Everyday Use

Everyday Use by Alice Walker, is a short story that shows how a mothers preferences

for one of her daughters, Dee, are very strong and these preferences does not allow the mother to

identify between the good and the bad behaviors of her daughter. The mother puts Dees desires

first than any other thing, no is a word the world never learned to say to her (Walker 315).

However, by the end of the story the mother realizes that she needs to take care of her other

daughter too, Maggie, who is very submissive and afraid of her sister. In the story, there is the

spoiled child, Dee, who seems to always have everything, but the epiphany of her mother

changes this situation, as she realizes she can, and should, stand up to Dee.

One of the ways that the mother sees Dee as a goddess is at the beginning of the story, I

will wait for her in the yard that Maggie and I made so clean and wavy yesterday afternoon

(Walker 314). The anxious waiting for Dee and her husband to visit the mother and sister, made

her do all possible things to receive her daughter as she would like to be received, even if they

were not accustomed to do the cleaning, since this story takes place in a pasture. As the story

progresses, there are more examples of how the mother keeps trying to make Dee feel

comfortable even if it means to deal with something that she doesnt like. An example of this

situation is when Dee tells her mother that she changed her name to Wangero because she felt

oppressed by the other name. However, she clarifies that she doesnt want to be called by that

name if the mother doesnt want to, but the mother says Why shouldnt I?... If thats what you

want us to call you, well call you (Walker 318). This quote explains how Dee didnt have to

impose on her mother to do something that she wants because she knows that the mother will do

it anyway, as she always had done in the past.

 Another example of how Dee is spoiled by her mother, is when she wants to have some

traditional tools of her family that were used in the kitchen; however, these tools her mother

continues using, an example from the story is found in this quote, This churn top is what I

need And I want the dasher too (Walker 319). The author shows here how Dees prepotency

and desire to obtain everything doesnt make her even ask for it, she never took a moment to

think if her mother needs these things to prepare her food, considering that Dees family are

humble and poor that cant afford a lot of things, but because of her ego and security that her

mother is never going to tell her No, she doesnt care about her mother feelings and needs to

survival.

By the end of the story is when the mother finally decides to stand up to Dee and give

some of attention to Maggie, Mama Wangero said sweet as a bird. Can I have these old

quilts? (Walker 320). Dee wanted to manipulate her mother again to get something, in this case

the quilts, she thought the mother would say Yes, but the mother asked her to choose other

quilts because those were going to be for Maggie. When Wangero was denied, she gets angry

because it was the first time her mother said No, although she already has them on her hands

(Walker 320). Maggie says, She can have them, Mama (Walker 321). In front of this situation,

the mother has an epiphany and realizes the consequence of her acts, that she should stand up to

Dee (Sadeq and Al-Badawi 158) When I looked at her like that something hit me in the top of

my head and ran down to the soles of my feet. Just like when Im in church (Walker 321). This

scene shows that the mother starts to see Maggie in a different way and that what she has been

doing all the time with Dee was not right. Maggies hidden feelings finally reached her mothers

heart and thoughts to make her have the courage to stand up to Dee I did something that I never

had done before: hugged Maggie to me snatched the quilts out of Miss Wangeros hands and
dumped them into Maggies lap (Walker 321). This revelation of the mother shows Dee that she

is not going to keep doing what she wants. Another explanation is found in here, She decides its

Maggie's turn, her turn for something. She is sick of Dee always getting what she wants (Hart

81). This is another quote that clarifies how the mother finally stops Dees behavior, and these

actions shows to Maggie that her mother cares and loves her too.

Although the mother had the epiphany and put Maggies feelings first rather than Dee, it

could be because she loved the quilts which were done by her grandmother and her sister.

Whereby, the only way to keep them was if she gives them to Maggie, who will stay at home for

a longer time and make them an everyday use. The mother could probably have acted that way

because the quilts are a way to remember her family and traditions; however, according to the

story Dee also took a dasher which was made from an uncle, Didnt Uncle Buddy whittle it out

of a tree you all used to have? Yes, I said (Walker 319). Therefore, this opposite point of view

cant be proved because in this situation the mother allowed Dee to take important things that

were also made by their family, without getting angry or saying anything to her, knowing that it

is also something that keeps her traditions present as much as the quilts will do.

Through this essay was explained by using different examples from the story Everyday

Use by Alice Walker, how the mother of Dee, a spoiled, selfishness and manipulative person;

and Maggie, a pacific and selfless daughter, always had a preference to her first daughter, Dee,

nevertheless, by the end of the story, an epiphany was presented to the mother, which helped her

to realize that she needed to stand up to Dee and value Maggies feeling for the first time in her

entire her life.

Work Cited
Saqued, Ala Eddin, and Mohammed Al-Badawi. Epiphanic Awakenings in Raymond Carvers

Cathedral and Alice Walkers Everyday Use. Advances in Language and Literary Studies, vol.

7, no. 3, 2016, p. 158. doi: 10.7575/aiac.alls.v.7n.3p.157. Accessed 01 Nov. 2017.

Hart, Megan. Everyday Use: Possession. Kentucky English Bulletin;, Vol. 58 Issue 1, 2008,

p81-81, 1p.

ezproxy.monroecc.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eue&

AN=35547621&site=eds-live. Accessed 01 Nov. 2017.

Walker, Alice. Everyday Use. 1973, pp. 314, 315, 318-321.

www.deanza.edu/faculty/leonardamy/Everyday%20Use.pdf.