Everyday Use, Essay Example

In Everyday Use, Alice Walker uses a series of symbols to illustrate the life of a mother and her two girls. Throughout the story, the mother focuses on describing the stark contrast between her and her daughters. This comparison is facilitated by the degree of symbolism utilized by the author. While the literal meaning of the symbols are important, the family’s yard, the quilts, and Maggie’s burn scars provide the story with a deeper meaning and reinforce the author’s purpose. These symbols are all important because they emphasize the history of the family and connect these ideas with the changes they must learn to face in the modern world in addition to the parts of their past that they should ensure are kept with them.

The story opens with a description of the family’s yard, which is described as comfortable and a place that holds many family memories. While the main action of the story occurs within the house, mainly everything associated with the yard is peaceful. In the beginning of the story, the mother describes it as “an extended living room”. At the end of the story, she provides the same sentiment, indicating the calming nature of the yard as she watches the “car dust settle”. It is apparent that the mother finds the yard to be her happy place because she is able to make everything perfect there. She is concerned with the organization of the clay and the sand and believes that their proper placement can enhance the peace that she feels while she is there. In the last paragraph of the story, we learn that the yard is a place of comfort for true members of the family, as Maggie feels just as comfortable there as her mom does. It is the one place she will allow herself to be happy instead of scared.

The quilt is an important symbol in the story because it is representative of the family’s heritage in addition to the different ways that this heritage is honored by Maggie and Dee, which demonstrates an important contrast between the two sisters. The quilt is tied together tightly and therefore represents the ties of family. Dee does not recognize the importance of these ties and although she tries to by becoming more understanding of African culture, loses an understanding of her family in the process. On the other hand, Maggie appreciates the true value of the quilt and wants it to be used instead of serving as a form of decoration. This distinction between Maggie and Dee helps their mother gain a greater appreciation for Maggie, who appears to be the “lesser” sister at first but proves herself by the end of the story. Since the mother has a great appreciation for her ancestors and as a consequence the fabric that was used to make the quilt, she is appreciative that Maggie understands its true value.

Maggie’s burn scars are also an important symbol in this story, as it contrasts her as a character to Dee who is described to be perfect. However, we learn that the physical appearance of these sisters is not a reflection of their personalities. While Dee is proud of her looks and attitude and Maggie is shy and homely because of the burns, it is apparent that Maggie has a greater understanding of the importance of her cultural background while Dee does so more superficially. Dee appreciates the importance of items that were held by her ancestors and as a consequence wants to be more ingrained in African culture, but in the process misses the importance of the items to the family. This contrast therefore emphasizes the awareness that Maggie has of her roots compared to her sister, as colonial slavery is just as much a part of their history as their African ancestry.

In conclusion, the author of Everyday Use utilizes symbolism in able to create a contrast between Dee and Maggie in relation to their ability to understand their roots. Maggie, like her mother, fully appreciates the yard and recognizes it as a place of peace. This demonstrates that she is able to understand the struggles that her mother has experienced and believes that the sentiments of the yard should be shared. Meanwhile, Dee is less fascinated with the yard, which shows a disconnect between her and the rest of the family. Next, the quilt symbolizes both the African and American ancestry of the family, even though Dee believes that it is only representative of African life. Both the mother and Maggie recognize that this is not the case, and that it is symbolic of all aspects of the family’s ancestry. Lastly, Maggie’s burn scars create an even greater contrast between Dee and Maggie by emphasizing the difference in both their physical appearance and mental attitudes. These symbols indicate that Maggie is a greater representation of what the family represents than Dee, who only appreciates the surface value of the family’s struggles.