Everyday Use by Alice Walker - Essay Example

The mother referred to as the ‘Mama’ in the story tells the entire tale in first person. Her two daughters namely ‘Dee’ and ‘Maggie’ are the centre of her story. The two daughters have been made to have personalities that are extremely poles apart by the author. Even their physical appearances and skin shades are contrary to each others’. Initializing with the yard of the ‘Mama’s house the Mother is mentioned to have been waiting anxiously and excitingly for her elder daughter (Dee) whose plan is to visit her younger sister and mother.

The mother is mentioned to have been sitting in the yard of her house. The arrangements for her daughter’s much awaited visit are all set. Even the breeze blowing by pleases her. She recalls her daughter’s childhood and emphasizes how very different both her daughters are. The mother esteems her elder daughter more than the younger. She particularly compares the feeling of her arrival to that of attending a famous television show in which she wears beautiful feminine apparel and accompanies her elder daughter.

She adores her modernized daughter who is outright and disregards any of her ancestral heritages. Getting along with the narration in the story ‘Mama’ does not forget to mention that how she has been paying the roles of a man and a woman both. How she has been taking care of her property from wild animals and other threats. How her feminine hands have, over the years, converted into their manlike form and how she has transformed into wearing flappers rather than those feminine gowns that she so very much adores from deep within.

The daughters she adores the most doesn’t live with her mother any more though. Her younger daughter ‘Maggie’ lives with her. Maggie is mentioned to have, in her mother’s point of view, a lesser thinking paradigm than her elder sister’s. She is compared to have been looking similar to an animal when she dresses up in a pink skirt and a red blouse in order to commemorate the arrival of her elder sister. Shamelessly though, the ‘Mama’ thinks less of the daughter that has stood by her.

She hints at the accidental burning of her house, once when her girls were in their childhood, as being the result of one of her elder daughter’s intentional pranks. The accident however left the younger daughter with burn marks in her lower arms and limbs. Having a darker complexion in comparison to her elder sister the younger lady is portrayed in a pretty miserable state. The story continues with a turn when unexpectedly “Dee” brings along a Muslim black boyfriend. Her visit is marred by a row over the possession of ancestral quilts.

The elder daughter wants to have them and wants to take them along whereas the mother wants her precious quilts to stay with her younger daughter. It was not that she didn’t want to give them to her elder daughter she just wanted them to be with the younger one as she knew how to quilt and would be able to make them over even if they got worn out with constant use. The touching story can very well be analyzed as a tale that ironically distinguishes how physically disabled or seemingly unfavorable women are disregarded by even their own immediate family members.

Moreover the contrasting personalities of the two sisters depict their contrasting influences and inclinations. One analysis that can very well be gained form this tale is that the value of heritage can very well be