Alice Walker’s short story “Everyday Use” reminds me a lot of my family. No, I am not African-American, and I did not grow up in the rural South, but the characters of Mama, Dee, and Maggie remind me of my mom, me, and my sister. The three of us look alike, share some DNA, and have spent most of our lives in Simi Valley, but other than that, we have nothing in common. Mama, Dee, and Maggie are really the same way. While it would be expected for three closely related women to have much in common, Mama, Dee, and Maggie each have a very different life story, perspective on life, and concept of history.
Although the three women are a nuclear family, their DNA may be all the three women have in common. Their life stories are very diverse. Mama grew up in a world where colored people were treated much differently than Maggie and Dee have experienced. When Mama was growing up, she had few civil liberties as a colored person. She mentions that “after second grade, the school was closed down,” (745) and because of this she is not educated and cannot read. Mama can do rough work, such as “kill and clean a hog as mercilessly as a man,” with her “rough, man-working hands” (744). She is a very spiritual woman; she mentions that she sings church songs, and describes one of her actions in comparison to how she might act in church when the “spirit of God touches [her]” (749). Mama has a deep, rich personality, and although she has not lived an easy life, the rough life she has lived has turned her into a strong woman.
In comparison to Mama, Dee and Maggie have had much more comfortable lives. Dee, however, has made a point of making sure her life was not the country life. After she left the area she told Mama she would always visit, “but would never bring friends” (745). She never really fit in with her family or the culture in her country town. She is the only one of the three women with a college education. She moved away to the city to go to school and has not looked back. Dee has joined the movement of black people to go back to their African roots, which for her, includes adopting a more African name, “Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo.” Dee is a small town girl, who has grown up and become an urban queen.
Maggie, on the contrary, has accepted the country life, but has had a more difficult youth than Dee. It seems that she was never very confident, probably as a result of living in Dee’s shadow, but her lack of confidence worsened after a fire burned her badly. Mama describes Maggie as walking with her “chin on chest, eyes on ground, feet in shuffle, ever since the fire” (744). Although the fire has had a major impact on Maggie’s body and personality, she still lives a fairly content and practical life, sharing the daily chores with Mama. Some day in the near future she will marry John Thomas, a local man who seems to be a practical choice. She can read, although not as well as her sister. Mama says she “stumbles along good-naturedly, but can’t see well” (745). It seems that she is not ugly, but not very attractive either. She is a simple girl, who lives a passive life.
As much as their life histories are different, so are the three women’s perspectives on life. Mama is happy with the life she has been given. Although she has not accomplished much materialistically, she is proud of who she is. She is proud that she can do a man’s work as well as any man. On the night in which the story takes place, Mama and Maggie sit on the porch, “just enjoying, until it was time to go in the house and go to bed” (749). It is easy to imagine that this is how the two spend many evenings, and Mama says that after Maggie marries she will be “free to sit here and just sing church songs to [herself]” (745). Her life is not very exciting, but she is happy.
Dee has always had a different outlook. Ever since her childhood she has been determined to make something of herself and her life. Maggie thinks that Dee has “held life always in the palm of one hand, that ‘no’ is a word the world never learned to say to her,” (743) and she is probably right. While it seems that Mama’s ideal in life is to make the best of what she has, it seems that Dee’s ideal is to make sure what she has is the best. She sees herself as in control of her life, and believes she has the ability to do anything she wants with it. Mama tells of how, “Dee always wanted nice things,” and then explains that she pretty much always got them (744). Dee is the type of person who is “determined to stare down any disaster in her efforts” (745). This attitude shows in the story when she insists on taking the churn top and dasher, and then wants the oldest, most precious quilts, despite the fact that Mama has promised the quilts to Maggie. All that matters to Dee is that she gets what she wants, which basically defines her outlook on life.
Dee probably sees the quilt battle as easy to win, because Maggie, on the contrary, is used to not getting what she wants. She tells Dee that she can have the quilts, “like somebody used to never winning anything or having anything reserved for her” (748). She has accepted life as it is, and does not expect to be considered special in any way. As sad as that is, it is because, “this [is] the way she knew God to work” (749). While Dee got away from the fire unscathed, Maggie escaped with her life, but with burns down her arms and legs. Dee was always smart, while Mama says that, “like good looks and money, quickness passed [Maggie] by” (745). Life has not been as kind to Maggie as it has to Dee, and Maggie is well aware of this sad fact.
Perhaps the biggest difference between the three women is their idea of history. Mama sees history in the practical things, and as a string of memories. The quilts are a perfect example of this, as Mama hopes that Maggie will put the quilts to everyday use. Mama finds history in her memories of people and places. When Dee admires the benches, Mama reminisces that the benches were made by Dee’s daddy, “when [they] couldn’t afford to buy chairs” (747). To Mama, the fondness of history in this memory is her affection for her husband. When Dee admires the dasher from the churn, Mama notes that it was made “from a tree that grew in the yard where Big Dee and Stash had lived” (747). As she sees the dasher, it is as if she is picturing the house, and that tree in the backyard. For Mama, these memories are history.
To Dee, history is found in appearances. Dee admires the benches because of the texture, not because her daddy made them. The quilts are another example of her concept of history. She wants the quilts to hang them on a wall and appreciates the concept of hand-stitching, but she certainly cannot stitch a quilt herself. She does not make the personal connection to history that Mama does, which has little to do with Dee’s age, because Maggie’s concept of history is much more personal.
Maggie cherishes memories and she cherishes tradition. She has embraced oral tradition. When they are discussing the churn, Maggie explains, “Aunt Dee’s first husband whittled the dash,” and that “his name was Henry, but they called him Stash” (747). It is unlikely that she actually remembers these details from experience; it is more likely that she has heard them from Mama and stored them in her memory as part of her concept of history. Although she cannot remember seeing her grandmother’s clothes that are included in the quilts, as Mama can, Maggie learned how to quilt from her grandmother, and that important connection is what makes the quilts a piece of history for her. The quilts mean a lot to her because of the people they represent, and not merely because of the concept that they were stitched by hand.
What it really all comes down to is interpretation. Mama, Dee, and Maggie interpret life and history differently. At the end of the story, Dee makes a comment to Maggie and Mama that they don’t understand their heritage (749). It is not that they do not understand; they simply see “heritage” as something different, just as they see life. Mama and Maggie see life differently from Dee, and differently from each other. Possibly it is Dee who doesn’t understand that there is more than one way to look at any situation.
Works Cited
Walker, Alice. “Everyday Use.” Robert DiYanni, ed. Literature: Reading Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. 6th ed. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2007. 743-749.
