Themes and message

The main themes in the story “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker are race and the meaning of heritage. The themes are linked together, and their connection is explored throughout the story.

Race

The theme of race is connected with the theme of the meaning of heritage in the sense that Mama and Dee’s different experiences as African-American women give them different perspectives on the importance of the quilts.

Mama has lived in a deeply segregated society, where she experienced poverty, lack of access to education, and discrimination. She is fearful of white men and is aware that women like her are not seen on television.

In contrast, her daughter Dee seems to have despised her family’s poor lifestyle, their ignorance, and their heritage (as she rejects the quilts when Mama offers them to her when she goes to college). Unlike Mama, she had the opportunity to receive an education, and she also had the determination and ability to speak up whenever she wanted to.

Dee’s visit reveals that she is now in touch with her African roots and that she takes pride in being an African-American woman. However, by rejecting her name and dressing in a traditionally African way, she also rejects her family’s history of oppression and the hardships they had to go through because of their race. Dee is not ill-intende...