“Everyday Use” Notes

Dee/Wangero

• Filled with contradictions
• When she was young—she hated everything about her family’s poverty: literally burns her house down because she’s so ashamed of it
• When she returns for the visit, she’s decided that she wants to collect “folk art” from her family like the butter churn, the quilts, and pictures of the quaint cottage.
• She doesn’t feel a personal connection to generations of her ancestors working hard to provide food and warmth for her family, she just wants a “trendy” museum
• The Black Power movement rejects the influence of white slave masters (like names given to slaves by their masters), even as it admires the work of slaves like quilts and butter churns

Heritage means:

Dee= “priceless” things to hang on the wall and look cool, a way to superficially embrace her roots through the Black Power movement. A distant connection

“Maggie can’t appreciate these quilts . . . She’d probably be backward enough to put them to everyday use.”

Maggie & Mama=personal connection to real people that they love and care about that have passed away. They live their heritage. It means a ton to them in a very real and intimate way. It is their pride. Not a distant connection

“She can have them, Mama, I can remember Grandma Dee without the quilts.” Doesn’t need a physical object to remember her heritage.

Reader=

Dee’s character

• Selfish
• Always gets what she wants
• Doesn’t care about anyone else
• Hypocrite
• Doesn’t understand her heritage
• Know it all
• Stuck up
• Mean, cruel
• Superficial
• Obnoxious
• Intelligent and quick
• Very educated
• Bossy
• Hates her sister and mom, or at least looks down on them as stupid
• intimidating

Maggie

• Quiet
• Kind
• Humble
• Slow
• Shy and timid
• Understands her heritage
• Uneducated
• Plain spoken
• Scared of her sister
• Easily intimidated