Everyday Use By Alice Walker Essay

Everyday Drama One thing that seems to be a part of every family is drama. “Family drama [is] part of the human situation” (Derek Brewer). Part of the reason why that may come about is because just because people all live and grow in the same household, they can always turn out genuinely different from one another. In the story “Everyday Use,” by Alice Walker, this struggle is what occurs. A mother has two daughters who come from the same place but presently live in two completely different worlds. This becomes quite apparent when a daughter who is educated and stylish comes to visit her mother and sister who are “not so bright” farmhands. When these two lifestyles clash, the author, Alice Walker, uses characterization to show such personality …show more content…
After Dee comes home for a visit with her new “culturally enhanced” suitor, her mother and Maggie notice differences in both her appearance and demeanor. Upon Dee’s arrival she tells her family that she had changed her name to “…Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo” (Walker 4). This is sort of confusing because Dee’s name had significant meaning in her family. Her Aunt’s name was Dee and so was her grandmother who made the quilts she wanted so badly. This name apparently was passed down along her family and went back as far as before the Civil War. One could infer that Wangero was trying to become more cultural hence the changing of her name, the Muslim suitor she brought with her, and her passionate desire to preserve the quilts her grandmother made by hand. Hoel states that it is the changing of her name that,”Dee bases her new-found identity [up]on” (Personal Names and Heritage). The difference between Dee and Maggie is that Dee needs material things to preserve her culture. The mother exclaims “Maggie knows how to quilt. She can always make some more” (Walker 6). If Dee had of actually been able to keep the quilts, she and Maggie would have accomplished the same thing, just in different