Structure
The structure of the short story “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker includes narrative techniques like backstory and foreshadowin…
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Beginning
In the exposition, Mama is waiting for her daughter Dee, in the yard that she cleaned the previous afternoon with her other daughter, Maggie. The exposition is fairly long, setting the scene and explaining the relationship between Mama and her daughters Maggie and Dee.
First, we learn about Maggie through Mama’s perspective: Maggie will be nervous and anxious throughout her sister Dee’s visit, ashamed by the burns and scars on her arms and legs. This hints at a backstory about Maggie.
Maggie is both envious at and amazed by her sister Dee: “She thinks her sister has held life always in the palm of one hand, that ‘no’ is a word the world never learned to say to her.” (ll. 10-11). Maggie’s attitude towards Dee is a foreshadowing element for her submissive behavior throughout the story and particularly for the moment when she is willing to give Dee the quilts that Mama promised to her.
We also learn about Mama and her fantasy to be reunited with Dee in a dramatic way, on a TV program hosted by a nice man like Johnny Carson (an American show host and comedian, best known for hosting The Tonight Show, 1962–1992) (ll. 19-25…
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Middle
In the rising action, Dee arrives at the house. She is accompanied by a man, and Mama describes their unusual appearance: Dee has a long, colorful dress on, and the man has long hair and a long beard.
Dee greets her family by using a Swahili phrase, which typically means “Good morning” or “I hope you slept well”: “ ‘Wasuzo-Teano!’ ” (l. 116). The man who accompanies her greets them using an Arabic phrase: “ ‘Asalamalakim, my mother and sister!” ’ (l. 118). He also tries to shake Maggie’s hand, but she falls back, trembling (ll. 118-120).
Their greetings and physical appearance suggest a backstory on their involvement in the Black Pride or Black Power movement of the 1960s and 1970s. They are also a foreshadowing element for how Dee perceives the old quilts as cultural objects which connect her to her African-American heritage.
Dee takes Polaroid pictures of Maggie, including the house in the pictures, and even a cow that was grazing in the yard. This further emphasizes Dee’s wish to connect with her heritage, as it seems that she wants to capture an authentic portrait of the African-American rural lifestyle more than simply take some pictures of her family.
Dee…
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Ending
In the falling action, Mama tells Dee to take other quilts. Dee, however, does not take any and prepares to leave. She tells her mother that she does not understand her heritage (ll. 261-263), advises Maggie to make something of herself, and comments on their lifestyle which does not reflect the progress made by the African-American community: “ ‘It’s really a new day f…
