Education and Identity in Alice Walker's "Everyday Use"

Education and Family Divide

After reading Alice Walker's short story "Everyday Use", one can get the impression that educational background significantly affects the way an individual grows up. The narrator's own education did not extend far — her school closed when she was in second grade — so she grew up working rather than learning, doing what was necessary to care for herself and her children. Her daughter Dee, by contrast, received an education and went on to college. Because of these differing educational backgrounds, the relationship between the narrator and Dee is not nearly as close as the one between the narrator and Maggie. Dee seems to look down on her mother and sister because they did not achieve the same level of education she did. As the narrator explains: "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 this story offers about education and schooling reflect the reality that African Americans historically had very few opportunities to attend school or pursue higher education. Those who were not fortunate enough to go to school typically ended up working from an early age and taking care of their families. Those who were able to pursue education often looked down on their uneducated relatives. Before leaving, Dee tells 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). In saying this, Dee insinuates that without education, Maggie will never become anything more than their mother.

Dee's Afrocentric Identity and Its Contradictions

Walker wrote "Everyday Use" during a period when African Americans were just beginning to secure widespread access to higher education at institutions that had traditionally been open only to white students. 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 her mother's.

The fact that Maggie can appreciate the quilts she was set to inherit and use them for "everyday use" illustrates that she is a living part of that tradition. Dee, on the other hand, wants to frame them and treat them as objects of display, because embracing an Afrocentric identity has become fashionable at her school. She also wishes to discard her given name — despite the fact that it connects her to her more recent ancestry — and replace it with an African name to which she has no immediate family connection. Her mother's description of Dee during high school suggests that Dee was once ashamed of her heritage and tried to mimic the behaviors of people she considered sophisticated. Now that her heritage has become more culturally acceptable, she is willing to embrace it, but in a manner that is fashionable rather than respectful or genuine. As Walker writes, "Dee wanted nice things" — which meant something like an organza dress in high school and now means African traditions in college (Walker 1190).

The story's opening also offers important context. As the narrator imagines meeting her daughter on a television show like the Johnny Carson program, she is quick to dismiss the fantasy, reasoning that she would not be witty or attractive enough. She reflects: "Who ever knew a [woman] with a quick tongue? Who can even imagine me looking a strange white man in the eye?" (Walker 1189). This moment gives the reader insight into generations of conditioning — the learned behavior passed down to the narrator that taught her never to speak out of turn or look a white man in the eye. The narrator's description of how she has always had to act submissively around white people is a poignant illustration of the racism with which she grew up, and it also helps the reader better understand Maggie's shyness and her reluctance to pursue a different kind of life.

Conclusion: Honoring the Full Past

Dee wants to frame the quilts like exhibits in a museum, but forgets that the people who make them — still alive and present — should be acknowledged too. Walker's story ultimately argues that authentic engagement with heritage cannot be reduced to display or fashion. Dee's final words to Maggie — urging her to "make something of yourself" because "it's really a new day for us" — reveal her blind spot: she uses the word "us" to refer to African Americans broadly, yet she fails to see that her own mother and sister, in their quiet, enduring way, are already living that heritage honestly. A meaningful connection to one's past must honor the full arc of that history, from its African roots to the immediate, everyday lives of the people who carry it forward.