Warning: Use of undefined constant referer - assumed 'referer' (this will throw an Error in a future version of PHP) in /usr/home/essaywo/public_html/essays on line 102

Warning: Use of undefined constant host - assumed 'host' (this will throw an Error in a future version of PHP) in /usr/home/essaywo/public_html/essays on line 105

Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /usr/home/essaywo/public_html/essays:102) in /usr/home/essaywo/public_html/essays on line 106

Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /usr/home/essaywo/public_html/essays:102) in /usr/home/essaywo/public_html/essays on line 109
Walker's Everyday Use - Online Essays

Walker's Everyday Use

In the story "Everyday Use" by Alice Walker, Walker presents Mama, Dee and Maggie, the younger daughter, who is ashamed of herself yet proud of her heritage. While Dee is ashamed of her heritage and proud of herself, Walker illustrates the mistake by some of placing the significance of heritage solely in material objects.
In the story, Maggie is "homely and ashamed of the burn scars down her arms and legs," (693) While Dee seeks her heritage without understanding the heritage itself. The quilt is passed on from one generation to another and along with it, its meaning however, Dee, the older daughter, represents a misconception of heritage as material. The two sisters' values concerning ...

Want to read the rest of this paper?
Join Essayworld today to view this entire essay
and over 50,000 other term papers

without the quilts," (698). This implies that her connection with the quilts is personal and emotional rather than materialistic.
Dee has always been ashamed of her family; she told her mother that she would manage to come to see them but wouldn't bring her friends. Just by saying that you can tell right off that she was ashamed to bring her friends over to the house. She never valued anything; everything to her was old and worthless. Until she came to visit all of a sudden, she appreciated everything. She said, "I never knew how lovely these benches are" as if she really meant it. I think Dee needs a reality check she does deserve to have the quilt because she will never know it true meaning. Maggie will always treasure it because she uses hand-made items in her life. Experiences the life of her ancestors, and learns the history of both, exemplified by Maggie's knowledge of the hand- made items and the people who made them--a knowledge which Dee does not possess.

In ...

Get instant access to over 50,000 essays.
Write better papers. Get better grades.

Already a member? Login

CITE THIS PAGE:

APA
MLA
Chicago
Turabian

Walker's Everyday Use. (2005, March 11). Retrieved January 26, 2026, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Walkers-Everyday-Use/23559

"Walker's Everyday Use." Essayworld.com. Essayworld.com, 11 Mar. 2005. Web. 26 Jan. 2026. <http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Walkers-Everyday-Use/23559>

"Walker's Everyday Use." Essayworld.com. March 11, 2005. Accessed January 26, 2026. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Walkers-Everyday-Use/23559.

JOIN NOW

Join today and get instant access to this and 50,000+ other essays

PAPER DETAILS

Added: 3/11/2005 04:16:35 PM
Category: Book Reports
Type: Free Paper
Words: 424
Pages: 2

Save |

Report

SHARE THIS PAPER

SAVED ESSAYS

Save and find your favorite essays easier