Don T Play Favorites In Everyday Use, By Alice Walker

Improved Essays
Don’t Play Favorites
(A Description on life lessons you can learn from Everyday Use, by Alice Walker)

Do you know anybody that plays favorites? In this story is about a sibling rivalry between two daughters, Dee and Maggie. There is also a tense relation between the mom and the daughters. The mom tends to play favorites with one of the daughters, Dee, and she tends to get everything she wants, when she wants. “Let me say right here, right now--you're right, we are.” (Buck). Some people even admit that they pick favorites and aren’t afraid to show it. Because of this, there is tension with the family, and not everyone always gets along. You can learn a lot from reading this story and it might make you rethink some things you’re doing in life.
…show more content…
Dee does not actually want any of the possessions, but she acts like she does because it looks good. She just wants people to see her as someone who loves her family and is perfect in every way. In Everyday Use, by Alice Walker, Dee says, “No, I don’t want those. They are stitched around the borders by machine.” (1318). She didn’t want it, but later she said she would have it because it makes her look better. On the other hand, Maggie actually wants the different items because they mean something to her, and because it is a family heritage. “Family means the world to me.” (Branson). Maggie thinks of her family so high and loves them with all her …show more content…
“to be in charge, to make the big decisions…” (Schutz). She wants to give some quilts to either Maggie or Dee, normally Dee gets everything because the mom has always favorited her. This time tho, the mom doesn’t play favorites and she truly looks at who deserves it the most. These quilts show power and love in the family, so they mean a lot to the mom. While trying to decide, the mom finally realizes that Dee always gets what she wants and she's had enough. So the mom ends up giving Maggie the quilts, knowing that she will use them and treasure them so much more than Dee ever would of. In Everyday Use, by Alice Walker, Dee says, “Maggie can’t appreciate these quilts! She’d probably be backward enough to put them to everyday use.” (1319). Dee wasn’t even going to use the quilts, she would’ve just took them and kept them in a closet or something. She didn’t actually care about them, but the mother made a good and the right choice. This is a great message to live by, from both the mom and the daughters. The mom finally realized that she has been making the wrong decision for the past years. And the daughter should always love your family and be proud to be a part of it. In this story, Everyday Use, by Alice Walker, there are three important messages that you could benefit from. They all deal with loving your family and never be ashamed to be a part of it. Your family has your back through

Related Documents

  • Decent Essays

    The main conflict of the story "Everyday Use" is that Dee wants the quilt to flaunt it with her friends, still her mother wants to give the quilt to Maggie her sister, simply, because she believes Maggie will make use of it every day, not just flaunting their legacy every day. The mother at last has had enough of Dee’s conceit/vanity and being self-centered. She informs Dee that she can’t have the quits on account of, they belong to Maggie. Sadden about the news, Dee goes on to say that Maggie will overuse the quilts by using them every day, and ruin them. Her sister in an effort rationalize about the situation offers Dee other quilts that her mother has made, but Dee pays her no attention.…

    • 127 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    After missing her life at home and feeling lost her in her worldly endeavors, Dee comes home and demands to take many items out from the house thinking that they will remind her of who she is. Instead of understanding that she must choose to allow her family heritage to become part of her, she thinks she needs to take items from home with her to remind her of her family and who she is. When Dee reacts in anger after not receiving the quilts, Maggie says that that she herself “can ‘member Grandma Dee without the quilts” and offers them to her sister (Walker 615). Through this, Maggie shares with her sister that her heritage is not based on the items themselves, but it is part of who she is if only she embraces it. In the end, the proud sister feels lost in her life because she tries to find her identity outside of her family while her younger sister remains firmly grounded in her…

    • 786 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Mama said to Dee, "The truth is," I said, "I promised to give them quilts to Maggie, for when she marries John Thomas. " According to Mama, she did not think Dee would want these quilts because Dee never showed any interest in wanting to embrace and be involved in their heritage. Mama did not want theses quilts to be treated like artifacts and displayed like they would in a museum. It is very obvious Mama loves both her children and wants what is best for them, but has struggled with how Dee does not embrace her culture like they…

    • 972 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Mama shows partiality toward Dee over Maggie, which creates problems in the family. It gives Dee a sense of autonomy, and the confidence to take chances in the world to have the things she wants out of life. However, it has the opposite effect on Maggie. It forces her to be soft spoken and fated to accept a lie she is only capable of having the second best of everything out of life. Mama, giving Dee all her attention when she was a child has caused…

    • 769 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    To Mama, the patches on the quilts symbolize the generations of her family’s history. Additionally, the garments represent a new beginning for Maggie, who sees the quilts as something that symbolizes her past, and a…

    • 1054 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Although they were raised under the same roof, their personal experiences brought about changes and differences between the two girls. Some of the differences were brought about by a misfortunate house fire, education, and experiences outside of their humble beginnings. The account of Dee’s…

    • 731 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    The character Dee feels that the quilts are not for everyday use. “You will just not understand the point of these quilts, these quilts!” (Walker 64) She feels that the quilts were made for memories. Maggie on the other hand feels that the quilts are for everyday use, and that they are made to be laid with, “She’d probably be backward enough to put them to everyday use.”…

    • 211 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Instead she comes off as thinking she is of a higher status than her family, most likely because of her education and the fact that she is “lighter than Maggie, with nicer hair, and a fuller figure” (Walker 330). Colorism is a huge matter in the African American community, and has been for years. A lot of the time people prefer Black people with light skin with bouncy curls that look similar to the loops on roller coasters over Black people with dark skin and curls that do not look as “professional.” Dee’s attitude towards her family shows…

    • 1356 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    After several attempts to convince her mother she wanted the quits her mother states " What would you do with them?" She implies "Hang them," and her mother knew Maggie would be getting the quilts. Hanging the quilts was not the intention of the family heritage, continuing the family tradition and know what it is worth is what their mother wanted. After the altercation with Wangero (Dee) their mother decided the quilts would go to Maggie because she knew deep down how much she would value the quilts.…

    • 520 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    For instance, Dee would only consider the quilts of value and show them off if they fit her requirements of attractiveness while Maggie would treasure the memories of her ancestors culture seemed between the quilt regardless of the way they looked. The timid and homely Maggie also finds comfort and encouragement in the quilts which leads one to believe that this, along with every other striking difference, their mother chose Maggie as the rightful receiver of the…

    • 520 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    All of them have different personalities and throughout the story Alice Walker shows how they react with each other and how family doesn’t always get along harmoniously. The narrator of the story is the mom of the two sisters. At the beginning of the story the mother dots over Dee, even imagining herself with Dee on a tv show, but as the story progresses and she sees how full of herself Dee is, and how willing Maggie is to put up with it so in the end she says no to Dee who wants quilts which are supposed to be Maggie’s marriage gift. The mom is described as “a large, big boned woman with rough, man working hands.” She even goes on to say, “I can kill and clean a hog as mercilessly as a man”.…

    • 889 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In other words, Maggie’s life is simplified, and family means everything to her. Besides, it was Grandma Dee and Big Dee who taught her how to quilt herself. So, all of these factors above accumulate Maggie’s strong feeling for the quilt. In addition, Maggie said that “I can ’member Grandma Dee without the quilts” (460). Firstly, indeed, the grandmother has been already in Maggie’s heart.…

    • 1266 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    This is shown when Mama recalls that she asked Dee if she would like a quilt when going away to college, and Dee had said no because the quilts were "outdated," yet now suddenly they mean so much to her. The story ends with Dee thinking she knows everything about her true heritage and that Mama and Maggie are very wrong. The two accept how Dee feels and let her leave because they realize the irony in the situation and know that they are the ones who truly know what heritage…

    • 819 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The importance of family heritage and tradition is demonstrated throughout Alice Walker’s work, “Everyday Use.” A family’s heritage reflects their relative’s beliefs or nationality and usually includes an important item that is being passed down throughout many generations. There are many symbols that influence Walker’s writing and reveal the theme of the story. Although Mama, the narrator, and one of her daughters, Maggie, understand the value of family heritage, the older daughter, Dee, has a different view on this concept. Even though the two sisters, Dee and Maggie, were raised under the same roof, there are a numerous amount of characteristics that differ between the two siblings.…

    • 830 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    ‘She’ll probably be backward enough to put them to everyday use’” (848). When asked what she would do with them Dee responded, “‘Hang them’ … As if that was the only thing you could do with quilts” (848). Instead of taking a different quilt, Dee is greedy and insistent that she take this specific one. However, Dee end up having to return the quilt to Maggie, but keeps the churn and…

    • 1380 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays