“Everyday Use” notes

Narrator’s first view of her two daughters:

Dee: super smart, stubborn, proud, hates her mom, sister, house

• Maybe Dee started the fire
• “She used to read to us without pity; forcing words, lies, other folks’ habits, whole lives . .. the two of us sitting trapped and ignorant under her voice” (459)
• controlled her whole family and was cruel about their ignorance
• always wants more, what she can’t have, ashamed of her life
• will visit her mom and sister, but will never bring her friends—such arrogance
• always criticizing everyone, thinks she’s better than them all—Jimmy T dumps her (she can’t believe it)
• no people skills
• the world never learn to say “no” to her

Maggie (view of Maggie doesn’t change as much, but she does realize she should give her more)

· super shy, always dragging feet

· burn scars from the fire—ashamed of them

· envious of her sister (who is prettier, smarter, etc.)

· ever since the fire, she’s been “chin on chest, eyes on ground, feet in shuffle”

· engaged to marry an earnest faced, mossy toothed man—nice, plain-looking, not too bright

Dee arrives

She’s changed drastically: Dee is “dead”

• Black power/pride hippie
• Changed her name to Wangero (to an African Name)
• Dee, a family name since the Civil War
• Cutting herself off from her family history
• Cut her ties from the slave holders
• Great history behind the name, so many generations past the slave master who named the first Dee
• Don’t communicate—don’t understand each other
• All the things she was ashamed of are now “cool”
• She’s like a tourist taking pictures of her “heritage”—her mother and the house she once despised
• Demands the butter churn and the quilts—more pieces of folk art for her collection in the city

Epiphany: a sudden, dramatic realization

· The narrator realizes that she shouldn’t give Dee whatever she wants, that she’s been catering to her every need and therefore has been neglecting Maggie. She doesn’t want to favor her anymore

· Throws the quilts into Maggie’s lap

First time someone has said no to Dee/Wangero

· She’s furious

· “you don’t understand . . . your heritage” (464) irony

· Wangero thinks her heritage is the material things: old quilts, house with no window, butter churn, etc.

· Mother thinks heritage is: her history and her ancestors, her family, everyday use

Titled “Everyday Use”

• “Maggie can’t appreciate these quilts . . . she’d probably be backward enough to put them to everyday use.” (463)
• narrator admires everyday use, everyday people, everyday things=admires the simple
• Wangero is trying to make up who she is

Mother’s character: