“Everyday Use”

“Everyday Use”

The story “Everyday Use” is about a girl, Dee, who in a sense has now “made it” and, who spent her entire life has rejecting her heritage. Now because of a 1970s trend, tries to revert to her own African origins. She wants to acquire a set of quilts because of there historic relevance. The quilts were originally promised to her younger sister, as a dowry, who over the years has been used to being overlooked. The turning point of the story is best explained by Tuten in this quote of “Mama’s awakening to one daughter’s superficiality and the other’s deep-seated understanding of heritage.”(Tuten 125) This is when Mama takes the quilts away from the spoiled and deposits them on Maggie’s lap. The realistic setting, the contrast and meaning in the characters, and the significance of the theme in the story make “Everyday Use” a significant story then, today, and in the future.

The setting of the story is of a poor, rura...