Everyday Use

How do Walker's comments about quilting in the article you read help your understanding of "Everyday Use"?

How do Walker's comments about quilting in the article you read help your understanding of "Everyday Use"?

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I can only speak for the story text. Dee reflects the theme connected with the title of this story. She is dismayed that Maggie and her mother would use the quilts everyday, despite their functionality. Dee views the quilts as remnants of a culture that is dying or already dead. Note Alice Walker’s use of both Dee’s given name and her name of reinvention. In this moment, Dee is not Dee, but Wangero - she ceases to understand the heritage in her hands. Dee rejects factory made quilts that Mama offers her: she cannot exploit them. For Mama, the quilts represent both a practical and emotional consciousness that should remain above Dee’s manipulation.

Dee (Wangero) looked at me with hatred. “You just will not understand. The point is these quilts, these quilts.”

Dee/Wangero, pg. 96