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Summary of “Everyday Use”

Introduction

In the story “Everyday Use”, Alice told the story of two characters a mother and her daughters, who have conflicts among their ideas about their ancestry and identities. She also personifies the changing sides of the culture of the characters in Dee, Maggie and the Mother, each with the difference in qualities and philosophies of the life. Mother is a simple woman who value culture and heritage for its significance and usefulness and by doing simple things in a simple way of living. Dee has a materialistic thinking towards the culture and heritage. Mother shows dislike for this materialistic connection of Dee with her heritage. Maggie, on the other hand is a shy and calm girl, more like her mama but she values and remembers meaning of the heritage. Dee has a modern and materialistic way of living and she represents such life where culture and heritage are valued for an artistic appeal only.

Summary

The three characters of the story belong to same family but have a diverse difference among their perspectives in life. Mothers feels proud on what she is, who she is and consider herself happy with what she has been given from her life. Although, she never accomplished anything in life materialistically. On other side Dee has a complete different perspective. She believes that she has a control over herself and her life and she can have a balanced control over anything and has the ability to do everything she wants to do. Her mother also tells of “how Dee wanted nice things” (Walker) and how she is good at getting what she wants. This attitude is shown in story when she forced to take churn top, dasher and the quilts which mother promised to give to Maggie. Comparing Dee and ...