Introduction
'Everyday use' by Alice Walker is a short story narrating a family relationship between a spoiled daughter and her mother. In the story, Maggie, who is a younger daughter, lives with her mother, who is called 'mama' throughout the story. The mother has an older daughter who is Dee but does not live with them since the time she went schooling to Augusta. Dee is described as a girl who concentrates in acquiring beautiful things and improving her social status. For instance, she says she wants beautiful things like a yellow Organdy dress which she wants to wear in her graduation and a black pump to match her green suit (Walker,492). The relationship between Dee and their mother can be described as complicated and strained compared to Maggie’s. Also, since the sibling relationship is always hard naturally, Maggie and Dee's relation is too. Hence, a family relationship which affected the story of 'Everyday Use' by Alice Walker is portrayed as a hard one.
Connection with Real Life
Just like in the story, in every society, there are families with children who want something and another who accepts everything without being selfish and greedy. The same is seen in the story Everyday Use with the two sisters who are completely different. In the story, Dee seems to be more materialistic than Maggie. Although Dee has graduated from college, and Maggie is still a young girl, their mother wants Maggie to be just like Dee. However, in the description of the story, their mother is manlike, which means she is not attractive. The same Maggie is not an attractive girl like Dee is, where Dee is lighter with nicer hair and a fuller figure than Maggie. The mother describes Maggie as not bright, and even how she shuffles when walking. She says Dee's feet were always neat, looking as if God had shaped them in a certain style. Even at school, Dee is seen to awe other girls due to her 'style’(462). Not only does she awe other girls, but also her sister Maggie is seen looking at her sister with envy. Maggie thinks that her sister has always held her life in the palm of her hands. That is mostly influenced by the mother, who is also unable to say no to Dee. However, the point of the story is made when the mother finally says no regarding Maggie's important moments in her life.
The story revolves around the visit by Dee at home to see Maggie and Mama, which is, according to Walker, does not happen often. According to Walker, she goes back home only to claim the things that mama ha not been able to give to her children. Since mama is unable to say no to Dee, she allows her in the house to take anything she wants. The relationship between mama and Dee is complicated since she claims that she burned the first house they had, although there is no proof that she did it. However, their relationship is uneasy because Dee wants to advance her life without considering her and Maggie, making her selfish. On the other hand, Dee says that mama is satisfied with a simple life. However, Dee selfishness does not go for long until when she comes home with a man who wants to marry her.
Broken Friendship
Here, Dee's relationship with her mother is just like a friendship that was broken a long time ago, and the people have not seen each other for many years. Dee finds it hard trying to explain to her mother about her new name, which was Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo, where her mother thinks that is it a weird name. That makes her mother tell her roots of her name and was named after auntie, who is sister to the mother. But with all that explanation, Dee did not buy the idea but told her mother that Dee is dead and she could not bear being named after people who oppressed her (Walker, 3). The arrival of Dee at home brings more uneasiness since she treated Maggie like a dolt. Dee even go-ahead to request mama to bring home the family relics which are yet used by the ladies in their everyday lives, for instance, the old spread agitate.
Dee keeps on demanding the right to old household things hence running over some of the family effects that lead to the effects of family relationship importance. However, she experiences mama's truck which rises quilts woven with old garments, for instance, their grandma's dresses and even their granddad's war uniform. At that point, she wants to remove the blankets from their hands, then hangs them to show them at her home. That also does not go well with Maggie since she was guaranteed the blankets. Dee is angry about this and says that Maggie will not use them as the treasures they are but as only typical and unsentimental thing. This brings conflict between their relationship as a family since Dee looks down on Maggie and her mother saying they don't recognize their legacy. She even goes further to tell Maggie that she should isolate herself from the family ranch and make a bid dear about her life; she drives out home (Walker 1537).
The family relationship seems to affect how people view their heritage differently. For example, Dee seems to detach herself from her past, embracing herself to a more global outlook in life. However, that is not a bad thing since humans are bound to continually evolve to survive. Walker gives er point of view on the merits behind Dee's innovation and thoughts. Even though Dee opposes her mother and sister, making her look like she does not value where she is coming from, she proves to value her heritage in a new modern way. She does this by promoting a new way for African Americans. This is opposed to her mother and sister, who are not willing to leave their way of life of the civil war period despite them being in the twentieth century (Walker, 1536). That is why Dee calls out the attention of her sister, telling her to change the way she has been living because it is a new day for them.
Issue of Culture in the Story
Also, the relationship seems to change the issue of culture in the story. Walker uses characterization in the story about the two women Dee and her mother, who feels differently about the Quilt. In their differences, mama is a traditional African American woman, while Dee is a civilized girl with the civil rights movement. Dee is described as a fashionable person who appears to be wearing a long dress with bright colours with bracelets and even the current trend of a hairstyle. She is described as a person who does has never wanted to stay at home and even embrace the hard work by her family. She has been seen wanting to get away from his home as far as possible and leave her culture.
All these shows different ways of how people integrate culture into their lives. In the story, Mama and Maggie seem to be using items in the house as a practice of useful everyday items. At the same time, Dee only wants to use these items to show off her heritage. Hence their relationship showing that one can find both the uses of art and practicality in items. That means how they feel about the items it dictates the use of the items. For instance, Dee wants to embrace her heritage but not her culture, while Maggie and mama embrace their cultures but regardless of the items.
Conclusion
To sum it up, the family relationship as portrayed between the two daughters and their mother affected different themes of the story. Their conflict brings different understandings of culture and traditions. The paper shows the reader how family relationship affected facts in throughout the story. As seen, the story displays different members of one family having a different understanding of their culture concerning their present life. The family relationship, as analyzed in the paper above, uses walker's situation regarding her situation hence showing outer influences and critical circumstances affecting this story. Since the story is influenced by political activism at that time, the three women are looking for individual identities.
