Everyday Use
Everyday UseAlice Walker’s short story “Everyday Use” takes place in the southern part of the United States. She portrays Mama and Maggie as people having qualities admired by society, and Dee as a person who thinks that those qualities come from an uneducated and poor home. In her short story, she reminds us that patience is a great virtue and that it is an essential part of our culture and heritage.
At the start of the story, Alice Walker describes Mama as “a large, big-boned woman with rough, man working hands.” She is a person who is not ashamed of who she is. When Dee, her eldest daughter comes home to visit her, she finds out that Dee has changed her name to Wangero. When asked why she changed her name, Wangero (Dee) replies, “I couldn’t bear it any longer being named after the people who oppress me.” Mama is not happy about the name change because Wangero (Dee) was named after her sister Dicie. When Wangero (Dee) tells Mama that she doesn’t have to call her by that name if she doesn’t want to, Mama shows a great deal of patience for her daughter by saying “Why shouldn’t I? If that’s what you want us to call you, we’ll call you.”
As the story progresses, Mama continues to show her patience when the family sits down for dinner. Wangero (Dee) had brought a friend along with her. Her friend Hakim-a-barber insults Mama by saying that “he didn’t eat collards and pork was unclean.” Wangero (Dee), even after hearing what Hakim-a-barber says, does not do anything and just enjoys the meal. After dinner, Wangero (Dee) starts to examine the old objects in the house. She finds a butter churn and says “This churn top is what I need, Didn’t Uncle Buddy whittle it out of a tree you all used to have?” When Maggie corrects her, Wangero (Dee) insults her in front of Hakim-a-barber saying “Maggie’s brain is like an elephant’s….” Even though this must have angered Mama and Maggie, they just listen quietly. The butter churn is a kitchen appliance for everyday use to Mama and Maggie but to Wangero (Dee) it is just a piece of art to display in her house.
Later in the story, Wangero (Dee) finds two quilts and asks Mama if she can have them. Grandma Dee, Big Dee and Mama had made the quilts with pieces of clothes from their ancestors. When Mama tells her that she had promised to give the quilts to Maggie, Wangero (Dee) instantly loses her patience and insults Maggie again by saying “Maggie can’t appreciate these quilts! She’d probably be backward enough to put them to everyday use.” Mama displays her patience towards Wangero (Dee) again by not saying anything that would embarrass her as she says “I didn’t want to bring up how I had offered Dee (Wangero) a quilt when she went away to college. Then she had told me they were old-fashioned, out of style.” Maggie displays the same quality towards her sister when she comes in and says “She can have them, Mama, I can ‘member Grandma Dee without the quilts.” Once again, the quilts are objects with memories of the past to Mama and Maggie but to Wangero (Dee) they are just valuable pieces of art.
Thus, we see that Mama and Maggie show a great deal of patience in the story, whereas Wangero (Dee) has no patience at all. She loses her temper instantly when she cannot keep the things she wants. Before leaving she says that Mama and Maggie do not understand their heritage. This story tells us that Mama and Maggie not only understand their heritage, they are living examples of it.