Everyday Use By Alice Walker Analysis

Building (hi)story from symbols – “Everyday Use” by A. Walker

Some stories tend to speak to us more than the others. We cannot forget about them because of the effect they have on us and the influence they have on our thoughts. I believe that “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker is one of those special pieces because it is very poetic. The author constructed the story from symbols that speak to us more than words, and in my essay I attempt to deconstruct them. In my opinion, this story seems to be constructed of symbols. I have chosen to look at three of them that are predominant and are at same time, appear to be attributes of the main characters of the story. They are: Maggie’s scars, Dee’s camera, and Mama’s quilt. Each symbol represents
This truth is represented by the handmade quilt that has been in the family for dozens of years and belongs to Mama, the oldest member of the family. The quilt was created from what was left of “the dresses Grandma Dee had worn fifty and more years ago. . . bits and pieces of Grandpa Jattell's Paisley shirts . . . Great Grandpa Ezra's uniform that he wore in the Civil War” (5). The quilt, created of so many little pieces belonging to many members of the family, is a symbol of how history is alive, how our heritage is (or can be) a part of us. It may also symbolize the poverty the African-Americans were facing that pushed them to make a use of every single piece of material they had. Dee, wanting to hang the quilt, shows her lack of understanding of this part of her heritage. She does not want to participate in its history by putting it to “everyday use.” The history of the family is created of many experiences, little pieces that together create a pattern. Dee, not being interested in the history of her family (it is Maggie who explains it to her: “Aunt Dee’s first husband whittled the dash, his name was Henry, but they called him Stash” (4), does not understand the quilt’s and the family’s “pattern”. These are the reasons why she does not deserve it and in the end does not receive it from her mother. She “snatched the quilts out of [Dee’s] hands and dumped them into Maggie's lap” (7). Mama, who received the quilt
They contain meanings that exist in the world of feelings and emotions; they are hard to express or completely immune to any attempt to do so. The clothes belonging to each of the characters of the story as well as their furniture and objects of daily use, can be all interpreted as symbols that contribute to the way we “feel” about the story of this family, rather than “understand” it using our reason. Symbolism has a great effect because it speaks to us on a different emotional level, which enables us to understand the characters more deeply and relate to the story on a personal level. Although having a very limited knowledge about African-American people before reading the story, I now feel like I was a part of this special family, struggling with them to understand their heritage. Although my experience is different from theirs, the symbols that were used in the story make me feel like one of them. And that is, one would say, a goal of every