Family Threads and Everyday Use

By contrasting family members in “Everyday Use”, Alice Walker illustrates the importance of understanding our present life in relation to the traditions of our own people and culture. While the story clearly endorses Mama’s functional and unsophisticated perspective on heritage over Dee’s misplaced reverence for material goods, it does not condemn Dee’s struggle to move beyond the limits of her impoverished youth. The conflict between Mama and Maggie, the younger sister, and …

…story behind the artifacts and live them. They put their ancestor’s memories and traditions to everyday use. The story clarifies Dee’s confusion about her heritage from both her immediate family and the larger black tradition. Maggie may ruin the quilts by using them in the way they were intended, but she can continue the tradition by creating her own quilts and teaching her daughters the skill. Bibliography Works Cited 1. “Everyday Use”, Alice Walker,