Everyday Use by Alice Walker

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Everyday Use : A Question of Quilts

In Everyday Use , Alice Walker presents the reader with two sisters who are as different as two sisters could ever be . They have very little in common , and in fact they think , walk , stand , and talk , so differently that strangers would not take them for sisters . They differ in a more significant way in terms of the themes of the story , too . Dee and Maggie have very different ideas about their heritage and their

culture , and the part that culture plays in their lives . Only one sister can be right when it comes to culture and the question of who should get Mama 's quilts , and in this case , Maggie is more deserving , because she has a much more complete understanding of her culture and heritage than Dee does

Even though they have grown up in the same home , Maggie and Dee have very different values in terms of the way they see their culture . To Dee , culture is something that she has only recently discovered has been taken from her . Maggie , however , does not feel that her culture has been lost . She lives in her family home , with family objects around her , and culture is something she lives each and every day . Dee rejected her family and left home as soon as she was able , and never realized that she was leaving culture behind her . Even the quilts are proof of this - Dee does not even know who made them , whereas Maggie does know , and she was even taught to quilt by the women who made the quilts they are fighting over . Maggie , therefore , has a much better understanding of the fact that culture and family are inseparable

A second important aspect of this issue is family . Maggie and Dee see their family very differently . For Maggie , family is something to remember and be proud of , and she loves and honors her mother and other family members . Dee visits her family only because they have something she wants , and even as an adult she still believes that she is better than her family . She seems to have always considered herself superior trying to improve their minds with knowledge that they didn 't necessarily need to know , and then later she says that no matter where they `choose ' to live ' she will try to see them . This implies that Dee would prefer them to live elsewhere - perhaps in a better area or in a place that is more convenient for her to visit . Dee seems to be ashamed of her family , but Maggie has never left them , and she has learned all about her heritage from her family members

The third is the use each sister will put the quilts to . Dee wants them to hang on a wall and look at . She seems to think they will prove that she has regained her cultural heritage . She does not understand that she could have...