Everyday Use Summary

Alice Walker • Short story

Everyday Use by Alice Walker Summary: Book Characters and Analysis

Everyday Use by Alice Walker is a short story that explores heritage, identity, and the tension between lived experience and symbolic tradition. First published in 1973, the story examines how cultural heritage can be misunderstood, romanticized, or commodified when separated from daily life.

Introduction to Alice Walker’s Work

Alice Walker stands as a transformative figure in American literature, celebrated for her profound exploration of the lives and legacies of African American women. Best known for her Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, The Color Purple, Walker’s writing consistently centers on the intersections of race, gender, and cultural heritage. Her stories give voice to black women whose experiences have often been overlooked, illuminating both the hardships and the resilience that define their lives.

In her acclaimed short story collection, In Love and Trouble, Walker presents narratives that delve into the complexities of family members and their ties to African American heritage. “Everyday Use,” one of the most widely studied stories from this collection, exemplifies Walker’s ability to capture the nuances of generational conflict and the search for identity within the black community. Through her characters, Walker examines how cultural heritage is both inherited and reinterpreted, and how the bonds between family members are tested by changing times and values.

Walker’s literary achievements have not only earned her critical acclaim but have also inspired countless readers and writers to engage more deeply with questions of identity, tradition, and empowerment. Her work, including “Everyday Use,” continues to shape conversations about the meaning of heritage and the enduring strength of African American women.

Book Summary of Everyday Use by Alice Walker

The story is narrated by Mama (Mrs. Johnson), a practical, hardworking mother living in a modest home in the rural South with her younger daughter, Maggie. Mama’s house reflects the family's poverty and deep roots in tradition, shaped by the folks habits and other folks' habits of their community. Mama and Maggie’s daily life is marked by self-sufficiency, collard greens on the table, and the influence of generational customs. Maggie, the younger sister, bears burn scars from a traumatic house fire that destroyed their previous home—a pivotal event that left lasting marks on both her body and the family’s history. Mama thinks often about her two daughters, the older daughter Dee and the younger sister Maggie, and fantasizes about moments of reconciliation and pride.

The narrative centers on a visit from Mama’s older daughter, Dee, who left home years earlier to pursue education and self-invention. Dee arrives with a new African name, insisting on being called Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo, as part of her rejection of what she sees as the oppressive legacy of her given name, which was passed down from her aunt Dicie and Grandma Dee. Dee’s transformation is further emphasized by her assertive attitude and actions—she dresses in stylized African clothing, photographs Mama's house as if it were a museum, and is accompanied by her companion, introduced as Hakim a barber, who greets the family with a Muslim greeting, highlighting his connection to African culture and Islamic tradition. Dee asks for family heirlooms, including the butter churn and the handmade benches, and Dee insists on taking the quilts, claiming them as symbols of her reclaimed heritage. Dee's attitude is often dismissive and condescending toward her mother and Maggie, as she describes Dee's own actions as enlightened and superior to her family's folks habits.

The quilts become the central point of conflict. They were made by Grandma Dee and Aunt Dicie, incorporating fabric from generations past, including pieces from the Civil War era. Dee's desire for the quilts is part of her effort to send Dee (the quilts) away from their everyday use, treating them as artifacts rather than living heritage. Maggie, who is shy and reserved, understands the quilts as part of daily life, shaped by the family's poverty and the rural South environment. The family's traditions, including the making of collard greens and the use of the butter churn, are rooted in the folks habits and other folks' habits that define their identity. Maggie, who is engaged to John Thomas, quietly accepts her secondary role, resigned to Dee's actions and desires.

In a decisive moment, Mama refuses Dee’s request. Mama believes that Maggie is the rightful heir to the quilts, recognizing her genuine connection to their heritage. Mama places the quilts in Maggie's lap and hugs Maggie, affirming her love and protection in a rare moment of emotional connection. Maggie smiles quietly, her resilience and humility shining through as Mama and Maggie sit together, grounded in mutual understanding.

Dee’s departure, accompanied by Hakim a barber (Hakim a barber leave), is symbolic—representing not just her physical exit, but her ongoing separation from her family's values and traditions. Mama thinks about Dee's desire for validation and the contrast between Dee's attitude and Maggie's quiet strength. Walker's story uses the family dynamic of two daughters, Mama and Maggie, to explore themes of African culture, the legacy of the civil war, generational conflict, and the meaning of heritage. The story ends with Mama and Maggie together, illustrating that true heritage is preserved through everyday use, not performance or display.

Main Characters in Everyday Use

Mrs. Johnson

The narrator and emotional anchor of the story, Mrs. Johnson is described as a big boned woman. Practical, grounded, and self-aware, she represents a form of strength rooted in survival and responsibility. Her understanding of heritage comes from continuity rather than symbolism.

Dee (Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo)

Educated, confident, and confrontational, the story describes Dee's attitude and actions as an attempt to redefine herself through an externalized version of cultural identity. Her tragedy is not malice, but disconnection—she values heritage as display rather than inheritance.

Maggie

Quiet, scarred, and deeply connected to her family’s history. Maggie embodies lived heritage. She does not articulate ideology, but her understanding of tradition is intimate and unselfconscious.

Analysis of Everyday Use by Alice Walker

Major Themes

Heritage as Lived Experience

Walker contrasts heritage practiced daily with heritage treated as an abstract concept. True inheritance is shown to be functional, continuous, and embodied.

Identity and Self-Invention

Dee’s rejection of her name and family history reflects a desire to escape pain through reinvention. The story questions whether identity can be authentically rebuilt without acknowledging personal roots.

Power and Voice

Dee’s education gives her rhetorical authority, but not moral clarity. Maggie’s silence is not ignorance—it is endurance.

Generational Conflict

The story exposes tensions between intellectualized activism and lived tradition, particularly within marginalized communities.

Symbolism and Literary Devices

• The quilts symbolize generational continuity and functional memory
• Names reflect identity, history, and belonging
• Fire scars represent survival rather than weakness
• The house and yard ground the story in lived space, not abstraction
• First-person narration reinforces experiential truth over ideology

Walker’s restrained prose avoids moralizing, allowing the conflict to unfold through action and contrast rather than authorial judgment.

Author Background and Historical Context

Alice Walker is an American novelist, poet, and activist whose work often explores race, gender, and cultural inheritance. Everyday Use emerged during the Black Arts Movement, engaging critically with contemporary debates about African American identity and cultural reclamation.

Everyday Use: Impact and Legacy

The story is widely taught in American literature courses for its nuanced portrayal of heritage and identity. It remains a central text in discussions of cultural authenticity, generational difference, and the politics of memory.

Conclusion and Significance of Story Everyday Use

“Everyday Use” by Alice Walker endures as a powerful meditation on the meaning of heritage and the ways in which cultural identity is preserved, challenged, and redefined within families. The story’s exploration of the tension between everyday practice and symbolic display resonates far beyond its rural Southern setting, inviting readers to consider how African American history and traditions are honored in their own lives.

By focusing on the lived experiences of characters like Mrs. Johnson and Maggie, Walker underscores the importance of family heirlooms, not as static artifacts, but as living connections to maternal ancestors and the daily realities of black heritage. The story’s nuanced portrayal of generational conflict and the differing attitudes toward African roots and African American culture has made it a touchstone in both literary and cultural studies.

“Everyday Use” remains a vital part of the American literary canon, frequently discussed in classrooms and cited in the African American Review and other scholarly works. Its themes of cultural identity, family traditions, and the true meaning of inheritance continue to inspire reflection and debate. Through this story, Alice Walker affirms that heritage is not merely something to be displayed or claimed, but something to be lived, cherished, and passed down through everyday use.

Who Should Read Everyday Use by Alice Walker

• Readers interested in American short fiction
• Students studying heritage and identity
• Those exploring generational and cultural conflict
• Readers drawn to character-driven moral dilemmas