Everyday Use
Alice Walker
The story begins with the tale of two sisters, one successful and pretty and one reserved and unsightly. A mother, which is more manly than motherly, cares for them in a shack of a house. The pretty daughter, Dee, leaves the home the moment she graduates in order to change her life from the poverty she had grew up in. Maggie, the shy daughter, stayed with her mother and lived a life similar to her, working hard and focusing on basic necessities. As time passed the mom and Maggie lived together, waiting for Dee to come back and visit. When she finally did, she brought a hippie of a "husband" back with her; but she had returned home for seemingly one reason, to take items from the home to use as petty decorations around her new home. This interaction shows how Dee has become successful, using her childhood tools now as table-toppers and wall decorations. Dee's growth demonstrates the growth of society as time moves on; it begins with humble beginnings but matures to not appreciate its once precious past. When Dee requested some quilts that were promised for Maggie, the mother snapped and refused to rob the daughter who never got anything in order to provide for the daughter who was handed everything. True irony strikes when Dee yells at her mother, claiming "'You just don't understand...' 'What don't I understand?' I wanted to know 'Your heritage'" (Walker 181). Their heritage is what Dee had abandoned and decided to now use to spice up her living room.
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