Alice Walker

In "Everyday Use" Alice Walker takes readers on a journey into the life of an African-American mother and her two daughters who struggle through the two girl's opposing personalities to come to a decision on who deserves the family quilts. The mother is the narrator of the story. Walker uses strong dialect for her character to enhance the reality of the story in the mind of the reader. Walker's use of this fictional element really helps bring the character of the mother to life. It is the voice and dialect of the mother that tell her story.

At the beginning of the story, Walker gives the reader an image of a very poor, southern woman and her daughter sitting outside enjoying one of the small pleasures of life. Through this image the reader may begin to understand the simplicity of the life of these characters. Then as the beginning of the story progresses the reader learns that they are expecting a visitor. The eldest daughter of the family, Dee. It is here in the story when the reader first gets a glimpse at the opposing personalities of the two girls. The narrator talks about the character of Maggie and how she will act when Dee gets there. She says,

Maggie will be nervous until after her sister goes: she will stand hopelessly in corners, homely and ashamed of the burn scars down her arms and legs, eying her sister with a mixture of envy and awe.

In saying that the narrator helps the reader understand the sadness of Maggie's life. It seems like she has probably always been compared to her sister and is never as good as her.

She is quiet and shy because of this and her life would have probably been very different if it weren't for the influence that Dee had on her.

Next in the story the narrator begins to explain the character of Dee to the reader. Although the reader has already heard about Dee, this is the first time the reader really begins to see Dee as a real part of this story. Dee is a pretty and smart girl who always had big dreams and ambitions. It seems like she thought of herself as too good for the family that she was born into. The narrator explains that she is much prettier than Maggie and much more confident.

In the story the mother tells about a house fire that caused Maggie to have physical scars. It is apparent that this is part of the reason why Maggie has no confidence and is timid. She is embarrassed by how she looks especially when compared to her beautiful sister who happened to not be in the house at the time of the fire. When the mother is talking about the house fire she mentions that Dee was probably glad that the house had caught fire because she never liked the house. It was an embarrassment to her. She went so far with that as to say that she wondered why Dee did not just dance around the ashes of the old house.

As the story progresses, the narrator tells of how Dee looks, how she has changed her name, and how different she is. When they go into the house for dinner Dee begins to name things that she wants to take back with her to use for interior design. Dee says things like, "This churn top is what I need" (90) and, "And I want the dasher, too." (90) Walker uses demanding statements like these to show how the mother is allowing Dee to run over her and take whatever she wants out of her home.

As the story draws near its conclusion Dee goes into the bedroom of the mother. She beings to go through the trunk at the foot of her bed and finally pulls out two of the family quilts. She asks her mother if she can have the quilts. It is apparent that she wants the quilts for the same purposes as she wanted the kitchen things. She wants to hang them in her house for decoration.

It is here in the story where