Mama In Alice Walker's Everyday Use

In Alice Walkers short story “Everyday Use,” Mama is a blissful and selfless kind of woman who would do anything to help her eldest daughter Dee succeed. When Mama realizes she has put more effort into Dee over her younger daughter Maggie, she knows it’s time to develop from this. Mama has this hope for Dee to see her for what she has done to support her. When Mama starts to notice how Dee is becoming she starts to consider giving Maggie the credit she deserves. In “Everyday Use,” Mama can be portrayed as unfair at first, but when her eyes become open to Maggie she makes a choice that will shock us all.

In the beginning of the story the audience can see Mama’s excitement towards Dee’s accomplishments. Mama is shown as a hopeful mother who anticipates to get recognition for everything she does to support her daughter, Dee. Mama says “You’ve no

doubt seen those TV shows where the child who has ‘made it’ is confronted, as a surprise, by her own mother and father, tottering in weakly from backstage” (Walker 1010). The daydreams of Mama really tells the reader her true feelings of being enthusiastic and her desires for her daughter to ultimately make it big and it would all be because it was Mama’s goal to get her daughter the opportunities she possibly didn’t receive. Even though Mama longs for a big “thank you”, Mama is honestly just so proud and has great honor in being Dee’s mom.
While Mama is so proud of Dee, she also starts to notice Maggie more. When Dee comes home, Mama begins to recognize she is almost a completely changed person. Mama has sympathy for Maggie, who can be bashful and when Dee is around, Mama can feel that Maggie thinks she can’t live up to her sister’s name. See, Mama observes how Dee is coming back home and thinks she deserves all the precious articles that are passed down in the family. When Dee goes to take the dasher, thinking her Uncle Buddy made it from scratch, Maggie corrects her in saying “Aunt Dee’s first husband whittled the dash….His name was Henry but they called him Stash” (Walker 1013). Dee has also found the quilts, the same quilts Mama promised Maggie as a wedding gift. Mama had a fragment of frustration, because she had already given Dee a chance to take one and she didn’t want one. Maggie is clearly upset by this and runs off, and Mama well she knows what she is going to have to do. Mama is uncomfortable but confident in what she must do with those quilts.
Over the course of this story, Mama grasps that Maggie knows a remarkable amount of knowledge about their heritage and all the culture that went into these quilts.

She becomes upset because she can feel the disappointment in Maggie’s heart. Dee says “Maggie can’t appreciate these quilts….She’d probably be backward enough to put them to everyday use” (Walker 1014). Here Mama feels a sense of confusion, because as said before Mama gave Dee an opportunity to receive one if not both of the quilts and she said she wasn’t interested in the quilts. The audience can almost feel the sense of confusion by Mama when Dee makes that statement, because Mama wants the quilts to be used. When Mama hears Dee say that she replies with “I reckon she would….I hope she will!” (Walker 1014). Mama’s feeling are completely uprooted and she was firm on giving Maggie those quilts. After all Grandma Dee and Big Dee taught Maggie how to quilt in the first place. Mama knows these quilts belong to Maggie, so she instilled in herself and gave the quilts to Maggie. Mama knew she had done the right thing and she knew they would be taken care of and

loved.
Walker’s short story “Everyday Use,” is a beautiful story on heritage and keeping tradition in the family. While Mama didn’t always give Maggie credit for all her family knowledge, she unquestionably did figure it out in the end. The audience can see Mama grow throughout this story from her only being proud of Dee at first, but then shifting gears when she can see how much Maggie got from the family. Mama is peaceful and ecstatic to know that Maggie will be able to keep their heritage alive and well, and it all starts with two quilts.