“Everyday Use”: One idea for a paper

Thesis: Alice Walker offers differing portrayals of her characters, Dee and Maggie, in order to call into question the meaning of heritage.

I. Walker contrasts the appearances of Dee and Maggie.

II. While Maggie is relatively meek, Dee comes across as assertive and rude.

III. Dee and Maggie differ in their understandings of what “heritage” really means.

Dee and Maggie differ in that while Maggie is capable of contributing creatively to her own life, Dee, on the other hand, must rely on the works of others and, consequently, is excluded from her own heritage. Walker emphasizes Maggie’s creativity and connection to heritage in that she, unlike Dee, is capable of quilting. Mama acknowledges Maggie’s ability to quilt. She says to Dee, after Dee has questioned Maggie’s ability to adequately care for the “priceless” quilts, “She can always make some more…Maggie knows how to quilt.” Here we can see that Maggie, unlike Dee, has a mind and imagination capable of preserving the wisdom of grandmothers and aunts without the material prompts Dee seems to require. Because Maggie can produce new quilts, Walker seems to emphasize Maggie’s deeper connection to heritage, one that is ongoing and subjective unlike Dee’s, which is removed from and objective.