she came from. Dee wants a change for herself as well as “Mama” and “Maggie” but it doesn’t seems like that will be happening anytime soon. Coming from a family of an insecure woman she searches for her true identity in the outside world which leads her back to her roots looking for a quilts and other things form her past. In the article The Quilt Threads Together Sisterhood, Empowerment and Nature in …show more content…

That’s why when mama first offered her the quilts she didn’t want them. “I didn’t want to bring up how I had offered Dee (Wangero) a quilt when she went away to college. Then she told me they were old-fashioned, out of style.” She really didn’t even know the meaning behind the quilts. Maggie on the other hand knew a lot a lot about the them because she was home with the family helping them make the quilts( Grandma Dee and Big Dee). She knew the true heritage of the quilts but Dee still insisted that she can do better by the quilts. “Maggie would put them on the bed and in five years they would be rags” (Walker 594) She really didn’t think much of Maggie. She didn’t even realize that in the process of Maggie and her elder relatives making the quilts that they were bonding with each other. “When women participate in the tradition of quilting this trinity of strength provides a positive channel for them to mend together the pieces of their lives and move for fragmentation to fusion.” (Martin 27) Dee just wanted to hang them and show them off to her friends she didn’t know the true meaning behind the quilts. Mama made sure the quilts stay where they belong even though Maggie wanted her sister to have them Mama knew

Show More
Related

  • Comparing Culture in Everyday Use, A&P, and Blue Winds Dancing

    1561 Words  | 4 Pages

    To begin with, in Walker's Everyday Use, the conflict is a result of clashing cultural values and of cultural point-of-view. Dee, who has adopted the Islamic culture and name the Wangero, returns to her African-American family for a reunion. While there, she asks that a pair of quilts from her deceased grandmother be given to her, not her sister, Maggie. Dee claims that her sister will ruin them through "everyday use." In fact, she charges during a discussion, "[Maggie would] probably be backward enough to put them to everyday use" (89). To these charges, her mother, the story's narrator, says, "I reckon she would [use the quilts daily] ... God knows I've been saving (the quilts) for long enough with no body using 'em. I hope she will" (89). Dee counters by saying, "You just don't understand ... your heritage" (90). She charges that her mother does not understand her heritage and therefore should give the quilts to her since she will preserve them. This conflict...

    Read More

  • Everyday Use, by Alice Walker and The Lottery, by Shirley Jackson

    709 Words  | 2 Pages

    ... attempts to change the way Mama and Maggie perceive tradition by using the quilts as a wall display. Mama refuses to allow it, Dee was offered the quilts when she was in college and didn’t want them at that time. Mama gives the quilts to Maggie as her wedding gift to be used every day as they were intended, knowing how much Maggie appreciates them. I agree with Mama and Maggie for keeping family memories and objects in daily use. It is important to maintain your family history in your everyday life to preserve those special memories.

    Read More

  • The Symbolism of the Handmade Quilt in Everyday Use by Alice Walker

    284 Words  | 1 Pages

    Many people show their appreciation for things in different ways. Dee appreciates the quilt for being her heritage. She can't express enough how she feels about it. She can't even imagine that the quilt was hand made with every stitch stroked in and out. As for Maggie, Dee believes she can't appreciate the quilt in the same way she can. "Maggie can't appreciate these quilts." Instead, she thinks that Maggie will use the quilt for about 5 or so years and it will turn into a rag. "She'd probably be backward enough to put them to everyday use." "Maggie would put them on the bed and in five years they'd be in rags. Less than that!" Dee doesn't feel Maggie deserves the quilt.

    Read More

  • The Character of Dee in Everyday Use

    636 Words  | 2 Pages

    While reading the story "Everyday Use" by Alice Walker, I found that I had a surprising amount of anger towards the character named Dee, or as she prefers Wangero. The anger that was instilled in me was caused by numerous comments and actions that occurred throughout reading the short story. I feel she was selfish, uneducated and unappreciative of her past and that the way she carried herself was ridiculous.

    Read More

  • Everyday Use

    1546 Words  | 4 Pages

    Everyday Use ends with Dee leaving, not with the quilts, thus making room for the new bond between Mama and Maggie. Dee may believe that she has won in some way because she is the educated sister who appreciates her heritage, but the reader sees it is in fact Maggie who has become victorious by having her way of life validated by Mama’s support and Dee’s envy. Maggie’s system of values is redeemed by creating a new relationship, with herself, in which she is no longer silenced and can truly appreciate the beauty of her home even in its everyday use. While there is little growth seen from the experience on Dee’s side, we know that Maggie is forever changed, giving her more power than she ever had. There is still and will always be a struggle between her and her sister, but Maggie now knows she does not need redemption from Dee, nor anyone else, because it is she who carries the importance of the past into the future.

    Read More

  • Family Heirlooms In Everyday Use By Alice Walker

    1151 Words  | 3 Pages

    The quilts were pieced together by Mama, Grandma Dee, and Big Dee symbolizing a long line of relatives. The quilts made from scraps of dresses worn by Grandma Dee, Grandpa Jarrell’s Paisley shirts, and Great Grandpa Ezra’s Civil War uniform represented the family heritage and values, and had been promised to Mama to Maggie when she married. However, Dee does not understand the love put into the making of the quilts, neither does she understand the significance of the quilts as part of her family heritage. It is evident she does not understand the significance of the quilt, having been offered one when went away to college declaring them “as old-fashioned” and “out of style”. She does not care about the value of the quilts to her family, rather she sees it as a work of art, valuable as an African heritage but not as a family heirloom. She wants the quilts because they are handmade, not stitched with around the borders. She tells Mama, “Maggie can’t appreciate these quilts!... She’d probably be backward enough to put them to everyday use… But, they’re priceless!.. Maggie would put them on her the bed and in five years they’d be in rags. Less than that!” (317). The quilt signifies the family pride and history, which is important to Mama. She makes the decision to give the quilt to Maggie who will appreciate it more than Dee, to whom she says, “God knows I been saving ‘em for long enough with

    Read More

  • Everyday Use

    623 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...y're just collecting dust in the bottom of this old trunk." Momma had other quilts to use. She would not begrudge Dee. However, Momma did promise them to Maggie and so Momma had to keep that promise because Momma knew that regardless of how much more "successful and smart" one daughter was could not be allowed to diminish the love she had for Maggie. For Momma, a promise was a promise and barring her own death, it would be kept.

    Read More

  • Literary Analysis: "Everyday Use"

    692 Words  | 2 Pages

    To begin with, a quilt is defined as a “coverlet made of scrapes and fragments stitched together to form a pattern” (Webster). The quilt in “Everyday Use” was made by Grandma Dee, Big Dee, and Mama from scraps of dresses and shirts and is part of Grandpa’s Civil War uniform. It is filled with memories and was hand stitched by the family. Mama suggests that Dee take other ones, but Dee rejects the offer because they were “stitched by machine”(Walker, p.114) and the old ones were done by hand. Mama says that she had promised them to Maggie.

    Read More

  • Symbolism in the Short Story "Everyday Use"

    571 Words  | 2 Pages

    Alice Walker is a well-known African- American writer known for published fiction, poetry, and biography. She received a number of awards for many of her publications. One of Walker's best short stories titled "Everyday Use," tells the story of a mother and her two daughters' conflicting ideas about their heritage. The mother narrates the story of the visit by her daughter, Dee. She is an educated woman who now lives in the city, visiting from college. She starts a conflict with the other daughter, Maggie over the possession of the heirloom quilts. Maggie still lives the lifestyle of her ancestors; she deserves the right of the quilts. This story explores heritage by using symbolism of the daughters' actions, family items, and tradition.

    Read More

  • Walker's Message of Personal Heritage in "Everyday Use"

    1795 Words  | 4 Pages

    Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use” is a short story about a mother and two very different daughters set in rural Georgia during the late 1960’s. The plot is centered around on the two daughters, Dee and Maggie, and focusing on the differences between the two and who will gain possession of two hand-made quilts that are seen as a coveted trophy by Dee and are viewed as everyday items Maggie. The final decision of which daughter ultimately receives the quilts will be made by Momma Johnson. Momma, who is never given a first name in the story, is a strong black woman with many man-like qualities. “In real life I am a large, big-boned woman with rough, man-working hands. In the winter I wear flannel nightgowns to bed and overalls during the day.” (DiYanni 744) Momma is a tough woman and has had to be both father and mother to the daughters although the story never comments on the absence of the father. The story revolves around a visit home by Dee who has been away at college and has recently discovered the true meaning of black heritage with her adoption of ideas and practices from black power groups while simultaneously rejecting her own upbringing. Upon arriving home, Dee announces that she has changed her name to “Wangero” in defiance of her white oppressors and to embrace her newly found African heritage with a more appropriate black name. Dee and Maggie are complete opposites in appearance, education and desire to escape their childhood surroundings. Maggie has little education and no noticeable desire to improve her situation and prefers to be left alone in the shadows where she can hide her physical and emotional scars from a house fire when she was a child. Hand sewn quilts become the objects of Dee’s desires; objects ...

    Read More

  • Hand Sewn Quilts In Everyday Use By Alice Walker

    392 Words  | 1 Pages

    The fact is that Maggie will probably "put [the quilts] on the bed"(91)because she is active in her culture and views her heritage as part of her everyday life. She was severely burned as a child which left her very humble and scared to venture outside of her known world. Therefore, her culture is all she has, and she not only remembers it through the quilts but engages in her heritage by learning to make quilts. Consequently, when she is confronted by her demanding older sister she replies, "She can have them . . . I can [remember] Grandma Dee without the quilts" (91).

    Read More

  • Family Heritage In Everyday Use

    1197 Words  | 3 Pages

    Walker's view is very clear at the end of the story. By Dee wanting to hang the family heirloom on the wall to look at from a distance, she is alienating herself from her family heritage. That is exactly what Walker thinks is the wrong thing to do. Walker would prefer the quilts to be used and integrated into daily life, like Maggie and her mother prefer. The same idea applies to all of the other household items that Dee has her eye on: the churn top, the dasher, and the benches for the table that her daddy made. They all are a part of life for Maggie and her mother. Walker believes that the only value that they hold for Dee is that they would be good trinkets to show off in her house. By using the quilts in this symbolic way, Walker is making the point that family heirlooms can only have meaning if they remain connected to the culture they sprang from - in essence, to be put to "Everyday Use."

    Read More

  • The Importance of Personal Identity in Alice Walker's Everyday Use

    623 Words  | 2 Pages

    Author Alice Walker, displays the importance of personal identity and the significance of one’s heritage. These subjects are being addressed through the characterization of each character. In the story “Everyday Use”, the mother shows how their daughters are in completely two different worlds. One of her daughter, Maggie, is shy and jealous of her sister Dee and thought her sister had it easy with her life. She is the type that would stay around with her mother and be excluded from the outside world. Dee on the other hand, grew to be more outgoing and exposed to the real, modern world. The story shows how the two girls from different views of life co-exist and have a relationship with each other in the family. Maggie had always felt that Mama, her mother, showed more love and care to Dee over her. It is until the end of the story where we find out Mama cares more about Maggie through the quilt her mother gave to her. Showing that even though Dee is successful and have a more modern life, Maggie herself is just as successful in her own way through her love for her traditions and old w...

    Read More

  • The Importance Of Time And Place In Everyday Use By Alice Walker

    875 Words  | 2 Pages

    Quilts symbolize a family’s heritage. Maggie adheres the tradition by learning how to quilt from her grandmother and by sewing her own quilts. Maggie also puts her grandmother’s quilts into everyday use. Therefore, when Dee covets the family’s heirloom, wanting to take her grandmother’s hand-stitched quilts away for decoration, Mama gives the quilts to Maggie. Mama believes that Maggie will continually engage with and build upon the family’s history by using the quilts daily rather than distance herself from

    Read More

  • Heritage in Everyday Use, by Alice Walker

    1063 Words  | 3 Pages

    The quilts play an important role in depicting symbolism of heritage because they signify Dee’s family origins. For instance, Dees’ significant family members all have pieces of their fabric sown on to the quilts as a remembrance of who they were and their importance in the family. Nevertheless, Dee is overlooking important facets of her family history because she does not see the quilts her ancestors made as valuable, hand-made, pieces of fabric that should be passed down and taken care of to keep their history alive. As Mama stated, “In both of them were scraps of dresses Grandma Dee had worn fifty years and more years ago. Bits and pieces of Grandpa Jarrell’s paisley shirts. And one teeny faded blue piece, about the size of a penny matchbox, that was from Great Grandpa Ezra’s uniform that he wore in the civil war.” (1129). Despite her family’s history, Dee continues to misinterpret the...

    Read More

More about Dee In Everyday Use

Open Document