Everyday Use

The short story ‘Everyday Use’ by Alice Walker is a short piece about the Johnson family, an African-American family of three. The story is told through a first person narrative, the mother ‘Mama’ in the story is the narrator. She has two daughters, Maggie and Dee. The sisters are not very close and quite opposites in who they are and grow up to be. Maggie is shy and very dependent on Mama; she holds on to her mother for security. Dee, however, is independent, went to college and is very knowledgeable and wants the most out of life. Throughout the story, Dee expresses how she has gone through all of her change in life to separate herself from the past and her family. The family had experienced their home burned down years ago. Dee was sent away to school in Augusta and had to leave Mama and Maggie by themselves. Maggie remained dependent on Mama because she was injured from the house fire.

Dee is visiting her home after many years and she shows up very nicely dressed and is very direct in her ways of communicating. She stops her mother right away as we find out Dee has changed her name, “Not ‘Dee,’ Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo!” What happened to 'Dee’?” (...) She’s dead,” Wangero said. “I couldn't bear it any longer, being named after the people who oppress me.” as what she believes is a new identity; a strong African-American woman that has decided to go through certain changes to be different, be better. But with a new identity - she totally rejects her own roots because her name was not in fact from any oppressors, it was passed down through family ties. As any mother, Mama wants to rekindle her relationship with Dee. She fantasizes or dreams a lot about how she would attempt to rebuild that relationship. However, she also resents Dee for having an education - perhaps mainly because she does not understand it. But towards the end of this visit, Mama realizes that her relationship with Dee has no hope and favors Maggie by giving her the exquisite quilts that have been passed through generations in the family and symbolizes that true heritage value. 

Staying true to yourself is a strong message throughout this story. Dee does make many changes but she also denies her heritage which is a big part of any human being. She treats valuable family items very superficially instead of personally. And she hides behind her expensive attire and long-life wandering of finding a persona that she still doesn't seem to feel comfortable with. All while on the other side, Mama and Maggie are at ease with their lives even though they remain poor and uneducated, “And then the two of us just sat there enjoying, until it was time to go in the house and go to bed,” while Dee might be the quite opposite: rich and educated and have gone through all those changes but will never truly be at peace.