Different Lifestyles In Everyday Use By Alice Walker

In the short story Everyday Use, by Alice Walker, the author portrays two very different lifestyles. Through the eyes of two daughters, Maggie and Dee, who have chosen to live their lives in very different manners, the readers can choose which character to identify most with by deciding which characters values suits them best. Dee, who goes out to make a name for herself while leaving her past behind, in comparison to Maggie, who stays back with her Mama and makes the most of the surroundings that she has been placed in. Both siblings left wanting the quilts made by their late family members and their Mama, while the only deciding factor to get them is Mama. “She can have them, Mama,” she said, like somebody used to never winning anything, …show more content…
Dee, who has a new found appreciation of her culture and heritage, truly believes the best choice is her, because she will hang it up and keep it in good condition. The quilts are now to, her, these priceless artifacts, that she is worried Maggie will ruin by overusing them, and that they will eventually become rags if the quilt is given to Maggie. As, Mama said, “As if that was the only thing you could do with quilts” (231). Maggie, using the quilts is not wrong, but practical to use it for warmth and what it was made for, as well as if they were to get ruined she knows how quilt, so she could fix them, or make new ones to pass on to the other generations. Maggie is selfless as she offers to give them to her sister as she said, “She can have them, Mama” (231), even if she is trying to only gain favor from her sister, she would rather build upon her relationship with Dee then to keep the quilts she worked on with her Grandma and Aunt. However, thankfully, Mama did not let Maggie give away the quilt and gave it back to her, because Maggie definitely deserves the quilt, because of her consist kindness. Especially when there was a couple extra quilts that Dee could take, but does not want to and selfishly only wants the one she believes is the best, which really shows that if she is not willing to take the other, is she really into the quilts for the heritage of it, or is it …show more content…
Maggie finally gets what she deserves and gets to keep something that really means something to her, which she was able to work on with her family and bond over. “Maggie smiled; maybe at the sunglasses. But a real smile, not scared” (231) She is able to rejoice in the fact that Dee was not going to be able to steal the quilt away from her and that Dee also did not get her own way for once. Because she was a kind hearted person, who had the best intentions for the quilt, she was able to keep the quilt in the