Everyday Use Study Guide

Everyday Use

Everyday Use by Alice Walker

Everyday Use is the story of an African American family and its eldest daughter's conflict with her mother over their heritage as expressed through family heirlooms that will be passed down from the family's matriarch to her daughters. It dwells on themes of racial identity, African American heritage, and the ways in which families choose to honor or discard pieces of their familial identity. It also deals with the focus placed on objects signifying the past's connection to the present.

Everyday Use Characters

Table of Contents
  • Dee – She is an educated African-American woman. When she was young, she rejected her traditional heritage, but she seeks later on to embrace it through changing her name from Dee to Wangero (an African name), marrying a Muslim man, and acquiring artifacts from Mama's house to put on display.
  • Mama – She is described as a "large, big-boned woman with rough, man-working hands." She enjoys her lifestyle (especially milking cows).
  • Maggie – Though described by her mother as dull and unattractive, Maggie is a very innocent and humble character. She leads a simple and traditional life with her mother in the South while her elder sister, Dee, is away at school.
  • Dee's husband – He is referred to as "Asalamalakim", which is a Muslim greeting, by Mama because he is Muslim. He is short and stocky and has long hair that reaches his waist and a long, bushy beard.

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