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Legacy is an essential trait that all people have in themselves. It is what makes families of all ethnicities unique from each other. But as James T. Patterson points out, during the Civil Rights Movement, African Americans had it worse than people of all other races. During the times of the Civil Rights Movement, society was changing for the better while still dealing with racial issues.1 Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use”, paints a unique theme that Walker also learned to overcome and accept herself. The Story revolves around the Johnson family, led by Mama along with her two daughters Dee and Maggie. For the characters, each has their representation of what heritage is to them. Although Dee has many positive ideas, Dee’s arrogance makes Mama realize that Dee doesn’t truly embrace and appreciate her heritage, Maggie is indeed the daughter who embraces her culture and heritage.
Dee is a gorgeous African American woman who wants more in life. She is knowledgeable due to her obtaining a college degree. Dee desires to find herself through learning what is out there in the world. She has a lifestyle of wanting everything perfect, to the point that she wants everything to match. But the few beautiful things that are going for her, it is not all that Dee shows. Her upbringing puts her in a scenario where she does not appreciate how she was brought up. The fire that happened 10 years ago impacted Dee to where she is ashamed of her upbringing. When she comes back home to visit her Mama and sister Maggie, she pulls out a camera to take a picture of Mama and Maggie, without wanting to be in the photo for herself. The African heritage, she displays towards her Mama is not what she knows. Her addiction to taking in the African culture puts Dee far separated from Mama and Maggie, whom she thinks are not smart and perfect. It is a false image that Dee is taking in along with her male companion Hakim-A-Barber. With her changing her name from Dee to Wangero, she is selfish in denying her birth name. Her immediate family heritage is something that Dee must accept and still can learn. James. Dee is very mean toward her family, using her education to belittle her Mama and Maggie due to them not being very educated. Mama states, “She used to read to us without pity; forcing words, lies, other folks’ habits …. burned us with a lot of knowledge we didn’t necessarily need to know” (495). For that instance, Dee takes being impatient in reading to her family, lying to her advantage, and taking other people’s habits to her liking. Sadia Munir believes that Dee is in denial to the fullest of the way she acts and puts on a front like she does not come from a low-class family. The image of Dee thinking is above Mama and Maggie; she is so lost and confused about the difference between class and status (292). Intimacy proves difficult for Dee. She does not have the close connection that Mama and Maggie have towards each other, but Dee is so possessive in what she wants (293).
When she goes inside to eat, she is so demanding toward certain items she remembers in the house. Dee has a false representation of the household items and asks her Mama about them. She only sees these as past useful objects and wants to abuse them by having them for abstract display as Noe and Michael point out (161). When Dee says, “’ I can use the churn top as a centerpiece’… ‘and I’ll think of something artistic to do with the dasher’” (498). She has taken a white Western approach toward the items instead of taking in the actual use of the things. Dee’s view on heritage is something that was long ago. Hellen Mary Washington points out, that some Black women were not taking into account the struggle of African Americans, to take in a white way of living. By leaving the horrors for the ones that came before them, some are in a loophole of accepting the reality of it all (95).
Mama has always favored Dee over Maggie through their upbringing. For Dee being the one with the good looks, intelligence, and demeanor, Mama has always done so much for Dee to get where she is now. She has dreams of being on a talk show, praising Dee’s success, only to come back to reality and understand that her appearance is something that she embraces to the point that it is not how Dee would accept her being large, big-boned, dark-skinned with withered mannish hands. Mama knows the cons of Dee and the mentality she possesses; she does not want to be an embarrassment to Dee. Mama knows Dee does not care about her upbringing, to where Dee never even brought anybody around her family or any of her friends. Mama wants things to be different, yet she always wants to make sure Dee feels special. But once Dee tells Mama that her birth name was brought up through slavery, Mama explains to Dee that it was used from generation to generation. In some black families, it was a common thing to do. To give someone the name of a previous family member states once that person gets older, they will pass it down. But the turning point of the story is when Dee comes back to get the everyday items that are of use to Mama and Maggie. Mama even offered Dee some quilts before she went off to college, but Dee refused saying they were out of style and old fashioned. It struck a nerve with Mama, knowing that the quilts that she had were of two versions. The first set was made from items of different fabrics by machine, but the handmade quilts are exceptional. In her upbringing, she was taught by Grandmama Dee and Momma Dee.
The bond that she embraced in her childhood was significant to her. Also, the handmade quilts have pieces of clothing worn from generations of past family members. Mama has special memories of who made them by hand. The quilts along with the dasher and butter churn, are some of the items that feel essential to her and Maggie’s life because they use them for their intended purpose. But once Mama stood up towards Dee and decided to hand them over to Maggie, she understood that Dee had much to learn of herself. In Mama’s view, it is better to love all your family no matter how educated and attractive you are. When Dee storms out and leaves in the car with Hakim-A-Barber, Mama for once can finally love Maggie with the attention she deserves — knowing that no matter what happens, Maggie will carry on the family lineage.
Maggie is the total foreshadowing of Dee. Mama states that with Maggie:
“Have you ever seen a lame animal, perhaps a dog run over by some careless person rich enough to own a car . . . She knows she is not bright. Like good looks and money, quickness passes her by” (495).
For this, Maggie is not the brightest in the slightest way. Maggie is not cute in her looks, which covers her very generous and submissive demeanor. Mostly bound at home with Mama, she never experienced outside boundaries besides her home environment. Maggie is also a victim of isolation due to her severe shyness and lack of knowledge. Maggie tries to read to her Mama, even with her learning disability of stumbling with words she does not understand. She moves like a sloth, short shuffle walk, and leans over doorways instead of interacting with the life that surrounds her. Mama hopes that one day, Maggie will prosper and obtain more in life instead of sticking around with her. One day, Maggie will marry John Thomas, a local boy that suitable for her based on how Mama views him — hoping that when that day comes, she can be to herself at home and singing songs. Maggie, the relationship is with Dee infused with hatred and jealousy. Mama recalls that Maggie thinks Dee was served with a golden spoon and had everything her way possible. Maggie figures out why one of the siblings has all the praise as the other.
But when they go inside to eat, and Dee goes to the chest for the quilts, Maggie’s true desires come out with anger and sadness. Maggie drops what she was doing to confront Dee not to take the quilts. When Dee tells Mama that Maggie is too backward to do anything with the quilts, it sparks something in Mama to take them from her and hand them to Maggie. For Maggie her real desire to cherish the quilts that she learned from past relatives. Dee wants the items for the show, some proof of her family’s past she rejected. Maggie sees the everyday things like quilts as history. Jennifer Martin accounts for Maggie being able to instill the skill of quilting through her grandmother and mother. Maggie believes that is what her grandmother would want her to do, pass the tradition down the family bloodline soon (37).
Walker herself is a splitting image of Dee during her childhood. Walker understood that never abandoning your heritage to obtain higher education and status, embracing and presepreserveknowledge and items from previous generations is so very important. For Dee, her view was false, even though she looked at the items as display. For Mamma and Maggie, the items were intended for their purpose. Thus, it portrays a vital lesson. African Americans who embrace their upbringing and the tradition
Works Cited
- Martin, Jennifer. “The Quilt Threads Together Sisterhood, Empowerment, and Nature in Alice Walker’s The Color Purple and ‘Everyday Use.’” Journal of Intercultural Disciplines, vol. 14, Winter 2014, p. 27–44. Academic Search Complete, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip,shib&db=
- Munir, Sadia. “The Defense Mechanisms and the Core Issues of Dee in Alice Walker’s ‘Everyday Use.’” Language in India, vol. 17, no. 5, May 2017, pp. 289–95. Communication & Mass Media Complete, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?
- Noe, Marcia, and Jaynes Michael. “Teaching Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use” Employing Race Class and Gender with an Annotated Bibliography.” Alice Walker, edited by Harold Bloom. New ed., Bloom’s Literary Criticism, 2007.
- [bookmark: _Hlk26983790]Patterson, James T. “The Civil Rights Movement: Major Events and Legacies.” The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. Summer 2006, https://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-now/essays/civil-rights-movement-major-events-and-legacies. Accessed 11 December 2019.
- Walker, Alice. “Everyday Use.” Literature: An Introduction to Reading and Writing, Compact Edition, edited by Edgar V. Roberts and Robert Zweig, 6th ed., Pearson, 2015, pp. 494-99.
- Washington, Helen Mary. “An Essay on Alice Walker.” Everyday Use, edited by Barba Christian, Rutgers University Press, 1994, pp. 85-103
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