Symbols In Everyday Use

“Everyday Use” is told from the perspective of Mama and takes place deep in the South sometime around the 1960’s. It is about a hard-working mother and her two daughters Dee and Maggie, and how she had to give each of them different paths to follow in life. Dee is the older sister. These paths both demonstrate how their heritage plays a role in their everyday lives. These routes resulted in Maggie having a better relationship with Mama than Dee had with her. Throughout the short story, there are many things that have a more symbolic meaning, such as the making of the quilts and Dee becoming Wangero.
The quilts are a great representation of the family’s heritage. The quilt actually creates tension in the story between Maggie and Dee because Mama has to pick which one she is going to give it to. Mama felt it was best that Maggie should receive the quilt because she knows Maggie has a better understanding of their actual meaning. Maggie knows how to sew them, so she is able to continue to pass the tradition down from generation to generation.
With Mama being the mother of Dee and Maggie, she has already experienced a generation of their heritage before them. She has gone through tougher situations than they have. Mama has already been taught everything they will end up learning. She was able to go through everything before her daughters, which gives her prior knowledge, first-hand experiences, and lessons to spread the topic.
Maggie displays a better understanding of the family’s heritage than Dee. She shows more interest in sticking to the roots of where their family traditions began. She also was able to catch more physical interactions with Mama than Dee was able to. Maggie does not try to draw any more attention to herself than she needs. She has also developed a full understanding of the quilt making, which is a very important skill she currently holds over