Alice Walker- "Everyday Use"

Despite the fact that Alice Walker was the last of eight children, born into poverty, she surmounted the odds and became a very important voice for the rights of southern blacks, especially women. Her most famous book is probably The Color Purple which was adapted for the screen, and received critical acclaim. She even won a Pulitzer Prize for the book.
The story we read this week by Walker was called Everyday Use. The story opens with a mother dreaming of being reunited with her daughter after years of separation. She imagines being on a television show and being the kind of woman her daughter wishes she would be- articulate, light skinned, thin, and witty. In reality she is a large, husky woman well-suited for hard labor rather than intellectualism. She is a realist who sees the importance of hard work and doesn't have time for frivolity. She has two daughters. One is Dee who left long ago, and said while she may be back in the future she certainly wouldn't bring any of her friends to meet her mother and sister in there little shack of a house. She thinks she is better than they are, and when she finally does come for a visit, she is snobbish and uppity. The second daughter's name is Maggie. Maggie was caught in a fire years ago, and is now a timid little waif of a girl who shuffles around with her eyes to the ground. She is unsure of herself and doesn't interact well with other people.
The main part of the story is about Dee paying Maggie and their mother a visit with a man she may or may not be married to. They have taken on African names, and put on like they are better for it. Dee has become Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo because, she says, Dee is a name after those who oppressed her people. Anyway, Wangero and this man waltz in and start taking things from the small house. They take a butter churn and say they will use it as a centerpiece. She even wants to take some quilts made from fabric from three generations to hang up on her walls. These quilts have been promised to Maggie, but Wangero says she will just ruin them-that they aren't for everyday use. Everything in the house is quaint and kitshy to Wangero and her man-friend when, in reality, it is a very utilitarian house with very utilitarian things in it. These everyday use items are seen by Wangero as something to put into a museum, not as useful things meant for everyday use. In the end the mother grabs the quilts from Wangero and gives them back to Maggie who she knows will appreciate them and put them to the good use they were meant to have.