Literary Analysis of Short Story Everyday Use
Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use” was published in 1973 in the collection of stories, “In Love and Trouble.” It has become very popular, and probably the most anthologized of her stories (Winchell 80). “Everyday Use” is a short story told in first person by “Mama,” whose name is Mrs. Johnson, an African American woman living in the deep South with one of her two daughters. Through the use of setting, plot, and symbolism, the story is about the differences between Mrs. Johnson and her shy daughter Maggie, who both still adhere to traditional black culture in the rural South, and her educated, successful daughter Dee, or “Wangero” as she prefers to be called, who scorns her immediate roots in favor of a pretentious “native African” identity.
The story’s setting takes place at “Mama’s” home in the Deep South. The story begins with her and her younger daughter “Maggie” waiting in the yard on a visit from her oldest daughter “Dee.” While waiting for Dee to arrive, Mama daydreams about reuniting with her daughter on a TV show. She also talks about how clean and wavy she swept her yard the day before. Mama compares her yard to an extended living room which implies, sitting in her yard is just as comfortable to her …show more content…
The quilt is very meaningful and sentimental because of the history of it. It was pieced together by Mama’s mother of pieces of dresses she use to wear and, also bits and pieces of her father’s shirts he had worn in the Civil War. It was then quilted by Mama and Maggie. The quilt represents those values of things which do not circulate, do not wander, do not get traded or sold but, rather, stay at home (Showalter 455). In the story Dee state she wants the quilts so that she can hang them up. Mama feels like Dee does not respect her heritage, and she knows that Maggie respects her heritage, and values her heirlooms which is why she decides to give the quilts to
Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use” was published in 1973 in the collection of stories, “In Love and Trouble.” It has become very popular, and probably the most anthologized of her stories (Winchell 80). “Everyday Use” is a short story told in first person by “Mama,” whose name is Mrs. Johnson, an African American woman living in the deep South with one of her two daughters. Through the use of setting, plot, and symbolism, the story is about the differences between Mrs. Johnson and her shy daughter Maggie, who both still adhere to traditional black culture in the rural South, and her educated, successful daughter Dee, or “Wangero” as she prefers to be called, who scorns her immediate roots in favor of a pretentious “native African” identity.
The story’s setting takes place at “Mama’s” home in the Deep South. The story begins with her and her younger daughter “Maggie” waiting in the yard on a visit from her oldest daughter “Dee.” While waiting for Dee to arrive, Mama daydreams about reuniting with her daughter on a TV show. She also talks about how clean and wavy she swept her yard the day before. Mama compares her yard to an extended living room which implies, sitting in her yard is just as comfortable to her …show more content…
The quilt is very meaningful and sentimental because of the history of it. It was pieced together by Mama’s mother of pieces of dresses she use to wear and, also bits and pieces of her father’s shirts he had worn in the Civil War. It was then quilted by Mama and Maggie. The quilt represents those values of things which do not circulate, do not wander, do not get traded or sold but, rather, stay at home (Showalter 455). In the story Dee state she wants the quilts so that she can hang them up. Mama feels like Dee does not respect her heritage, and she knows that Maggie respects her heritage, and values her heirlooms which is why she decides to give the quilts to