Symbolism In 'Everyday Use' By Alice Walker

Doing this allows her audience to picture the beautiful quilt that is being referenced and described throughout the entire poem. Waniek also describes the family with specific colors related to the quilt, “Yellow sisters” “Grandfathers white family” these colors are also found on the tri-colored quilt connecting the two revealing that this quilt is strongly bonded within the family and represents the family. In addition the descriptions all represent positive family affairs and the good moments the family shares.

Jaleah-Pink Without culture we as a community will not have a sense of touch with our identity. Culture brings us life and ways how we see the world in our view. Culture is based on everything you were taught and lived through when you was growing up examples are like playing sports, being respectful to others, being taught from what is right and what is wrong. Culture impacts our lives in many ways and in different circumstances. I strongly agree that culture will be a part of everyone 's lives for generations.

Marianne put pieces of the previous items into a quilt. The quilt held significance for holding items representing all the different family members and ancestors in the family. Sadie tells Marianne then “you wrap yourself in it and remember how the old people love you.” Then Sadie tells Marianne that Marianne should take that quilt with here everywhere to feel the love of her ancestors because “that’s all you got in this world.”

But to Mama these quilts hold a significance importance and have more practical use to it than giving it to Dee. On the other hand, Maggie and Mama shares the same value and hold the same culture that been passing downed to them by their family. We can see that Mama is closed with Maggie more than Dee, as Dee was away, and Maggie did not changed her name and take on another new culture. Mama and Maggie are now the gatekeeper of the culture that been passed down to her, and she rejected and mad at Dee for her rejection of this

We do not know much about Maggie and Dee (Wangero) other than their sisters and totally different from each other. In “Everyday Use” written by Alice Walker, she mentions the families traditions and how their importance to the family. There were multiple of the valuables that were passed down in the family line. In the story, we learn that Dee’s name, the butter churn, and the quilt were sentimental to the family.

The author, Alice Walker tells the story of an African-American family in the deep rural south in the 1960’s. The main characters are Mama Johnson and her two daughters, Dee and Maggie. Dee moves away to further her education, while Maggie stays at home with Mama Johnson. Mama compares both daughters, speaking of Dee as lighter than Maggie, with nicer hair and a fuller figure always wanting nicer things. Due to Maggie’s injuries that she suffered in a fire, comparing her to a lame animal.

It is assumed that Maggie thought Momma would say yes to Wangero having the quilts that where going to be Maggie’s after she married. Then there is back and forth with Momma and Dee about how the quilts are priceless. Wangero tells Momma she will hang the quilts up on the wall, and that Maggie will not put them to good use and will put them to everyday use. It shows how Dee is more interested in displaying her heritage instead of living and using what her roots

Characterization in “Everyday use” In “Everyday Use” Alice Walker creates the characters of Mom, Maggie, and Dee in order to explore the appreciation and values of African American culture and what it stands for. The story grows around one daughter Dee coming back home to visit her family. As one is introduced to the characters in “Everyday Use”, it becomes noticeable that the two sisters, Maggie and Dee, are very different. Maggie is portrayed as a homely and ignorant girl, while Dee is portrayed as a beautiful and educated woman.

On the other hand, when Dee brings out the quilts then Walker gets into the given detail in order to represent that what these quilts actually represent in the African culture and heritage. This is evident from the statements when Walker mentions “In both of [the quilts] were scraps of dresses Grandma Dee had worn fifty and more years ago. Bits and pieces of Grandpa Jarrell 's Paisley shirts. And one teeny faded blue piece, about the size of a penny matchbox, that was from Great Grandpa Ezra 's uniform that he wore in the Civil War” (p. 113) The quilt has been used in order to represent the family past which even dates back to the time of Civil War.

Dee is asking for the quilts to pay “homage” to her heritage. But she is also stripping this heritage from her sister by taking the quilts. Maggie is the sister who never derived from her home and true culture where the quilt was fabricated. Instead of

She deliberately avoids her and her new sense of self-righteousness. Maggie's lack of exposure to society makes her weak in her sister's eyes and vulnerable to her sister's pretentious attitude toward what is owed to Maggie. Dee disturbs the peace by proclaiming, "Maggie can't appreciate these quilts!” It is clear that Dee believes that she deserves to receive whatever she wants, yet Maggie never fights for what she is already entitled

In “Everyday Use”, Alice Walker guides her audience through a story about her family and the African American heritage, simple her heritage. “Everyday Use” focuses on the three main characters Dee, Maggie, and their mother the Narrator. This story is about a mother who focus on her older daughter Dee more than the younger one Maggie, even though she is the one that stayed and took care of her. Walker describes the mother as a large, big-boned woman with rough, man-working hands as. She than compare Dee and Maggie, who is lighter than Maggie, with nicer hair and fuller figure.

In the short story, “Everyday Use”, by Alice Walker, one can say that the quilts mentioned in the story symbolize heritage because the quilts were made by different generations of the family. Because of this, the reader can see that Dee views her heritage as something to be put up for display so people can admire her past, where as Maggie, views her heritage as something that is learned and teach to others. For example, when Mama tells Dee that she can’t have them, Dee says, “Well … What will you do with them? … ‘Hang them’ she said, like somebody used to never winning anything …”. As a general rule,

Here, the quilt is merely just not a quilt but a heritage. It was hand made by the grandmother and aunts of the family. It had a very high cultural as well as emotional values. It linked to the generations and the earlier generations. It represented the past as it was not only hand made but it also contained scraps of dresses that was worn by the grandmother and even great grandmother and a piece of uniform worn by great grandfather who served in the army.

Having done so, she goes on to highlight the ‘womanist’ culture. Afro-American tradition, for Mama, is symbolized by churn. It is a tradition of bonding, of mutual nurturance. Similarly, the symbol of quilt for Mama is not just a utilitarian item but a living tradition. Alice Walker, in fact, uses the imagery of the quilt to suggest what womanism is all about.