In “Everyday Use” the quilts were obviously something both Maggie and Dee found to be valuable, but why? The handmade quilt was a symbol of their family heritage. Something, such as a quilt, that was hand made has a certain special quality about it. Dedication and years of work is what was represented in a quilt, especially ones that had been passed down in the African-American community. As you pick up a quilt and look at it, you will see that it has several pieces of cloth that are sowed together. According to Oxford English Dictionary a quilt is defined as, ” A bed covering consisting of two joined pieces of fabric enclosing a layer of soft material (such as wool, cotton, or down) which acts as padding or insulation.” The Grandmother made the quilt by hand and that is why it was special and appreciated. However, people show their appreciation for things in different ways. I believe Dee does appreciate the quilt for being a part of her heritage, or at least thinks she does. Since receiving a good education and having a recent self discovery of who she was, Dee had a different perception of things, especially in the way that she perceived the quilt. The issue here is that I do not believe Dee was appreciating her heritage in the correct way. As for Maggie, Dee believes she is incapable of appreciating the quilt in the same way she could. In the story she is quoted as saying, “Maggie can’t appreciate these quilts.” A couple sentences later she then goes onto say, “Maggie would put them on the bed and in five years they’d be in rags. Less than that!” Dee did not feel that Maggie deserved the quilt.
“Everyday Use” focuses on the bonds between women of different generations and their enduring legacy, as symbolized in the quilts they created together. The relationship between Aunt Dicie and Mama, the experienced seamstresses who made the quilts, is very different from the relationship between Maggie and Dee, sisters who barely speak to one another and have almost nothing in common. Yet, just like the patches of fabric that were sewn and bond together, so was the relationship of the sisters who made them. “Perhaps the most resonant quality of quilt making is the promise of creating unity amongst disparate elements, of establishing connections in the midst of fragmentation.” (Whitsitt) There is definitely a correlation here.
Now just as Dee could not understand the legacy of her name, passed along through four generations, she did not truly understand the significance of the quilts. Quilts which contained swatches of clothes once worn or owned by at least a century’s worth of ancestors. The aunt that Dee was named after made the quilts by hand, and yet, that had nothing to do with the reason why she wanted them. Dee also believed that her name was a symbol of those who oppressed her, so she comes up with a new name that has nothing to do with her family ties. It is interesting that she wished so badly to set herself a part from her family’s past yet she wanted the very thing that represented it. I do not believe she gave the appropriate value to the quilt that it deserved. It was more then just an artifact or a pretty art piece to gaze upon, it was a part of them, this was the case whether Dee liked it or not.
"Quilting is a symbol that provides a medium which allows for expression that is representative of its original beginnings as a house-ware and art form— an inclusive and intermixed tradition comprised of varied backgrounds and cultures and histories. Quilting is a medium that can bring contrasting backgrounds together to create a new meaning from the intermixture of its contrasting influences.” (Quilts as Symbols in America) The quilts are pieces of living history, documents in fabric that supply a narration for the lives of the various generations. Even more specifically, the trials, such as war and poverty, that those generations had faced. The quilts served as a tribute to a family’s history of dignity and hardships. With the limitations that poverty and lack of education placed on her life, Mama considered her personal history one of her few treasures. Inside of her home she held onto the handicrafts of her extended family. Instead of receiving a financial inheritance from her ancestors, Mama had been given the quilts. For her, these objects had a value that Dee, despite professing her desire to care for and preserve the quilts, was clearly unable to understand.
Nevertheless, Dee was convinced that Maggie definitely could not understand her heritage and therefore would never appreciate the quilts, at least not like she did. Dee claimed that she “can ‘member Grandma Dee with the quilts.” Maggie then agrees that her sister should have them only to avoid starting a conflict. Yet Maggie is the one who is appreciating her heritage every time she uses them. Dee believed that connecting with a person’s roots was a new thing or trend, but it was not at all, she just wasn't look at her roots the right way. If Dee received the quilts she would have only hung them on a wall to be looked at, and if Maggie took the quilts she would defiantly use them. Eventually they might rip or become completely useless; while if Dee took the quilts she would use them as decorations and they would no longer be improved and would also become useless. So if neither one seemed to be appreciating the quilts correctly, but you still had to choose a recipient, who would you choose to get them? I believe that Maggie should have the quilts, and not because I disliked Dee’s character, but because they would be in everyday use, representing the use of their heritage.
Despite the fact that Maggie seems to be intellectually inferior to her sister, Mama insinuates that there is something she can do that Dee cannot do, and that is make quilts. Although Maggie may cause the quilts to become worn out from everyday use, she can replace them and give a scrap of her own to the family’s history which will then go onto the next generation. Although claiming that the protection and maintenance of the quilts is a huge concern of hers, Dee has no real understanding of or respect for her mother’s ancestors. While Dee does claim to hold admiration for the past, at the end of the story, she still judges Mama and Maggie for not changing and keeping to their old ways of living and thinking. Creating a life altogether different from the past is Dee’s primary objective, which is why I believe she did not deserve the quilts. This is also why I find her sudden desire to hold onto the objects of the past empty and questionable.
In the end, for Mama, the best way to protect the spirit of the quilts was to risk Maggie ruining them while they were in her care. Maggie wanted the quilts because she was close to the grandmother and aunt who made them and who taught her the art of quilting, Dee strongly desires them simply because such artifacts of the Southern black heritage were then becoming popular and fashionable. The grandmother and aunt who made the quilts accomplished two goals: the first was that they created a work of art, and second was that they had created something to use everyday. The patchwork of the quilts binds together all of the symbols used in the story by making known to Dee that wisdom is something that cannot be taught in school. In the end, it is easy to recognize that Dee had forgotten her heritage and lost her identity. "When Dee made the decision to abandon her home and family, the result was a complete de-construction of her past. She did not appreciate that wisdom is a series of patches sewn throughout a lifetime, not to be suddenly unraveled and never pieced back together again."(Marcucilli) Caring for the quilts and not taking them out for everyday use was disrespectful because it ignored what they were originally intended for. However, allowing the quilts to be a part of daily life kept the family history alive. In the end, the quilts were more than just blankets, they were a reminder to Mama and Maggie of where they came from and of where they were going to. The quilt represents history and tradition, binding its creators to the past and the past to the present.
- Whitsitt, Sam. "In Spite of It All: A Reading of Alice Walker's "Everyday Use" - Critical Essay | African American Review | Find Articles." Business Library. CBS Interactive Business Network, Oct. 2000. Web. 28 Sept. 2011.
- "QUILTS AS SYMBOL IN AMERICA." Southern Quilting. American Studies at The University of Virginia. Web. 28 Sept. 2011.
- Marcucilli. "Everyday Use: Quilting Our Identity Through Feminist Theory." The Marcucilli Blog. Blogger, 06 June 2011. Web. 28 Sept. 2011.
No comments:
Post a Comment