Everyday Use By Alice Walker Analysis

In the short story, "Everyday Use," by Alice Walker teaches lessons on true inheritance; what it is and who can receive it. Two hand stitched quilts become the center of conflict in the story. They are also used to symbolize the true inheritance. Like a quilt, a person 's world view is made up of events, circumstances and influences that shape how they see and respond to the world. "Everyday Use" is a story of two worlds in conflict. Mama, acting as the narrator, guides us through the interaction of the two very different worlds embodied in her daughters. How can two young women from the same rich inheritance of family, history and community be so different? Although the women are by no means rich according to the standard of the world, there is no hints of want in the circumstances that shape their lives. The source of conflict arises from within Dee. Whatever her family has to offer her is never enough. Dee, the eldest daughter, has ventured from the rural world she grew up in but never felt a part of. The story is set in the context of her returning home for the first time since she left for college. Maggie the younger daughter has never left home. As the story unfolds Dee 's motives
She is filled with what she compares to a touch from God. Everything inside her tells her the quilts belong to Maggie. For once Maggie is more than the girl who hides from the world and concedes to a truth that tells her she is "somebody used to never winning anything, or having anything reserved for her." (1518). It was the look on Maggie 's face that resembled a fear free from anger that made Mama do what she had never done before. The irony is that there were two daughters and two quilts, but Mama 's final word was, "Take one or two of the others" (1517). Dee could have received one of the quilts, but Mama 's conviction now barred her from her inheritance. Dee walked out of the room for once in