Everyday
Use
Alice Walker
Historical Background
•  Written in 1973
•  Black Nationalism/ Black Pride
– Ideas encouraged African-Americans to
learn about their African ancestry
– emphasized cultural, political, and
economic independence for African
Americans
– Discriminated against women
•  Alice Walker was against this movement
Black Feminism
•  Women s Rights
–  Movement was started by
white suburban females
–  African-American women
felt excluded
–  Alice Walker, Toni
Morrison, Gloria Naylor
represented this
movement
Symbolism and the Quilts
•  Quilts contained
pieces of the clothes
Maggie and Dee s
grandparents wore.
•  Presents a snapshot
of the life of the
Johnson heritage.
Symbolism and the Quilts
•  Dee
–  Perceives the quilt as an ornate item/
artifact of her culture
•  Wants to hang the quilts
•  Maggie
–  Perceives the quilt as both a product
and a process (quilt making is
process) upon which her way of life
is dependent
•  Quilts should be put to everyday use
rather than hung on a wall.
–  Scarred body resembles the faded
patches of the quilts.
Language of Ms. Johnson
•  2nd grade education
•  Can be described as simple to complex
–  Uses simple sentence constructions and
words to express complex perceptions and
feelings
Contrasts
•  Maggie
–  Shy, devoted, awkward, sweet-natured,
domesticated
•  Dee
–  Outspoken, stylish, attractive, educated ,
free spirited
•  Attitudes
–  Traditional vs. progressive
Dee s Name
•  Named after her
Grandma
•  Regards Dee as a
slave name
•  Denies her authentic
heritage by changing her
name
Irony/Taking Pictures of House
•  House
– Hated her house, but wanted to show
friends pictures of her house
•  The Quilts
– Refused them when her mother tried to
offer them to her; now she wants to
display/show them off.
Title of the Story
•  Quilts should be put to
everyday use – not hung.
•  Quilting symbolizes the
process out of which the
unimportant and
meaningless may be
transformed into
something that is valued
and useful.