As
sisters
, almost the only thing Dee and Maggie have in common is that they are sisters. Both have relatives in common, most significantly their mother, and they grew up together in Southern poverty.
How are Dee and Maggie alike?
Expert Answers
Both girls come from the same background, and they are both beautiful in their own ways…
Dee more ostentatious and outgoing
, Maggie in a spiritual and loyal way due to her scars and low self-esteem.
What do you think is the most significant thing that Dee and Maggie have in common Why?
The most significant thing they have in common is
their shared familial and cultural heritage
. Their most compelling difference is their outlook towards life. While Maggie is content with her life, Dee wants more for herself and for African American women.
What do Maggie and Dee have in common in everyday use?
What do Dee and Maggie have in common? Dee and Maggie in “Everyday Use” are similar in that
they both love their mother and strongly desire the quilts that their mother
, aunt and grandmother have made. Their actions and words demonstrate that both characters love their mother, although Dee is also judgmental of her.
What do Dee and Mama have in common?
Mama and Dee are
both strong-willed and determined
; Mama's determination is reflected in how she meets the challenges in her life headlong. … Dee is also strong-willed and determined; however, her determination is expressed differently than her mother's.
What was the biggest difference between Dee and Maggie?
Expert Answers
Maggie is “homely,” shy, and has scars from her burns.
Dee is lighter, “with nicer hair and a fuller figure
.” Maggie looks at Dee with “envy and awe.” Maggie feels that life has always been easier for Dee than for her.
Are Maggie and Dee sisters?
The most basic relationship is that they are sisters.
Dee is the older sister, Maggie the younger
.
What is the main idea of Everyday Use?
The main idea of “Everyday Use” is
that culture is best celebrated and appreciated by living it rather than by holding it at a distance
. Dee, one of the narrator's daughters, has long been embarrassed by her African American mother's country ways.
Why is the story called Everyday Use?
In the short story ”Everyday Use
Alice Walker uses Dee to symbolize how people didn't put their culture into “everyday use”
. In the story, Dee came back from college expressing her “heritage”. … Alice walker wrote “Everyday Use” to demonstrate that heritage should be embodied everyday.
What terrible things happened to Maggie when she was a child?
From when she was seven years old until she was 14,
Maggie was raped on multiple occasions by the three foster boys
. The main offender was a boy named Dan. After one incident with Dan, Maggie reported the abuse to her foster mother.
Why does Dee change her name?
The reason that Dee gives for changing her name is
that she doesn't want to go by her “slave name
.” She chooses an African name to better represents her family heritage. Of course, in doing this she actually separates herself from her family heritage (Dee was, in fact, a family name).
Why does the narrator want Maggie to have the quilts instead of Dee?
Mama, the narrator, ultimately gives the family quilts to Maggie instead of Dee (Wangero)
because she recognizes that Dee gets everything she wants, that she's even already claimed the quilts as her own
, because they were promised to Maggie, and because Maggie is the daughter who wants them for the right reasons.
How does Maggie change in Everyday Use?
The shy, retiring daughter who lives with Mama. Burned in a house fire as a young girl, Maggie
lacks confidence and shuffles when she walks
, often fleeing or hanging in the background when there are other people around, unable to make eye contact. She is good-hearted, kind, and dutiful.
What is the relationship between Mama and Dee in everyday use?
Dee can be called the antithesis of Mama:
They are opposites in every way
. Mama is fat; Dee is thin. Mama is uneducated; Dee has a college degree. Mama loves both of her daughters, but we sense that Mama dislikes Dee; she knows that Dee is embarrassed by her–the way she looks, the way she talks, the way she lives.
What does Dee accuse mama of not understanding?
Near the end of the story, Dee accuses Mama of not understanding
their African American heritage
. She understands that there is a new wave of equality and African American women should fight for their place within it and reject any kind of inequality.
Why does Dee want the quilts?
Why does Dee want the quilts? Dee wants the quilts
so she can hang them up in her home and remember her heritage
. At the end of the story, the mother “snatched the quilts out of Mrs. Wangero's hands and dumped them into Maggie's lap” (8).
