“Everyday Use” by Alice Walker

“Everyday Use” by Alice Walker
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Everyday Use” by Alice Walker
Summary
The story “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker is told from the first-person point of view. Mama is the narrator, and she describes herself as a “large, big-boned woman with rough, man-working hands.” She believes in herself and in her capabilities as well, noting that she “can kill and clean a hog as mercilessly as a man.” The story starts with Mama and her younger daughter Maggie waiting for Dee, who is her oldest daughter. Mama was fantasizing about her meeting with her daughter and even entertained the thought of doing it on television. However, she dismisses this thought because she is not a person who fancies such.
The lives of Dee and Maggie have been different from the time they were young. This is made evident by Mama’s comparison of the two. Dee hated her home. She hated the fact they were poor and desired a life of affluence and opulence. Thanks to Mama and the church, Dee had an education that further alienated her from her family. Maggie, on the other hand, was not as educated. She was homely and respectful. She had a scar on her face, which she got when their house burnt down. Mama recounts these thoughts and how she carried Maggie out of the fire.
Finally, Dee arrives with her boyfriend, Hakim-a-Barber, and Mama finds a lot of things she does not like about the couple. First, Mama is skeptical of Dee’s choice of dress but eventually likes it. She is also taken aback by the fact that Dee introduces herself as Wangero telling her that she changed her name. Dee explains that she needed an African name, one that was not from her oppressors. However, Mama explains to her that she was named after her aunt Dicie who was named after Grandma Dee.
As the family settles in to eat, Hakim-a-Barber says that he does not eat collard greens and pork, which apparently Dee likes a lot. Later, Dee appears interested in ‘re-connecting’ with her African-ness and thus decides to ask Mama for a few things from the house. She believes that these things show how she appreciates her heritage and past. She asked for the family’s butter churn, which she was given, and then insists on taking her grandmother’s quilts as well. Her plan was to hang them on her walls. However, Mama refuses because she planned to give them to Maggie. D...