Alice Walker's "Everyday Use"
...ned badly as a child. She walks with “her chin on chest, eyes on ground, feet in shuffle” since she is ashamed of her looks (105). She has been there with her mother since childhood. Ms. Johnson describes Maggie as if she was less than Dee, but loves her just the same. She is also described as “not bright.” Ms. Johnson also says that “good looks and money…passed her by” (105). Dee, who ventured off into the world, left when she went to college. Ms. Johnson describes Dee as having, "nice hair and a full figure" (105). Dee takes pride in her appearance. She dresses in fashionable clothes. When Dee arrives for her visit, her mother says, "Even her feet were always neat-looking" (106). It seems as if she hardly returns home because of Maggie’s nervousness in the beginning of the story. From way Dee is presented, it is easy to see that she leads a materialistic life. Ms. Johnson and Maggie are obviously not living the life that she wants. Ms. Johnson clearly believed that Dee was going to flashy early on because she stated that “Dee wanted nice things” since she wanted a “yellow organdy dress for her high school graduation” (105). Dee appears to want to embrace her heritage, but at the same time wants to change her family. She changes her name to Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo because she didn’t want the name of the “people who oppress [her]” (107). She shows up and says “Wa-su-zo-Tean o!” to her mother, wearing ethnic clothing (106). This shows that she accepts her blackness. Whenever she argues about Maggie putting their grandmother’s quilts to “everyday use”, it shows that she doesn’t use her background for everyday use, only when she feels the need to. She feels the ...