Essay 2.1.

13
Prompt: Write an argument about who gains the most (emotionally and symbolically) by
the end of the story "Everyday Use."
In her story Everyday Use, Alice Walker describes the changes that two sisters and a
mother experience as they discover the meaning of their heritage. Although everyone comes out
of the story with some sort of wisdom, the elder daughter of the narrator, Dee, shines for the
remarkable changes that she experiences throughout the story. Dee is the person that gains more
both emotionally and symbolically by the end of the story because she created for herself a
strong, confident identity, she learned to value her ancestry, and she changed her name and
relationships to show how she gained a new understanding of her own past.
Dee developed a strong, confident, assertive identity through the misfortunes that
occurred throughout her life, showing a character development that is greater than that of her
mother and sister. Since she was a little girl, Dee showed defiance toward those events that
presented a challenge to her poor family. When her house burned down and her sister was
injured during the accident, Dees mother recalls how Dee had a look of concentration on her
face as she watched the last dingy gray board of the house fall. In a normal case, a little girl
would be scared or crying, but by facing the burning of her own house, Dee reveals that she is
not afraid of disaster. Her strength and courage stayed with her during high school, where
without nothing beautiful to wear for prom, she created a dress out of an old suit that someone
had given to her mother. Dees reactions to misfortunes display a great emotional gain that gave
her the strength and confidence needed to attend school away from her native town.
In her school years, Dee reads and learns about her past as an African American, which
makes her realize the worth of her ancestry, understand the oppression that her family had to
bear, and change her identity. With the help of a local church, Dees mother affords to send her
to school to Augusta, which teaches Dee to read about other folks' habits. By attending school,
Dee learns how even her own name is a product of slavery. This is witnessed when she asks her
mother But who was she named after? making reference to her aunts name, after whom she
had been named. Perturbed with the idea of living with the name of her oppressors, Dee
declares to her mother and sister that her new name would be Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo.
This name is symbolic because it represents Dees transition from a young girl that was simply
brave and strong, to a woman whose principles are above everything. Dee believed that by
changing her name to one that was most representative of her African origins, she would honor
her ancestry. Not content with changing her name, Dee also changed her appearance by wearing
yellows and oranges, earrings gold and bracelets, all of these representative of her lost
African culture. Although these new clothes and name symbolize a sense of pride for her culture,
Dee felt that this was not enough to honor her ancestors. She needed something that was
physically connected to her own family.
Dees petition for her Grandma Dee's butter dish, and the two quilts pieced by her family
demonstrate that Dee has gained a deeper understanding of her own family history and that she is
ready to be part of it, thus illustrating her growth as a person. After sitting a while and talking to
her mother and sister, Dee asks her mother if she could have Grandma Dees butter dish, which
has passed through two generations and represents a part of her family history that was not
connected to the oppression she detested so much. Her mother accepts her petition, but not
without first describing the beautiful light yellow wood that once belonged to a tree that grew
in the yard where Big Dee and Stash [Dees grandfather] had lived. This description emphasizes
the worth of the butter dish and reinforces Dees desire to have an object that represents herself
and her family history.
Dee is the person that throughout the story has changed and gained the most emotionally
and symbolically. After reading Everyday Use one may think that person that truly gained the
most was Maggie, who achieved a certain degree of confidence in herself after her mother took
away invaluable quilts from Dee to give them to her. Although this is proof of personal
development by the end of the story, it is minuscule compared with the personal development
that Dee had throughout the story. Dee changed and evolved constantly while Maggie remained
as a shy, pitiful girl for most of the story. The only gains that Maggie could obtain, and not by
her own means, were the old quilts made by her grandma with scraps of dresses that once
belonged to the family and even a piece of the uniform that Great Grandpa Ezra's () wore in
the Civil War. These quilts represent the only victory for Maggie in the whole story, and though
extremely valuable, do not amount Dees personal and material gains.
In Everyday Use, Dee was the character that had the most comprehensive development
throughout the story. She acquired a strong and persistent personality by facing serious
challenges as a young girl, fostered a sense of liberty and independence out of her readings, and
changed the way in which she perceived her own family heritage. Alice Walker presents us in
these story different points of view about culture and heritage, making us question which point of
view is correct by describing the gains of the characters in the story. Whether Dees view of her
own heritage is right or wrong, it is up to each person to decide.