Everyday Use by Alice Walker Reflection

After reading the short story, “Everyday Use”, one can get the impression that educational backgrounds can affect the way an individual will grow up. The narrator’s education did not go far because in second grade, because her school closed. Therefore, she grew up working instead of learning to be able to take care of herself and her children. On the other hand, her daughter, Dee, grew up with education and went on to college. Because of their different backgrounds of education, their relationship with each other is not as close and the relationship between the narrator and Maggie. Dee seems to look down on her mother and sister because they did not have as much education as she does. The narrator said “She would read to us with pity; forcing words, lies, other folks’ habits, whole lives upon us two, sitting trapped and ignorant underneath her voice. She washed us in a river of make-believe, burned us with a lot of knowledge we didn’t necessarily need to know” (Walker 1190). The insights that this story offers about education and schooling is that African Americans did not have many opportunities to attend school and move on to higher education. The ones who were not as fortunate to go to school usually ended up working from an early age and taking care of their families. The ones who were able to go to school often looked down on their uneducated family members. Before Dee left, she told Maggie “You ought to try making something of yourself, too, Maggie. It’s really a new day for us. But from the way you and mama still live you’d never know it” (Walker 1194). Dee insinuated that if Maggie does not get an education like she does, she will never become anything more than their mother did.

I agree that in “Everyday Use,” Walker illustrates the different educational experiences African-Americans have had over the course of recent history. Walker wrote her story during a time when African-Americans were just beginning to secure widespread access to higher education at institutions that had traditionally been relegated only to whites. Dee represents one response to a young woman’s experience of college; Maggie represents the response of a young woman who has chosen to live a life not substantially different from that of her mother.
On one hand, the fact that Maggie can appreciate the quilts she was going to inherit and use them for “everyday use” illustrates the fact that she is a living part of that tradition. Dee, on the other hand, merely wants to frame them and objectify them because having an Afrocentric identity is popular at her school. She also wishes to throw away her given name, despite the fact that it is still part of her more recent ancestry, and give herself an African name to which she has no immediate family connection. Her mother’s description of Dee when she was in high school suggests that Dee was ashamed of her ancestry in the past and tried to mimic the behaviors of people she considered sophisticated. But now that Dee’s heritage is more acceptable, she is willing to embrace it (but in a manner that is fashionable, not in a way that is respectful and real). “Dee wanted nice things,” which meant something like an organza dress back in high school and means African traditions at college (Walker 1190).
Still, both characters seem to be fundamentally incomplete Although Dee comes across as ridiculous, Maggie is very timid and does not take advantages of the new opportunities offered by an ever-changing society. Maggie gives the quilts away to Dee without fighting for them, saying she can always make more, and her willingness to give up and to not seek out new ways to educate herself is as problematic as Dee’s insistence that the ways in which she appreciates her heritage is the only correct way to live.
Discussion 3:
As the short story begins, the narrator goes into an imaginary scenario of how she would meet her daughter on a television show like the Johnny Carson show. She is quick to void out that dream, because she wouldn’t think of herself to be witty or pretty enough, and she goes on to say, “Who ever knew a Johnson with a quick tongue? Who can even imagine me looking a strange white man in the eye?” (1189) This can give the reader and insight into the hundreds of years of conditioning and learned behavior that was passed down to the narrator and would cause her to never dare speak out of turn or look a white man in the eye. When the narrator’s daughter, Dee, comes to visit home after finishing school, the reader can get a sense of how different Dee and the rest of her family think. The narrator described Dee as a girl who, “...wanted nice things.” (Walker 1190) and one who, “...had a style of her own: and knew what style was.” (Walker 1190) The narrator goes on to explain that her education didn’t go past the second grade and her other daughter Maggie wasn’t that bright either, but Dee was different than them. When the narrator goes on to call her daughter by her given name, she states that she was no longer going by Dee because she did not want to go by the name of the people who oppressed her, but her mother did not understand the statement. This statement indicates that the daughter would have learned about slavery and slaves being stripped of their identities once coming to America, but the mother could not comprehend the sentiment behind her statement. As the day continued, Dee (Wangero) asked for items from her mother's home that were handmade by people in the family. Dee (Wangero) felt a connection to these objects because her family members, who were closer in relation to their African American ancestry, handmade these objects. The narrator feels no sentimental value towards any of these objects, as can be seen when Dee (Wangero) asks for the quilts that were made by her grandmother. The narrator is hesitant because she had already promised them to Dee’s sister Maggie, not for any other reason. The story ends with Dee (Wangero) saying to Maggie, “You ought to try to make something of yourself, too, Maggie. It’s really a new day for us. But from the way you and Mama still live you’d never know it.” (Walker 1194) This line indicates that Dee (Wangero) says “us” because she is referring to African Americans. She also knows that if her mother and sister continue to “live in the dark” about the past, they will not understand that they too can broaden their minds and make something of themselves.
Mama’s description of how she has to act shy in front of white people is a poignant illustration of the racism with which she has grown up. It also helps the reader better understand Maggie’s shyness and fears of living in a different way than her mother. In contrast, Dee is very brave. She fiercely pursues an education and is convinced she “knew what style was” (Walker 1190). She hated her sister’s passivity and her contemptuous statement about the quilts that Maggie would put them “to everyday use” does not take into consideration the fact that Maggie knows how to quilt and has internalized the lessons of her immediate ancestors that Dee would rather forget (Walker 1193). Dee would rather idealize a long-ago African past that is fashionable than acknowledge the contribution of her mother, sister, and the woman she was named after. Although Dee’s pursuit of an education and her desire to live an authentic Afrocentric identity may be commendable, she is rude to the people who care about her and she intimidates her mother, despite the fact that if it were not for the sacrifices of her mother, she would not be going to college at all.
The symbolism of the quilts highlights the fact that it is important for African-Americans living in America not to forget their entire past. This does not only include Africa but also the sacrifices of people like Mama and the quiet contribution of people like Maggie. Dee’s infatuation with her African heritage may be fleeting but Mama and Maggie will always be living as they are, for better or for worse, making the kinds of quilts that Dee suddenly desires. Dee wants to frame the quilts like exhibits in a museum, but forgets that the type of people who make them in her family and are alive should be acknowledged, too.