What Is The Difference Between Maggie And Dee

“Everyday Use” is a story told by Alice Walker. This story has two main characters, Maggie, and Dee. The girls are described by their mother’s point of view. While reading in the story you’ll notice the difference between the sister’s. When Dee and her mother visit their old home and Maggie in the country, a conflict starts up about two antique quilts that Dee would love to have. Mama tells Dee that the quilts were already going to go to Maggie because she promised her. The reaction that Dee has reveals differences in attitudes, thoughts, and values towards the heritage of the two sisters.

Dee is different compared to Maggie. Mama believe’s that Dee has lead in just about everything that her sister Maggie doesn’t have, which is false. Dee is confident about what she has been given in life. She is very outgoing person and always wants things to be important. She is fearless of anyone she talks to face-to-face. Mama daydreams of Dee excepting her with tears and Dee saying that she couldn’t have done anything without her. When getting what you want Dee always wins. Dee dislikes her heritage but Maggie doesn’t. Dee also changed her name from Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo to Dee because she did not like being named after people that deject her although she was named after Aunt Dicie. Dee has a boyfriend,
Hakim-a-barber, who helps show the changes of Dee into a new individual. For Dee’s education she went away from the city. Maggie doesn’t have as good of an education like Dee does which makes Dee think that she is better than everyone else in her whole family and makes her think she will get whatever she wants. She is more attractive, clever, and has a better personality than Maggie. Dee has better hair ,is skinnier, and has a fuller figure than her sister. She is very fashionable and likes to dress up in colorful clothes and her home is in the city. Before going to college, mother offered Dee a quilt, but apparently to Dee the quilts were old fashioned and they were priceless because they were made by their grandma. Dee wants others to enjoy it instead of her enjoying them herself. All that Dee is wanting is to show off the way that she grew up and where she came from. She lacks interest in her culture or heritage.

Maggie is a lot different from her sister. She only likes to stay in the house and not go anywhere. She is very shy unlike Dee. Maggie is very independent and self conscious according to mother. Mama thinks Maggie is going to marry John Thomas. John is a guy with gross teeth and a serious face since Maggie is ugly and innocent. Maggie doesn’t give mama a hard time and she is close to her. Maggie has always helped mama clean the house. Mother and Maggie are similar because they like to work and they enjoy doing the same things. Maggie’s last house burned down so now she has burned scar marks on her body. Maggie’s chin is always in her chest with her eyes looking straight at the ground and her feet “shuffling” when she walks since the house went into flames and it has been almost 12 years! Maggie is skinny and has rugged hair. She doesn’t have any fashion sense because in the story she wears a pink blouse with a red skirt. Maggie has bad eyesight which makes it really hard to read. She loves simple things, to dress simple and lives in the country, unlike Dee. Her experience made her motivated of getting the quilt. She believes the quilt her grandmother made should not be on a display for others to see. Maggie wants to put the quilts to everyday use to remember her grandmother. Maggie isn’t educated like Dee because she can’t read. She wants to embrace her heritage and unlike Dee, Maggie thinks she is not as important as Dee so she lets Dee do whatever she wants to do. She lets her sister have anything she wants all though it might be wrong or if she personally wanted it.

In conclusion, the two sisters have different views about the quilts, their heritage and they are both different themselves.
They both have different ideas about the quilts that were handmade by their grandmother. Maggie wants to have the quilts for an everyday use in remembering her grandmother, and she also respects her heritage. Dee wants to hang the quilts and save them for life so they won’t get ruined for a display, and she does not really care about her heritage at all. She just wants to show off to other people about it. Mother supports Maggie by taking the quilts from Dee and giving them to her. She believes that Maggie should win sometimes and get what she
wants.