My View on Everyday Use

My View on Everyday Use

The story Everyday Use is written by Alice Walker, who is a black woman writer. The story, set in the Black Power Movement, mainly tells the reunion of a black mother and her two daughters, Maggie and Dee. Through the conflict which is aroused by two quilts, the novel shows the different attitudes of American black people towards heritage and their identity.

The black mother, Mrs. Johnson, is kind-hearted and down-to-earth with physical strength and mental toughness. The story is narrated from her point of view. She leads a poor and humble life like most common black women do. She receives a little education, as she depicts that her school was closed down after second grade in 1927. Neither can she read or write. Only her daughter Dee is willing to read newspapers for her can she know what is going on outside. Though she is fat and doesn’t have a smooth and flawless skin, she, in fact, is a large, big-boned woman with rough, man-working hands. She can work all day in freezingly cold winter day; she can break ice to get water for washing; and she even can eat pork liver cooked over the open fire minutes after it comes streaming from hog. From these descriptions, a competent black woman with physical strength image is formed in our mind. Apart from these, we could also see that she lives a very poor but independent life from the description of her house. The house has no real windows just some holes cut in the sides with rawhide holding the shutters up. Poor as she is, the mother gains all the necessities of life all by her honest work. She is also quite shy and afraid of interactions with others. For example, she can't look a strange white man in their eyes;

she has always talked to people with one foot raised in flight and she doesn't have a quick or witty tongue.

Maggie is very shy, conservative and lacks of self-confidence. Just like the author comments, the girl is not bright, and good looks, luck, money as well as quickness have all passed her. The girl was disfigured in a big house fire, thus she is ashamed of herself and is very timid. Her inferiority has a very obvious influence on her life. She walks with chin on chest, eyes on ground, and feet in shuffle. She is just like a republication of her mother. She receives little education and never goes to college. Life gives her difficulties but she never complains about it. She just accepts what life provides for her and her insignificant role in society. She leads a life step-by-step. When growing up, she helps her mother with the housework. When she reaches the age to be married, she would marry an earnest black man. Then she has her own baby and just follows the life of her mother. Her life represents the life of most common black woman in general. In some sense, she represents the tradition of African Americans, and the life she lives is most people expect what they should do but not what they really want, even black women like Maggie who live in the bottom of society have never thought of live a life that they are dreaming of. For them, life is never in the palm of their hands.

However, Maggie has her own priorities. She is selfless and values her family membership and African American identity. When her sister insists on taking the quilts, she just gives up. Even the quilts are used for her marriage and she just wants to keep the quilts in order to memorize her grandma not for decorations. Through the

contrast with Dee, we could feel the kindness of Maggie.

From the story, we could see that the mother first doesn't like Maggie because the girl is shy without pretty looks, quick mind and good education. The mother ever compares the way Maggie walks to a lame dog. However, with the development of the story, the mother transfers her love to Maggie, especially when the girl gives up the quilts when Dee shows her egotism.

Dee, on the other hand, makes a prominent contrast with Maggie. She is bright, beautiful, confident, well-educated and has her own life style. She has smooth skin, good looks and fuller figure. Dee can look anyone in their eyes and hesitation is no part of her nature. At the age of 16, she has already had her own style and holds life in her own hands.

Dee has gone to collage, so her mind and thoughts are more open and radical, especially during the Black Power Movement. She even has changed her name into Wangero. The new name indicates that she never values her family membership as well as her African American root and she maybe hate the name and wants to erase her past. On one hand, she wants to say goodbye to the past poor life and would never wants to live as the black women used to do, on the other hand, she really wants to have the two quilts and uses them to decorate her room to show off that she has some association with black people but now she lives a very rich and comfortable life, which could satisfy her vanity.

Dee, in fact, represents a radical younger black generation at that time in general. They are well-educated and have progressive thoughts. They want to get rid of both

the poor life in the past and the oppression and discrimination of society, meanwhile, they want to become the masters of their own life and control life in their hands. They want to be rich and have more opportunities and rights. However, when they get what they want, they look down upon those innocent black people who still live in the bottom of society.

From the novel, we could clear see that the sympathies of the author lie in Maggie. The girl never complains about life and accepts what life gives to her. She is not pretty or bright but the girl is kind-hearted. The most important thing is that she values her family membership and her own roots. She wants the quilts to memorize her grandma who taught her how to sew and the quilts is precious for her, in contrast, Dee just wants to use the quilts to decorate her room out of her vanity. Thus, through the contrast, Maggie becomes more admirable dues to her kind nature.

The quilts here have profound meaning. They represent the tradition and the cultural heritage of black people. The quilts are not only family heirloom but also the indication of African American identity, which means the recognition both cultural and emotional. The mother, Mrs. Johnson, is the defender or protector of the traditional African American heritage; Maggie is the inheritor of traditional heritage while Dee is the rebel of her own roots.

Some people may say that the author sides more with the narrator. The author wants to criticize people just like Dee. I admit that, but from my point of view, the author conveys more than that. On one hand, the author praises Maggie’s kindness and her love for family membership and African American identity and criticizes

Dee’s vanity and selfishness. Through the two different attitudes towards the traditional heritage, the author wants to show that the loyalty and inheritance to traditional heritage doesn’t lie in showing off but in following its simple lifestyle. Apart from this, I think the author also wants to wake the democratic and independent awareness of black people who live a life like Maggie and encourages these people to pursue their own life and control the life in their own hands.