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ALICE WALKER
“EVERYDAY USE”
1. STRUCTURE: “Everyday Use” is divided into three parts:
(a) Beginning: The mother’s thoughts as she and her younger daughter _________
anxiously await a late-afternoon visit by her older daughter _____. (paragraph
1-16).
(b) Middle: The arrival of this daughter, who brings a ________ companion; after
dinner, the mother makes a controversial decision about a family heirloom, two
________. (par. 17-77)
(c) End: Upset by the decision, ______, with her companion in tow, abruptly
leaves. The story closes as it opened, with the mother and _________ sitting
in the yard, now filled with enjoyment, not anxiety. (par. 78-83)
(d) By examining in detail what Alice _________ does in these three parts of
“Everyday Use,” you will be able to apply this structural pattern to other short
stories which we may study.
2. The BEGINNING of a story typically establishes the setting (place and time),
introduces the main characters, and presents the problem with which the story
will deal.
(a) Place and time: “Everyday Use” opens in a farmhouse setting, probably in
_________ (given the reference in paragraph 11 to this state’s third largest city
Augusta), during the early 1970s. (The story was published in 1973.)
This was a period when African-based hairstyles (par. 19), _______ (par. 20),
and ________ (par. 24-27) began to be adopted by some African Americans.
The reference to a ____ show (par. 3), which was revived with much fanfare in
1970, points to that year as the specific time of “Everyday Use.”
(b) Characters: The narrator of the story is a mother. Through her ruminations we
learn that her ________ daughter Dee, who lives a distance from her, is paying
a rare _______ to her that afternoon.
The name of the mother is Mrs. _____________. (par. 6)
Her first name is never mentioned.
We also learn that her _________ daughter Maggie lives with her.
3. Briefly characterize the three women.
(a) Mrs. Johnson, the mother, is a ______.
(1) Her deceased husband is strangely mentioned in only one sentence and
then in reference to their children: Their “________” made “the benches . . . for
the ________ when we couldn’t afford to buy _________.” (par. 45)
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He seems not to have been present at the time of the most traumatic episode
which faced the family, the burning down of their first house, ten or “________
years” before the present action of the story. (par. 10)
(2) Mrs. Johnson is probably around fifty, likely born in 1920 since paragraph 13
establishes that she was in the _________ grade in 1927, her last year of formal
education.
(3) She is a hefty, strong woman, who prides herself in being able to do a man’s
work: “I can kill and clean a hog as mercilessly as a ______” (par. 5) and “I
was always ________ at a man’s _____” (par. 13).
(4) However, both she and her stay-at-home daughter seem cowed by the
thought of the older daughter, who had left their farm, got a college education,
and afterward had “______ it” (par. 3), that is, become a success, so much
so that Mrs. Johnson fantasizes that an episode of a popular
_______________ program is devoted to her achievements. (par. 3-5)
Note: Johnny Carson: This TV entertainer began hosting “The Tonight Show” in
1962. It did not become a success until the late 1960s, but by the 1970s Carson
had become an American icon, remaining as such until his 1992 retirement.
There was another TV entertainer, Ralph Edwards, who hosted a show, “This is
Your Life” (1952-61 and 1971-72). This program surprised a guest and took the
person through his/her life in front of a live audience. Colleagues, friends, and
family were brought on the stage to praise or be praised by the person being
honored, as in Mrs. Johnson’s dream.
(b) Dee, who was always bright as a child, seems forgetful that it was through the
“_______” raised by her mother and their “________” which allowed her to
attend college. (par. 11)
(1) Her urban education has further alienated her from her _________,
although this estrangement manifested itself earlier: Even “at sixteen,” the older
daughter “had a ________ of her own” (par. 12), the mother states, radically
different from the rural-based outlook of her mother and sister.
(2) Dee’s _____ is never given although she is probably in her mid-twenties,
far enough removed from her __________ graduation to have achieved the
success about which her mother fantasizes.
(3) Her field of success is never specified although the elaborate lining up of
shots in the ____________ camera scene (par. 22), her planned
“____________” positioning of the “dasher” of the butter churn (par. 53), and
her envisioned _________ of the quilts as if they are paintings (par. 72) suggest
that she is an artist.
(4) Even at a distance, Dee seems to dominate her mother: In her television
dream Mrs. Johnson proudly sees herself as “the way [Dee] would ______ me
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to be”: slimmer, less dark in color, and with a “_______ and ________
tongue.” (par. 5)
Both Mrs. Johnson and Maggie believe Dee is ashamed of her rural background
and of her uneducated family members because “she will never bring her
__________” from the city (par. 14) to meet them.
(c) Maggie, the younger daughter, views Dee with “envy and _____” and
accepts that “‘_____’ is a word the world [including Maggie herself] never
learned to say to her.” (par. 2)
(1) Maggie’s age is also not specified. Her mother says that she is “a
________ now, though sometimes I forget” (par 10), that is, she still views her
as a child even though Maggie is __________ and will soon be in charge of
her own house (par. 13). These details suggest that she is probably around
twenty, about _______ years younger than Dee.
(2) Maggie’s “arms and ______” had been scarred (par. 2)—and perhaps her
____________ damaged (par. 13)—when the family’s house had burned down.
Maggie would have been from eight to ten years old then.
(3) Without “good _______,” money, and intelligence (“not ________”),
Maggie does have a “______” nature and is engaged to the “__________,” but
unattractive, John ________. (par. 13)
4. The INCITING MOMENT of a story is that point when the problem of the story is
presented. It closes out the beginning section of a story.
What is the inciting moment of “Everyday Use”?
(a) Once the reader knows the nature of the relationship—where the older sister
_____ dominates both her mother and younger sister and where she feels
__________ of her rural background—there develops an interest in what will
happen during this visit.
(b) Thus the inciting moment is the intimidation and foreboding which the reader
(and both Mrs. Johnson and Maggie) feel about what should be a _________
occasion—the _________ of a family member, who is both a daughter and
a sister.
(c) At this point the reader typically asks two questions:
Why has Dee come to visit her ____________?
As before, will Dee try to ______________ her mother and sister,
cowing them into letting her get her way, or has she come for a true reunion and
reconciliation?
5. MIDDLE: The middle of a story develops the characters and the problem. The
middle closes with the climax (the high point of a story), where the problem is
resolved and the questions asked at the inciting moment are answered.
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In “Everyday Use,” how does her mother’s reaction to Dee’s dress, to the
Polaroid pictures, Dee’s new name, and her companion suggest that the gulf
between mother and daughter has widened?
Which character is domineering and which one, though upset, shows tolerance?
(a) Dee’s dress: Dee sets herself off from her family by dressing in a radical different
style from the clothes of her mother and sister, that of a woman from Africa: A
flowing robe in bright “_________ and oranges” which is “so ______” it
initially “hurts” her mother’s “____.” (par. 20)
However, on seeing how “________” it hangs, which keeps the garment from
being hot, the practical Mrs. Johnson changes her judgment and says to herself,
“I _______ it.” (par. 20)
Thus Dee’s robe and its accessories only momentarily cause a breach between
Mrs. Johnson and her daughter.
(b) The Polaroid pictures: What does Dee do before she reaches down to kiss her
mother? Describe the kiss.
(1) Dee approaches her mother, but she greets her with an African expression
which, of course, makes no ________ to Mrs. Johnson.
(2) Most daughters who have been separated for a time from their mother would
rush to embrace her parent. However, Dee hurries back to the car to retrieve a
Polaroid camera.
She begins to snap “_________ after __________,”
but “never takes a
______ without making sure that the _______ is included” (par. 22), as if
these images and the house are more important than her flesh-and-blood
________. Her actions hint at (foreshadow) why she has come home.
(3) It is only after this photo session that she “_________” her mother “on the
_________” (par 22), a rather curt cold greeting—nothing like Mrs. Johnson’s
TV dream where Dee was “_________ me with ______ in her eyes” (par. 4).
This kiss encapsulates the apathy that Dee feels toward her parent.
(At the close of the story, in paragraph 81, with similar mechanical indifference
Dee will kiss her sister Maggie.)
Vocabulary notes: “Wa-su-zo Tean-o!” (par. 21): A “good morning” greeting
used by a tribe in east African Uganda.
Its literal translation is “I hope that you slept well.”
“Asalamalakim” (par. 21): The accepted transcription of the Arabic phrase in
English is “as-salamu alaykum,” a greeting among Muslims meaning “Peace be
upon you!”—”salam” being the Arabic word for “peace.”
Dee’s male companion Hakim mispronounces the fourth and the last syllables of
the greeting, an indication of his lack of mastery of the religion Islam to which he
says he is in the process of converting.
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(c) Dee’s new name: Dee announces that she has taken a new African-based name
__________ Leewanika ___________ and adds that the woman called
Dee is “______.” (par. 25 and 27).
(1) She justifies the change by saying that “I couldn’t bear . . . being ________
after the people who ___________ me.” (par. 27)
(2) Mrs. Johnson counters that the passing down of the name Dee—which dates
from before the _______ War (par. 32)—says more about the survival of their
family than about a stigma imposed on them by their slave masters and
oppressors.
As such it is more a part of her family’s _________ than Dee’s adopted African
name.
(3) However, again Mrs. Johnson seems tolerant. After her older daughter insists
that she did not want to be called Dee (par. 25), her mother begins mentally to
think of her as __________ (par. 29, 31-32, 36) and after practice even
pronounces it correctly (par. 37-42).
(4) Thereafter in her thoughts sometimes Mrs. Johnson uses both names:
“Wangero (______)” in paragraph 44 and “Dee (_________) in paragraphs
50, 53, 55, 62, 67, and 70.
As if she is wrestling with her older daughter’s identity, she further uses
“Wangero” (par. 45, 55, 56, 59) and its mockingly formal equivalent
“______ Wangero” (par. 76).
(5) Significantly, however, after the victory over her domineering daughter, her
final thought of her is as “______.” (par. 77)
(d) Dee’s companion Hakim is a “short, ________ man” (par. 19), presumably
Dee’s age. Mrs. Johnson takes an immediate dislike of him because of his Afro
hairstyle—“______ is all over his head a ______ long”—and his unkempt
beard. (par. 19)
(1) However, what probably most upsets her is that neither he nor Dee
announced whether they were “_________.” (par. 44)
However, Hakim seems to hint that they are by addressing Mrs. Johnson and
Maggie as “my _________ and sister” (par. 21).
(2) He is studying to become a Muslim, saying “I accept some of their [Islamic]
___________” (par. 44), and has adopted an Arabic/Swahili name used in both
Muslim and African societies.
Mrs. Johnson comically mishears his name Hakim al Barbar as “Hakim-a_________.” (par. 42)
Etymology: In Arabic and Swahili the name Hakim means “a religious ruler or
leader.” “Barbar,” whose etymon (earliest form) is the Latin word meaning
“foreigner” or “barbarian,” was borrowed by Arabic to designate the indigenous
people of parts of northern Africa, now called Berbers.
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(3) Hakim follows Muslim practice by refusing to eat ______ and even
collards which may contain a pork byproduct. (par. 45)
That ______ gorges on both indicates that she is not applying herself to
become a Muslim.
(4) Hakim’s taking of Maggie’s ______ (par. 21 and 23) is certainly not
flirting as Mrs. Johnson and most critics of the story believe, but simply an
attempt to introduce his “sister” to a Black Power “_______” (Mrs.
Johnson’s word, par. 23) soulful handshake.
This Black Power greeting, according to Wikipedia, consists of “getting and
giving much skin” (of the knuckles, fingertips, fist, palms, etc.) and is designed in
its ritualistic complexity to be the opposite of the simple handshake of whites.
(5) Mrs. Johnson scarcely hides her contempt for Hakim, who incidentally had
greeted her and Maggie with affection.
Her animosity perhaps occasions him to send “eye ________” to Dee that her
mother is “a Model A _____” (par. 36), a hopeless relic from the past.
Hakim’s presence thus accentuates the gap between Mrs. Johnson and
______.
Vocabulary: “chitlins” (par. 45): a variant of “chitterlings,” a deep-fried meat
made from the small intestines of pigs.
“Model A”: A model of a car built by the Ford Motor Company from 1927-1931.
6. After the four characters have eaten supper, the selfish reason behind Dee’s visit
becomes apparent.
Why has she returned?
(a) Her dress, her new ________, and her companion indicate that Dee and
probably her friends in the city have become involved in a new project—
searching out their roots or their “_________” (par. 81)—which had
become chic in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
(b) Dee has returned to scavenge for some mementos of her _________ past. She
may be ashamed of her ________ family, but not of its home-crafted antique
items, such as a part of the _________ churn, which, Dee says, can be used “as
a _____________ for [her and perhaps Hakim’s] alcove table.” (par. 53)
Vocabulary: “dasher” (par. 49): A device with blades used to churn butter.
“alcove”: a recessed section of a room, as a breakfast nook.
(c) More specifically Dee has come for “two” “old _________.” After supper she
had purposively walked to a “________” in the bedroom of the shack, dug the
quilts out and as “________ as a bird” asked for them. (par. 55 and 56)
(1) The quilts had been made from scraps of garments worn by Johnson
__________ members. The oldest piece was from the “______” Union
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uniform that Mrs. Johnson’s ________ grandfather Ezra had worn during the
Civil War. (par. 55)
(2) Her grandmother had pinned the pieces together, establishing the basic
pattern of each quilt—Lone ______ and Walk Around the ___________.
(3) However, it was Mrs. Johnson and her sister _____ Dee who had hung
them on “quilt ________” and sewn the pieces together, making the top layer of
each quilt. (par. 55)
Not mentioned but understood: The sisters would have also made the neutralhued lower layer and the batting middle section prior to sewing the three layers
together.
Vocabulary: A Lone Star quilt uses an eight-pointed star as its motif.
The Walk Around the Mountain quilt is mentioned only in Walker’s story. She
may be engaging in wordplay on the Walk Around the Block quilt which has a
triangle design.
(d) Years earlier when Dee was going off to __________, her mother had tried to
get her to take one of the quilts, but Dee had scorned them as being “_________________, out of ________.” (par. 67)
Mrs. Johnson had then promised them to _________ to use when she got
__________. (par. 64)
(e) When told of this decision, Dee protests that Maggie could not appreciate the
heritage involved in these quilts: “She’d probably be __________ enough to
put them to ___________ _____” (par. 66), the expression which gives the
story its title.
(f) Her mother replies that such practical use is what the quilts need and adds that
packed away in the trunk, awaiting Maggie’s marriage, they had gone “long
enough with nobody _______” them. (par. 67)
(g) Dee argues that she will preserve the quilts by __________ them on the wall
of a room in her house. Implied is that they will become “____________”
conversation pieces (par. 68) for her upscale friends to admire.
When Dee protests that the antique quilts will be destroyed by everyday use—“in
five years they’d be ______” (par. 68)—her mother answers that since
“Maggie ______ how to quilt,” she can more some more (par. 69), presumably
using some of the salvageable pieces of the old quilts.
(h) Maggie, who has been listening to the conversation, tells her mother to let Dee
have them, adding “I can remember __________ Dee without the
_________.” (par. 74)
Maggie’s speech puts pressure on her mother to make the decision that Dee has
previously decreed: The quilts “already ___________ to her.” (par. 62)
(i) Mrs. Johnson had already accommodated her domineering older daughter
concerning her dress, the photographs, her new name, and the parts of the butter
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churn because she seemed to accept that “‘no’ is a word the _________ never
__________ to say to Dee” (par. 2).
Will this chain of acquiescence continue with the _______? the reader
wonders.
7. The CLIMAX of a story is its turning point, the scene where a decision is made, an
action performed, or a recognition achieved that will resolve the problem which
was raised at the inciting moment.
Often a surprise or reversal of what the reader expects occurs.
What is the climax of “Everyday Use”?
(a) Listening to and looking at Maggie, whose selflessness in being willing to
surrender something which she treasures in order to promote family
_________, Mrs. Johnson realizes the depth of Dee’s ______________.
(b) She recognizes that her older daughter, despite her education, really does not
understand the heritage involved in the quilts: What Dee disdainfully calls
Maggie’s “__________ use” (par. 66) actually celebrates the family’s heritage
better than Dee’s planned faddish displays of the quilts, her mother mentally
concludes.
(c) This recognition is the climax of the story because in a stark reversal the mother
stands up to her overbearing older daughter and in the process elevates her
downtrodden younger child: Mrs. Johnson “___________ the quilts out of
______ Wangero’s hands and dumped them into _________ lap.” (par. 76)
8. END or DENOUEMENT: This last section of a short story provides resolution by
presenting the consequences of the decision made or decisive action taken at the
climax. It is typically the shortest part of a story.
Note: Denouement is based on two French meaning “to untie the knots,” that is,
in literature any minor unresolved problems in a story.
In the process further reversal and recognition are often presented.
(a) In “Everyday Use” reversal is seen when the departing Dee, furious at being
denied, accuses her mother and sister of not understanding “your
__________.” (par. 81)
The reader recognizes that the reverse is true: Maggie and her mother, who put
their heritage to “everyday ______,” understand it better than Dee, whose
ideas of cultural heritage are as flashy and superficial as the bright dress (par. 20)
and large “____________” (par. 82) which she dons.
(b) At the end of the story who smiles for the first time?
_____________. Her mother’s decision has at long last instilled her with self________.
No longer is she ______________ by Dee, whose closing criticism that the
younger sister “ought to try to ______ something of ___________” is met
with a smile, her mother notes, “a real smile, not _________.” (par. 83)
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(c) After Dee and Hakim have driven off, the mother and Maggie “sat there just
___________” themselves and their victory. (par. 83) Why?
After years of submission, they had finally ________ up to the phoniness of
_____ and therefore no longer felt __________ of their lives.
9. The theme of “Everyday Use” is expressed through the symbolism of the old quilts.
Explain what the quilts symbolize on the one side to the mother and Maggie and
on the other side to Dee.
Out of this contrasting symbolism, what theme emerges?
(a) SYMBOLISM:
For the mother and Maggie, the quilts symbolize their
___________ life, their devotion to __________, and their fond memories
of their ___________.
The people behind the __________ are what is important.
(b) For Dee/Wangero, the quilts, like her new name, symbolize a heritage that is
for _______, not for use.
She wants to hang them as artwork on a
______ in her house, putting them out of “everyday use.”
Ripped from the context of the family, where the quilts had been present during
its major events—conception, childbirth, illness, maturity, _____ age, and
finally _______—they would lose their binding and sheltering purposes.
(c)
THEME: To the mother and Maggie, heritage means _________—Great
Grandpa _______, Grandpa _________, Grandma _____ (par. 55), Aunt
Dee and her husband Stash (par. 52), Mrs. Johnson’s husband (par. 45),
members of her ________ (par. 11), and their other friends in their community.
(d) To Dee/Wangero, heritage means _____________. She prefers __________
over people and stylized _______________ of her mother and sister over her
real-life family.
The supposedly slow-witted Maggie had earlier made one of the most perceptive
comments about her egocentric older sister, “Mama, when did Dee ever have any
__________?” (par. 14)
10. Why did Walker use as the subtitle/dedication of the story “For Your
Grandmother”?
It is designed to encourage readers to think about not just the characters in her
story but also their own ancestors, represented by “your ______________,”
and the ___________ passed down by previous generations.