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Everyday Use
Alice Walker's early story, "Everyday Use," has remained a cornerstone of her work. Her use of quilting as a metaphor for the creative legacy that African Americans inherited from their maternal ancestors changed the way we define art, women's culture, and African American lives. By putting African American women's voices at the center of the narrative for the first time, "Everyday Use" anticipated the focus of an entire generation of black women writers.
This casebook includes an introduction by the editor, a chronology of Walker's life, an authoritative text of "Everyday Use" and of "In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens," an interview with Walker, six critical essays, and a bibliography. The contributors are Charlotte Pierce-Baker, Houston A. Baker, Jr., Thadious M. Davis, Margot Anne Kelley, John O'Brien, Elaine Showalter, and Mary Helen Washington.
This casebook includes an introduction by the editor, a chronology of Walker's life, an authoritative text of "Everyday Use" and of "In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens," an interview with Walker, six critical essays, and a bibliography. The contributors are Charlotte Pierce-Baker, Houston A. Baker, Jr., Thadious M. Davis, Margot Anne Kelley, John O'Brien, Elaine Showalter, and Mary Helen Washington.
240 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1973
64 people are currently reading
2901 people want to read
About the author
Alice Walker
247 books7,361 followersNoted American writer Alice Walker won a Pulitzer Prize for her stance against racism and sexism in such novels as
The Color Purple
(1982).
People awarded this preeminent author of stories, essays, and poetry of the United States. In 1983, this first African woman for fiction also received the national book award. Her other books include The Third Life of Grange Copeland , Meridian , The Temple of My Familiar , and Possessing the Secret of Joy . In public life, Walker worked to address problems of injustice, inequality, and poverty as an activist, teacher, and public intellectual.
People awarded this preeminent author of stories, essays, and poetry of the United States. In 1983, this first African woman for fiction also received the national book award. Her other books include The Third Life of Grange Copeland , Meridian , The Temple of My Familiar , and Possessing the Secret of Joy . In public life, Walker worked to address problems of injustice, inequality, and poverty as an activist, teacher, and public intellectual.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 365 reviews
July 18, 2023
Read with The Short Story Club
Alice Walker might be most known for her novel Colour Purple but she definitely also knows how to write a story. At first sight, Everyday Use is the story about two girls. The prettiest and smartest is sent to school while the other stays at home with her mother. When the daughter visits her home, she comes with changed ideas about race and heritage. There is a discussion about some old quilts. The older daughter want to hang them to her walls in order to preserve them while the other, soon to be married, will probably put them to "everyday use". This conflict is an opportunity to make us think about heritage and its preservation. What should we do with some inherited objects?
Alice Walker might be most known for her novel Colour Purple but she definitely also knows how to write a story. At first sight, Everyday Use is the story about two girls. The prettiest and smartest is sent to school while the other stays at home with her mother. When the daughter visits her home, she comes with changed ideas about race and heritage. There is a discussion about some old quilts. The older daughter want to hang them to her walls in order to preserve them while the other, soon to be married, will probably put them to "everyday use". This conflict is an opportunity to make us think about heritage and its preservation. What should we do with some inherited objects?
July 12, 2023
(Grandmother's Quilt, Anacostia Community Museum)
A multi-layered story about involuntary sibling rivalry which reminded me of the times this was slowly growing into an issue colouring my own life, finding a certain comfort in the film song Miss Celie's Blues (Sister) in the film based on Alice Walker's The Color Purple - giving my own reading to it which was not connected to the film (not watched) or book (not read yet), still cherishing the illusion that a less conventional way of life was the right choice after all:
Oh sister, have I got news for you
I´m somethin'
I hope you think
that you´re somethin' too
About thirty seven years later, it strikes me as quite ironic we used to quarrel not about a quilt or another keepsake from our grandmother, but a book. A book from our father about Karl Marx. How symbolic.
While I was unware of the ongoing fight for dominance and parental appreciation - probably I was reading and not paying attention - my sister won - and is still winning. In the end it will make no difference. I am still alive.
June 30, 2023
Know your place?
I know someone who has striven, since early teens, to mix with the upper classes and cultivate an aura that they belong among them. They tried to avoid taking friends to the family home - until they bought old portraits and trinkets to hint at the era when the family had money and status. Subsequent career choices and success cemented their sense of righteous belonging.
Reinventing oneself can lead to rootlessness, loneliness, and living in fear of being exposed. This is exquisitely portrayed in Nella Larsen’s classic, Passing, which I reviewed HERE, and in multi-faceted ways, in Brit Bennett’s The Vanishing Half, which I reviewed HERE.
There are aspects of that in this short story. “Uppity” is a term loaded with pejorative racial connotations in the US, but those who use it as a slur would readily apply it to Dee. Nevertheless, I’m not sure Dee’s trajectory will be as successful as the person I know, despite her being light-skinned.
Image: A house of roots. “'Uprooted' Colombian artist Doris Salcedo explores the idea of “putting down roots”—and being displaced—in a large-scale installation. (Photo: Juan Castro)” (Source)
Story
This is a short story from 1973 by Alice Walker, best known for The Color Purple. It's told by a barely-educated and somewhat masculine (her description) single mother of two daughters. Their previous home burned down a few years ago, but not by a racist mob: the strong suggestion of the cause takes the story in a complex and profound direction. Afterwards, the mother and church raised money to send the elder, pretty, clever girl away to school. She’s become confident and entitled.
“Who can even imagine me looking a strange white man in the eye? It seems to me I have talked to them always with one foot raised in flight… Dee, though. She would always look anyone in the eye.”
But she has style, her mother acknowledges. She also has a new name.
“I couldn’t bear it any longer being named after the people who oppress me.”
(Her mother points out she’s named after her aunt who was named after her grandmother.)
Maggie, the younger girl, is scarred by the fire and supposedly not very bright. She quietly accepts secondary, outsider status. She walks like a dog that’s been hit by a car that will “sidle up to someone who is ignorant enough to be kind to him”. Likened to a dog by her own mother, and even the pronoun is wrong.
The story focuses on Dee’s visit home as a young adult in college, interspersed with the mother’s reminiscences of what led up to this point. This line will make most GoodReaders wince:
“She used to read to us without pity; forcing words, lies, other folks’ habits, whole lives upon us two, sitting trapped and ignorant underneath her voice. She washed us in a river of make-believe, burned us with a lot of knowledge we didn’t necessarily need.”
Having earlier rejected her humble home, Dee now sees it as a kitsch cultural reserve to pillage in the name of preservation and display. Such things are not for everyday use. Nowadays, she’d be an Instagrammer.
It’s bitter satire that is more universal than it first seems. The mother sees all her daughters' faults, all the irony, and makes sharp asides, but she loves them both regardless.
Image: Charlotte Thomas and her quilt (Source, with lots of history about quilting in Louisiana.)
Use or preserve?
Should you use functional heirlooms, respecting their original purpose, or preserve them for future generations? Sometimes you can do both, but if it’s delicate, culturally-significant, and imbued with memories, like a family-made quilt, the stakes are higher. I wrestled with this question: I inherited an item that might be more sensible to sell or lock away, but my grandmother used it and wanted me to as well. In my mind, it’s risen in emotional value and fallen in financial value, which feels right.
Short story club
I reread this as one of the stories in The Art of the Short Story, by Dana Gioia, from which I'm aiming to read one story a week with The Short Story Club, starting 2 May 2022.
You can read this story here.
You can join the group here.
I know someone who has striven, since early teens, to mix with the upper classes and cultivate an aura that they belong among them. They tried to avoid taking friends to the family home - until they bought old portraits and trinkets to hint at the era when the family had money and status. Subsequent career choices and success cemented their sense of righteous belonging.
Reinventing oneself can lead to rootlessness, loneliness, and living in fear of being exposed. This is exquisitely portrayed in Nella Larsen’s classic, Passing, which I reviewed HERE, and in multi-faceted ways, in Brit Bennett’s The Vanishing Half, which I reviewed HERE.
There are aspects of that in this short story. “Uppity” is a term loaded with pejorative racial connotations in the US, but those who use it as a slur would readily apply it to Dee. Nevertheless, I’m not sure Dee’s trajectory will be as successful as the person I know, despite her being light-skinned.
Image: A house of roots. “'Uprooted' Colombian artist Doris Salcedo explores the idea of “putting down roots”—and being displaced—in a large-scale installation. (Photo: Juan Castro)” (Source)
Story
This is a short story from 1973 by Alice Walker, best known for The Color Purple. It's told by a barely-educated and somewhat masculine (her description) single mother of two daughters. Their previous home burned down a few years ago, but not by a racist mob: the strong suggestion of the cause takes the story in a complex and profound direction. Afterwards, the mother and church raised money to send the elder, pretty, clever girl away to school. She’s become confident and entitled.
“Who can even imagine me looking a strange white man in the eye? It seems to me I have talked to them always with one foot raised in flight… Dee, though. She would always look anyone in the eye.”
But she has style, her mother acknowledges. She also has a new name.
“I couldn’t bear it any longer being named after the people who oppress me.”
(Her mother points out she’s named after her aunt who was named after her grandmother.)
Maggie, the younger girl, is scarred by the fire and supposedly not very bright. She quietly accepts secondary, outsider status. She walks like a dog that’s been hit by a car that will “sidle up to someone who is ignorant enough to be kind to him”. Likened to a dog by her own mother, and even the pronoun is wrong.
The story focuses on Dee’s visit home as a young adult in college, interspersed with the mother’s reminiscences of what led up to this point. This line will make most GoodReaders wince:
“She used to read to us without pity; forcing words, lies, other folks’ habits, whole lives upon us two, sitting trapped and ignorant underneath her voice. She washed us in a river of make-believe, burned us with a lot of knowledge we didn’t necessarily need.”
Having earlier rejected her humble home, Dee now sees it as a kitsch cultural reserve to pillage in the name of preservation and display. Such things are not for everyday use. Nowadays, she’d be an Instagrammer.
It’s bitter satire that is more universal than it first seems. The mother sees all her daughters' faults, all the irony, and makes sharp asides, but she loves them both regardless.
Image: Charlotte Thomas and her quilt (Source, with lots of history about quilting in Louisiana.)
Use or preserve?
Should you use functional heirlooms, respecting their original purpose, or preserve them for future generations? Sometimes you can do both, but if it’s delicate, culturally-significant, and imbued with memories, like a family-made quilt, the stakes are higher. I wrestled with this question: I inherited an item that might be more sensible to sell or lock away, but my grandmother used it and wanted me to as well. In my mind, it’s risen in emotional value and fallen in financial value, which feels right.
Short story club
I reread this as one of the stories in The Art of the Short Story, by Dana Gioia, from which I'm aiming to read one story a week with The Short Story Club, starting 2 May 2022.
You can read this story here.
You can join the group here.
September 7, 2019
5★
"I will wait for her in the yard that Maggie and I made so clean and wavy yesterday afternoon. A yard like this is more comfortable than most people know. It is not just a yard. It is like an extended living room. When the hard clay is swept clean as a floor and the fine sand around the edges lined with tiny, irregular grooves, anyone can come and sit and look up into the elm tree and wait for the breezes that never come inside the house."
Mama and little Maggie are waiting for big sister Dee to come home for a visit. Dee is lighter than Maggie and apparently making something of herself in the big city. You just know that this is hardly going to be her idea of a beautiful front yard these days, don't you?
This little story has so much history behind it. There was a fire, there were generations of slaves, and there is the land of opportunity waiting - for some.
The title refers to quilts, which people have made forever, I think, as records of their families, and which I enjoyed looking up and reading about.
Have a quick read of the story yourself. It's free, funny, poignant, and thought-provoking. The story itself is here.
http://xroads.virginia.edu/~ug97/quil...
There are countless pictures of quilts online, some very old, many full of Bible stories. But each is unique, made of bits and pieces from family fabrics. The same website has a few here. Or just search google images: story quilts.
http://xroads.virginia.edu/~UG97/quil...
I don't quilt, but I did make several pocket hangings for my family to hang up on the fridge and stash notepads and pencils and small items in. I used pieces of my kids' flannel pyjamas, some of our shirts and jeans, and I still remember all the original garments. My own is long gone, but I used to 'visit' the one I gave my mother. :)
I read this last year but was just reminded of it after reading Sue Monk Kidd's The Invention of Wings, which featured a similar quilt. (I reviewed that here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... )
1898, quilt by Harriet Powers, who was born as a slave in Georgia.
"I will wait for her in the yard that Maggie and I made so clean and wavy yesterday afternoon. A yard like this is more comfortable than most people know. It is not just a yard. It is like an extended living room. When the hard clay is swept clean as a floor and the fine sand around the edges lined with tiny, irregular grooves, anyone can come and sit and look up into the elm tree and wait for the breezes that never come inside the house."
Mama and little Maggie are waiting for big sister Dee to come home for a visit. Dee is lighter than Maggie and apparently making something of herself in the big city. You just know that this is hardly going to be her idea of a beautiful front yard these days, don't you?
This little story has so much history behind it. There was a fire, there were generations of slaves, and there is the land of opportunity waiting - for some.
The title refers to quilts, which people have made forever, I think, as records of their families, and which I enjoyed looking up and reading about.
Have a quick read of the story yourself. It's free, funny, poignant, and thought-provoking. The story itself is here.
http://xroads.virginia.edu/~ug97/quil...
There are countless pictures of quilts online, some very old, many full of Bible stories. But each is unique, made of bits and pieces from family fabrics. The same website has a few here. Or just search google images: story quilts.
http://xroads.virginia.edu/~UG97/quil...
I don't quilt, but I did make several pocket hangings for my family to hang up on the fridge and stash notepads and pencils and small items in. I used pieces of my kids' flannel pyjamas, some of our shirts and jeans, and I still remember all the original garments. My own is long gone, but I used to 'visit' the one I gave my mother. :)
I read this last year but was just reminded of it after reading Sue Monk Kidd's The Invention of Wings, which featured a similar quilt. (I reviewed that here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... )
1898, quilt by Harriet Powers, who was born as a slave in Georgia.
November 13, 2024
The Short Story Club
One family. One heritage. Two points of view.
The author presents two attitudes to one's identity and heritage. To display an old quilt like an exhibit in a museum or 'put it to everyday use'? Treat the tradition like an artifact or make it a meaningful part of your everyday life? Alice Walker answers these questions with the title of her brilliant short story.
One family. One heritage. Two points of view.
The author presents two attitudes to one's identity and heritage. To display an old quilt like an exhibit in a museum or 'put it to everyday use'? Treat the tradition like an artifact or make it a meaningful part of your everyday life? Alice Walker answers these questions with the title of her brilliant short story.
June 19, 2023
This superb short story is laden with texture. In a few short pages, Alice Walker captures the lilt and rhythms of a time of redefinition for America as a whole and for the black community in particular. Her characters become known to us through dialogue that is sometimes witty,often acerbic and always perceptive.
The layers within this story are incredible. With rapier precision, Walker recreates the cultural shifts stemming from the political turbulence of the late sixties. She injects humor, poignancy and emotional values while lovingly portraying generational and philosophical belief systems arising at that time. The emotional and political tones of the story still resonate today.
The layers within this story are incredible. With rapier precision, Walker recreates the cultural shifts stemming from the political turbulence of the late sixties. She injects humor, poignancy and emotional values while lovingly portraying generational and philosophical belief systems arising at that time. The emotional and political tones of the story still resonate today.
September 26, 2024
tiny thought summary!!
➻help my teacher kept pronouncing "Assalamualaikum" wrong and everybody was trying not to laugh
➻maggie needs to grow a pair
➻dee can stub her toe
➻mama ate (and left no crumbs)
2.75/5 🌟 (Rounded Up)
⊹₊♡⋆.ೃ࿔*:･
➻help my teacher kept pronouncing "Assalamualaikum" wrong and everybody was trying not to laugh
➻maggie needs to grow a pair
➻dee can stub her toe
➻mama ate (and left no crumbs)
2.75/5 🌟 (Rounded Up)
⊹₊♡⋆.ೃ࿔*:･
February 14, 2026
I read this story during college. It's still One of the best stories I've ever read.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 29, 2015
In the story "Every Day Use," the author, Alice Walker, states about the relationships that occurs inside a family when one of their offspring is shipped abroad to further continue her studies. In the story, the author further reveals what happens to the family by limitlessly supporting Dee and not trying to overcome themselves as well. The mother, the backbone in the family, is the narrator of the story, switching from third person to first person. The story further exposes the struggle and the dreams of having higher education at all costs. The author illustrates a situation that is common in many families by highlighting a story that involves a family surpassing difficulties with their living situation, as well as the struggle that it takes to become educated.
“Every Day Use,” is about three African Americans who do their very best to support at least one of them to overcome their poverty disputes. Mama is the narrator in this story; she is the mother of Dee and Maggie. Dee is the daughter that makes it out of poverty and becomes educated because her Mama did the impossible to make sure she became someone important in life. When Dee returns home, she seems to be transformed in so many ways and changing her name was the top notch. Even though Mama is extremely pleased of Dee’s accomplishments, we see that Dee doesn’t show any type of appreciativeness towards her mother and sister who were the people that ensured her way out of the poverty life they lived in. Even though the characters are portrayed as tragic, Alice walker was trying to make a point here. Many people have it difficult to become educated and gamble everything for at least one of their family members to get an education. This was the case for these women’s. Mama does the impossible for her daughter, Dee, to go off to college and pursue a career. Maggie is a girl with a low self-esteem and doesn’t want to better herself because she believes it easier for her sister to do so. And, Dee is the daughter who is supported endlessly and at the end shows no sympathy for where she came from. Mama dreams of Dee being thankful and showing her off to the world, “On TV mother and child embrace and smile into each other's faces. Sometimes the mother and father weep, the child wraps them in her arms and leans across the table to tell how she would not have made it without their help. I have seen these programs. Sometimes I dream a dream in which Dee and I are suddenly brought together on a TV program of this sort.” This quote shows how Mama is fantasizing about Dee showing her off to the world and recognizing her for the efforts she has made overall.
The idea of only one person benefiting out of this whole situation is catastrophic and ironically egoistic. Mama seemed so delighted on the return of her daughter Dee. But to her disadvantage, her daughter ended up changing ultimately everything about herself, even her name. This goes to show that an education can change the aspects of a person and their way of seeing others. This story is immensely sad because you see it does happen in families and how they forget where they came from and who helped them. This character’s persona makes you think of how selfish one can become when finishing a career and not being thankful to your parents and their sacrifices.
“Every Day Use,” is about three African Americans who do their very best to support at least one of them to overcome their poverty disputes. Mama is the narrator in this story; she is the mother of Dee and Maggie. Dee is the daughter that makes it out of poverty and becomes educated because her Mama did the impossible to make sure she became someone important in life. When Dee returns home, she seems to be transformed in so many ways and changing her name was the top notch. Even though Mama is extremely pleased of Dee’s accomplishments, we see that Dee doesn’t show any type of appreciativeness towards her mother and sister who were the people that ensured her way out of the poverty life they lived in. Even though the characters are portrayed as tragic, Alice walker was trying to make a point here. Many people have it difficult to become educated and gamble everything for at least one of their family members to get an education. This was the case for these women’s. Mama does the impossible for her daughter, Dee, to go off to college and pursue a career. Maggie is a girl with a low self-esteem and doesn’t want to better herself because she believes it easier for her sister to do so. And, Dee is the daughter who is supported endlessly and at the end shows no sympathy for where she came from. Mama dreams of Dee being thankful and showing her off to the world, “On TV mother and child embrace and smile into each other's faces. Sometimes the mother and father weep, the child wraps them in her arms and leans across the table to tell how she would not have made it without their help. I have seen these programs. Sometimes I dream a dream in which Dee and I are suddenly brought together on a TV program of this sort.” This quote shows how Mama is fantasizing about Dee showing her off to the world and recognizing her for the efforts she has made overall.
The idea of only one person benefiting out of this whole situation is catastrophic and ironically egoistic. Mama seemed so delighted on the return of her daughter Dee. But to her disadvantage, her daughter ended up changing ultimately everything about herself, even her name. This goes to show that an education can change the aspects of a person and their way of seeing others. This story is immensely sad because you see it does happen in families and how they forget where they came from and who helped them. This character’s persona makes you think of how selfish one can become when finishing a career and not being thankful to your parents and their sacrifices.
October 3, 2023
#A story a day to chase the blues away #3
“Everyday Use”, Alice Walker, EUA, 1994
Recuperando a parábola clássica do filho pródigo, agora numa versão feminina e na comunidade afro-americana, Alice Walker faz de uma velha manta de retalhos uma herança material, moral e afetiva, sem esquecer que a ironia é sempre uma das formas mais subtis de expressão.
“Well”, I say, “Dee.”
“No, Mama,” she says. “Not ‘Dee’, Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo!”
“What happened to ‘Dee’?” I wanted to know.
“She’s dead,” Wangeroo said, “I couldn’t bear it any longer, being named after the people who oppress me.”
“You know as well as me you was named after your aunt Dicie,” I said. Dicie is my sister.
“Everyday Use”, Alice Walker, EUA, 1994
Recuperando a parábola clássica do filho pródigo, agora numa versão feminina e na comunidade afro-americana, Alice Walker faz de uma velha manta de retalhos uma herança material, moral e afetiva, sem esquecer que a ironia é sempre uma das formas mais subtis de expressão.
“Well”, I say, “Dee.”
“No, Mama,” she says. “Not ‘Dee’, Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo!”
“What happened to ‘Dee’?” I wanted to know.
“She’s dead,” Wangeroo said, “I couldn’t bear it any longer, being named after the people who oppress me.”
“You know as well as me you was named after your aunt Dicie,” I said. Dicie is my sister.
June 19, 2023
Mama is excited that her daughter, Dee, is coming home for a visit after being away at college. Mama was a strong person, not just big and physically strong, but also emotionally strong and a good provider. She's very proud of everything she's done, keeping food on the table and sacrificing so that Dee could be the first in the family to get a college education. Mama has been dreaming of being thanked on "The Tonight Show" with Johnny Carson. So it's quite a shock when Dee wants to change her name to an African name. To Mama, the name "Dee" reflects her real family identity since she's named after her grandmother and her aunt.
Dee also wants to take quilts and other household goods back with her to display in her apartment. To Mama the provider, quilts are lovingly made to keep a family warm. But Dee, after studying about Africa and slavery, sees her family quilts as symbols of an oppressed people and wants to hang them on the wall. Her sister, Maggie, has never left home so she has the same traditional thoughts as Mama.
The story is told with humor and sadness. It was written in 1973 at a time when there was emphasis on African heritage on college campuses. So it's understandable that Mama and Dee would have different ways of looking at their heritage. Both generational and educational values are coming into play. Dee does not have a deep knowledge of her African heritage yet, and seems to be forgetting her immediate family heritage. Mama has a sense of humor and is strong enough to weather the changes, but it would have been nice if Dee felt some gratitude for her family's effort to lift her out of poverty.
Dee also wants to take quilts and other household goods back with her to display in her apartment. To Mama the provider, quilts are lovingly made to keep a family warm. But Dee, after studying about Africa and slavery, sees her family quilts as symbols of an oppressed people and wants to hang them on the wall. Her sister, Maggie, has never left home so she has the same traditional thoughts as Mama.
The story is told with humor and sadness. It was written in 1973 at a time when there was emphasis on African heritage on college campuses. So it's understandable that Mama and Dee would have different ways of looking at their heritage. Both generational and educational values are coming into play. Dee does not have a deep knowledge of her African heritage yet, and seems to be forgetting her immediate family heritage. Mama has a sense of humor and is strong enough to weather the changes, but it would have been nice if Dee felt some gratitude for her family's effort to lift her out of poverty.
July 13, 2018
Here follows a free online link to the short story Everyday Use by Alice Walker: http://xroads.virginia.edu/~ug97/quil...
I enjoyed so very much how this ended. One of the characters gets her comeuppance, and that is what made me so very happy. Seeing a person you do NOT like get what they deserve is extremely satisfying.
Read this. It is very good.
I enjoyed so very much how this ended. One of the characters gets her comeuppance, and that is what made me so very happy. Seeing a person you do NOT like get what they deserve is extremely satisfying.
Read this. It is very good.
July 19, 2023
Walker weaves many layers, patterns, and meanings into a beautiful quilt of this seemingly simple story about the African-American identity and heritage.
July 21, 2017
I've remembered this woman's self-description for thirty years without knowing what book or who wrote it; I happy to now have a place for it.
"In real life I am a large, big-boned woman with rough, man-working hands. In the winter I wear flannel nightgowns to bed and overalls during the day. I can kill and clean a hog as mercilessly as a man. My fat keeps me hot in zero weather. I can work outside all day, breaking ice to get water for washing. I can eat pork liver cooked over the open fire minutes after it comes steaming from the hog. One winter I knocked a bull calf straight in the brain between the eyes with a sledge hammer and had the meat hung up to chill before nightfall. But of course all this does not show on television, I am the way my daughter would want me to be: a hundred pounds lighter, my skin like an uncooked barley pancake. My hair glistens in the hot bright lights. Johnny Carson has much to do to keep up with my quick and witty tongue."
June 19, 2023
Such a great story about heritage/legacy. What is our legacy? How should it be preserved?
One of two sisters comes home to claim the mother’s hand-sewn quilts pieced together from the family’s scrap clothing. The quilts were made by the mother narrator of the story with her female ancestors. One daughter wishes to take the quilts and “preserve” them by hanging them on her wall. The other sister who is soon to be married would probably put the quilts to “everyday use” and wear them out. Mother takes no time in deciding which sister will get the quilts.
Walker tackles other family issues in this favorite, highly recommended short story and uses humor while doing it.
(I am biased and feel a great connection with this story. I used to lie on my grandmother’s quilts and try to pick out the scraps that I could identify from her clothing or clothing she had sewn for me.)
One of two sisters comes home to claim the mother’s hand-sewn quilts pieced together from the family’s scrap clothing. The quilts were made by the mother narrator of the story with her female ancestors. One daughter wishes to take the quilts and “preserve” them by hanging them on her wall. The other sister who is soon to be married would probably put the quilts to “everyday use” and wear them out. Mother takes no time in deciding which sister will get the quilts.
Walker tackles other family issues in this favorite, highly recommended short story and uses humor while doing it.
(I am biased and feel a great connection with this story. I used to lie on my grandmother’s quilts and try to pick out the scraps that I could identify from her clothing or clothing she had sewn for me.)
January 7, 2023
— review to come —
February 3, 2016
A great short story. Read this in my Eng lit class :)
February 7, 2017
Read this for my literature class.
Read
July 21, 2010Summary:
A single mother raising two daughters named Maggie and Dee. (Character v. Character) Maggie, the younger daughter, shy and low self esteem due to scars on arms and legs. Dee, outgoing and well dressed daughter with a nicer figure than Maggie. These are the protagonists in the story. They appear to be round and dynamic characters throughout the story. Maggie goes from never smiling to smiling at the end of the story when she gets to have the quilts that were promised to her. Dee goes from never bringing her friends around her family to visiting her family with her new friend Asalamalakim. The mother, the narrative of the story goes from never telling Dee no to finally standing up for what’s right and giving the quilts to Maggie instead of Dee. The quilts symbolized the heritage of their ancestors. The point of view is in first person.
I liked this story because heritage is a major part in my life especially the value of it.
I would recommend this story to others because if you didn’t understand the value of heritage, then you will when you read this story.
A single mother raising two daughters named Maggie and Dee. (Character v. Character) Maggie, the younger daughter, shy and low self esteem due to scars on arms and legs. Dee, outgoing and well dressed daughter with a nicer figure than Maggie. These are the protagonists in the story. They appear to be round and dynamic characters throughout the story. Maggie goes from never smiling to smiling at the end of the story when she gets to have the quilts that were promised to her. Dee goes from never bringing her friends around her family to visiting her family with her new friend Asalamalakim. The mother, the narrative of the story goes from never telling Dee no to finally standing up for what’s right and giving the quilts to Maggie instead of Dee. The quilts symbolized the heritage of their ancestors. The point of view is in first person.
I liked this story because heritage is a major part in my life especially the value of it.
I would recommend this story to others because if you didn’t understand the value of heritage, then you will when you read this story.
June 28, 2023
She used to read to us without pity; forcing words, lies, other folks' habits, whole lives upon us two, sitting trapped and ignorant underneath her voice. She washed us in a river of make-believe, burned us with a lot of knowledge we didn't necessarily need to know.
A wonderful short story about ambition, self-belief, nostalgia — and interior decorating!
Ashamed of her humble beginnings, the upwardly mobile daughter returns to the family home, and there are a few items she would like to take with her, to repurpose as decorations, or to hang on her wall.
Does "art" or "found art" fall into the category of everyday use?
A wonderfully complicated simple story, full of life and wisdom and glittering with poetic phrases and images.
A wonderful short story about ambition, self-belief, nostalgia — and interior decorating!
Ashamed of her humble beginnings, the upwardly mobile daughter returns to the family home, and there are a few items she would like to take with her, to repurpose as decorations, or to hang on her wall.
Does "art" or "found art" fall into the category of everyday use?
A wonderfully complicated simple story, full of life and wisdom and glittering with poetic phrases and images.
February 24, 2026
Another story of African-American literature, a sarcastic granny, but no offensive bite, just her POV of the story adds to the fun. When you read it it's like your in her mind, some stream of consciousness is to be seen. Read it btw. Highly Recommend.
May 2, 2024
An enjoyable short story that I read for Uni.
July 18, 2023
My short-story group spent considerable time discussing this story. Alice Walker, who is well known for her novels about Black Culture, had written this story on the social commentary of the 1970's.
It involves a family who lived a mostly poorly educated, hardscrabble life surrounded by farmland and woods. They lived there following slavery and managed to eke out a satisfying life despite the lack of "finer things". The tale involved a long-delayed visit from the daughter who had broken free from this life and was now living what she considered was a better, more well-informed life. The major portion of the story was devoted to how this offspring viewed family heirlooms and her own position in society. Despite its short length, Walker successfully imparted strong impressions of the characters, their emotions and changes cultivated in society.
It involves a family who lived a mostly poorly educated, hardscrabble life surrounded by farmland and woods. They lived there following slavery and managed to eke out a satisfying life despite the lack of "finer things". The tale involved a long-delayed visit from the daughter who had broken free from this life and was now living what she considered was a better, more well-informed life. The major portion of the story was devoted to how this offspring viewed family heirlooms and her own position in society. Despite its short length, Walker successfully imparted strong impressions of the characters, their emotions and changes cultivated in society.
April 21, 2025
A short story exploring strategies against cultural amnesia and emphasizing that heritage should be lived and practiced rather than merely displayed.
September 26, 2025
read for English 101
May 7, 2015
When I read “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker, the first thing that came to mind was heritage. This short story focuses on family and how education can change people. Walker illustrates the importance of our life in relation to our people and culture. Throughout the story Walker illustrates one’s cultures and heritage are represented not only the possession of objects, but by our lifestyle and attitudes towards our life’s.
Throughout the story Walker shows the different sides of culture and heritage. The way the characters are portrayed in the story shows us how education can change our way of thinking and perhaps change the way we see our past and our families.
Mama the narrator tells the story about how her two daughters who are completely different. Some may see Dee as evil and how it is possible for her to treat her family the way she did when she came back from college. Other people may see Dee as I did. I saw a woman who was brave, knowledgeable and ready to confront the world by herself regardless of her past. The character Maggie was flat and static, but I easily forgave her, since she was never given the opportunity to thrive. She was always the second runner and also a conformist. Mama throughout the play tries to pull the reader towards a dark and spiteful ride against Dee. Even though Mama did not fool me, I could easily make an argument against Dee. Enough writing about the story, I will leave it up to you to decide which character you like the most and how you can interpret the story.
Alice Walker uses everyday objects, which are described in the story with some detail, and the reactions of the main characters to these objects, to contrast the simple and practical with the stylish and faddish. The main characters in this story, "Mama" and Maggie on one side, Dee on the other, each have opposing views on the value and worth of the various items in their lives, and the author uses this conflict to make the point that the substance of an object, and of people, is more important than style.
I think the objects of this story is to described how a loving Mama will never stop loving her children despite the way the act the way they look or the way they choose to live their life’s. I hope that one day all the women in the world could carry in them a little bit of Dee and her fearless attitude.
Throughout the story Walker shows the different sides of culture and heritage. The way the characters are portrayed in the story shows us how education can change our way of thinking and perhaps change the way we see our past and our families.
Mama the narrator tells the story about how her two daughters who are completely different. Some may see Dee as evil and how it is possible for her to treat her family the way she did when she came back from college. Other people may see Dee as I did. I saw a woman who was brave, knowledgeable and ready to confront the world by herself regardless of her past. The character Maggie was flat and static, but I easily forgave her, since she was never given the opportunity to thrive. She was always the second runner and also a conformist. Mama throughout the play tries to pull the reader towards a dark and spiteful ride against Dee. Even though Mama did not fool me, I could easily make an argument against Dee. Enough writing about the story, I will leave it up to you to decide which character you like the most and how you can interpret the story.
Alice Walker uses everyday objects, which are described in the story with some detail, and the reactions of the main characters to these objects, to contrast the simple and practical with the stylish and faddish. The main characters in this story, "Mama" and Maggie on one side, Dee on the other, each have opposing views on the value and worth of the various items in their lives, and the author uses this conflict to make the point that the substance of an object, and of people, is more important than style.
I think the objects of this story is to described how a loving Mama will never stop loving her children despite the way the act the way they look or the way they choose to live their life’s. I hope that one day all the women in the world could carry in them a little bit of Dee and her fearless attitude.
May 28, 2013
"Everyday Use" is one of my favorite short stories as well as Alice Walker is one of my favorite authors. She is a courageous spokeswoman of the black community. She voices black women's sufferings, hopes, and idiosyncrasies. And since I believe that we- human beings- are more alike than different and women-especially- share ideas and worries that only other women can relate to, I see Walker as an international woman on a mission! In "Everyday Use," she touches on the issue of heritage and culture. By portraying the attitudes of two different sisters seen through the eyes of their mother, Walker illustrates the trends shown by young black women toward their heritage and family. The first trend is shown by some who are rebellious to their culture- they want to change the old-fashioned, antiquated manners of life. They only want to display their heritage items in a false attempt at showing they care. the "Disneyfication" of culture makes it superficial and irrelevant in everyday life. The other trend is embracing culture and being proud of it- using heritage items in daily life in a way that ensures its liveliness. Putting heritage into use means bringing it to life and doesn't mean being backward for heritage can always be recreated, with respect to its essence. The conflict between old and new ways is ever present. But one thing is to be remembered : It is not about heritage or culture but about the women behind it- the women who strive to make something memorable for their next generations. Whether they get it right or wrong, that doesn't matter. It's the love they put into it that counts.
March 25, 2021
I thought it was beautifully written and quite dense for a short story! To me, it spoke to the power and steadfastness of women, strong familial roots, longing for the familiar, a Mother's relationship with each of her children and how sometimes even those relationships are vastly different. I just loved the complex characters and the different ways we value what we value.
November 3, 2009
A short story that was full of symbolism and imagery. I enjoyed this look into the life of a family that is learning what their heritage really is and how to use it.
February 8, 2018
I read this short story in a lit anthology and was instantaneously touched by the contention of true heritage.
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