Analyze Everyday Use By Alice Walker

EVERYDAY USE
By Alice Walker - 1973
GROUP 3
I - Biography – Alice Walker ( Trần Thị Ánh Dương )
1/ Personal Life
a. Childhood:

Alice Walker was born in 1944 in rural Georgia, she was the youngest of eight children. Her
parents were sharecroppers, which meant that they farmed land belonging to someone else in
exchange for living there. The system of sharecropping was one of cruel inequity; black workers
were often exploited for their labor and rarely were paid what the crop they produced was worth.
When she was eight years old, while playing with two of her older brothers, a copper B.B. pellet
hit her eye.
Alice changed from being a brassy, she becomes self-confident child, interested in doing grownup things, into a shy, solemn, and solitary girl.
b. Education and early career:

Walker immersed herself in her studies and won a scholarship to Spelman College, She later
switched to Sarah Lawrence College in New York. While at Sarah Lawrence, Walker visited
Africa as part of a study-abroad program. She graduated in 1965—the same year that she
published her first short story. Walker worked as a social worker, teacher and lecturer. She
became active in the Civil Rights Movement, fighting for equality for all African Americans.
c. Marriage and Family

She married with a lawyer, Melvyn Leventhal in 1966. Following their marriage in 1967, they
became the first legally married interracial couple to live in Mississippi. The two had one
daughter, Rebecca, before divorcing in 1976.
2. Major works
a. Poetry
Once (1968), are based on her experiences during the civil rights movement and her travels to
Africa.
Revolutionary Petunias and Other Poems (1973)

Good Night, Willie Lee, I'll See You in the Morning (1979)
b. Short fiction and essays
•
•
•
•
•
•

"To Hell with Dying” (1967)
In Love and Trouble: Stories of Black Women (1973).
Everyday uses (1973)
You Can't Keep a Good Woman Down: Stories (1982)
The Color Purple (1982)
In 1998, published By the Light of My Father’s Smile and The Way Forward Is with a
Broken Heart (2000).
• In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens: Womanist Prose,
c. Novels
Overcoming Speechlessness: A Poet Encounters the Horror in Rwanda, Eastern Congo and
Palestine/Israel. She published another poetry collection, Hard Times Require Furious Dancing,
that same year.

In 2012, she released the Chicken Chronicles. The following year, she published Cushion in the
Road: Meditation and Wandering As the Whole World Awakens to Being in Harm's Way and the
poetry collection The World Will Follow Joy: Turning Madness into Flowers.
3/ Awards and achivement
•
•

•
•
•
•
•

Pulitzer and National Book Award.
African-American novelist
Poet most famous for authoring 'The Color Purple.'
The O. Henry Award and the Mahmoud Darwish Literary Prize for Fiction.
California Hall of Fame in 2006.
In 2010, the LennonOno Peace Award.
In 2013, she was the subject of the acclaimed documentary Alice Walker: Beauty In
Truth.

4/ About Alice walker (Tên tựa không ổn. Bạn nên thay hoặc ghép nó với phần khác)
Walker's work, particularly her novels, has been criticized for fostering antagonism between the
genders and unfairly demonizing black men. The term “womanist,” coined by Walker in 1983,
asserts that not only gender oppression but also race oppression must be confronted, which
affects and shapes gender in inexorable ways.

II – PLOT (Lâm Phương Thảo)


1/ Exposition:
The story opens in the yard of Mrs. Johnson's house, a small wooden structure in the middle of a
pasture in the rural South in the late 1960s to early 1970s.
She is waiting her daughter Dee in the yard for her visit after several years of education. And the
yard is the setting which appears in the first and the last sentence of the story, which she cleaned
the day before in preparation for her visit. Mama goes on to describe the yard, saying it is like a

living room, with the ground swept clean like a floor. Basically, because mama has always the
great dream of welcoming Dee back as this pride of the Johnson family, so she’s very serious
about this. She even prepared the whole yard yesterday afternoon just for Dee comes back
because Dee is the only hope of the Johnson family even climbing up the social ladder.
After she describes the yard with her comfortable feeling, the readers get the distinct impression
between her daughters – Dee and Maggie. She describes her shy daughter Maggie, will be
nervous until her sister goes” because of her burn scars. According to Mama, Dee makes Maggie
nervous. Knowing how Maggie behaves, Mama expects her to stand hopelessly in corners, stand
in "envy and awe" of her sister Dee, who seemingly "has held life always in the palm of one
hand." It means Dee seems to have had many opportunities in life that Maggie did not. Dee has
always come out on top in life, causing Maggie's envy and awe. Maggie has had no such success
in life, while it seems effortless for Dee. For mama’s information, the readers know about two
her daughters. We know about their relationship is somewhat strained.
Also, she says that she always has this dream of going on to the television, mama imagines this
great moment in which Dee and her are suddenly brought together on a TV program of this sort,
and she welcomes Dee back in her arms and Dee thanks her for everything that she has
sacrificed.
In her mind, Mrs. Johnson imagines the scene, thinking of what would be like to have herself and
Dee on public display. She considers how all those parents and the children on the television
programs cry happily and hug each other when they are reunited. “What would they do if parent
and child embrace on the show only to curse out and insult each other?” she wonders. This
reveals that Mrs. Johnson and Dee have spent time apart and have a strained relationship.
Also, Mama transitions into describing herself and her real daily life: the way she can work
outside all day, her “rough, man-working hands,” the way she handles catttle. She cannot become
“the way her daughter would want her to be”: thinner, prettier, and much wittier than in real life.
And that her reality is far from television-ready.
“In a real life she is a large, big.boned woman with rough, man.working hands.”


In other words, Mama knows in Dee's eyes, Mama knows she will not change her ways and

become something. Mama is not even though she falls short of being admirable, she falls short of
her daughter's false expectations, a fact that haunts her dreams. We understand that Dee doesn’t
appreciate her mother for who she actually is.
As the central figure of the story and the Johnson family, Mama offers unique and honest insights
into the events and characters of the story. Alice Walker's choice to use firstperson point of view
allows the reader to connect deeply with Mama who has done her best to raise two daughters,
despite her poverty.
Here we notice that Dee and her mother, also Dee and her sister have opposite personalities or
appearances. They’re things that cause their relationship to be so strained.
All of these informations tell us a lot about the family and help give meaning to the actions that
later take place in the story.
2/ Rising actions:
Mama recalls the house fire in the past and goes on to describe her daughters.
In the first part of the story Mama tells about herself, her daughters, and the life she has lived.
She particularly focuses on the differences among Dee, Maggie, and herself.
The fire that burned down their house years ago is a key event that happened before "Everyday
Use" begins. . She wonders how long it has been since that traumatic event. Mama then vividly
flashes back to that house fire, which completely destroyed their ancestral family home. Mama
remembers Maggie’s hair burning and her dress disintegrating into soot. She thinks about the
way the flames reflected in Maggie’s eyes. The fire burned Maggie badly. This is the reason why
she became so shy and scared from childhood. Her way of walking is as a wounded animal,
according to Mama’s describing.
“Have you ever seen a lame animal, perhaps a dog run over by some careless person rich
enough to own a car, sidle up to someone who is ignorant enough to be kind to him? That is the
way my Maggie walks.”
Mama draws insights about Dee from the incident, too. As the house burned, Dee simply
watched, standing apart from her mother and sister; she did not try to help them and showed no
concern about Maggie's injuries. She seems to look down at Maggie and her mother. About
Mama describes how Dee dance around the ashes shows the negative attitude that Dee toward
her family. Mama admits that she was tempted to ask Dee why she did not do a dance of victory

over the ashes of the house. Mama knows that Dee hated the old house. Dee seems to have had
hated the old house because it represented everything from which she wanted to get away from
her family or the houses represent the poverty she hated, they all represented the same thing, a
past of which she was ashamed. This Mama’s flashback engage the reader to know more about


Dee, her background information in the past . After the house fire burnt, She gets an education
thanks to money from her mother and The church that raising for her education.which she has
successfully escaped.
Now, she backs home for a visit.
a. Dee, dressed in African garb, arrives with Hakim-a-barber.

When Dee and hakim-a-barber arrive, They greet in foreign languages. Hakim-a-barber's
greeting of Asalamalakim is an instance of situational irony. The Arabic phrase is translated as
"Peace be upon you," this foreshadows the strife and a battle of wills that their arrival does not
bring anything of peace to the household. It also creates confusion, with Mama thinking the
phrase is actually the name of that man. This misunderstanding displays Mama's ignorance of the
trends Dee and Hakim-a-barber are following: there claiming of cultural heritage by African
Americans in the middle to late 1960s.
Dee’s appearance surprises her mother for wearing eye-catching jewelry and an African dress in
bright yellows and oranges. The dress is not practical, with flowing material "down to the
ground, in this hot weather." Dee doesn't care about practicality, though. She cares more about
the image she presents of herself than about being comfortable. Her outfit practically screams
"Look at me!" It means Dee wants to look good and make an impression on others with her style.
Mama suggests that Dee’s desire for “nice things” set her apart from her family as a teenager
Mama notes"At sixteen, she had a style of her own; and knew what style was.". Furthermore,
her use of style may be considered superficial because it is trendy and short-lived because Dee
uses this same sense of style to dissociate herself from her family. Since high school one way she
has separated herself from Mama and Maggie is by the way she dresses. This behavior carries
over into the present day, when she arrives wearing a brightly colored African dress and showy

jewelry. Her African clothing and hairstyle touch on the theme - heritage. Dee feels her true
heritage lies in Africa, rather than in her American ancestors that she has rejected, and one way
she demonstrates these feelings is in her style of dress including her name
And now the way she presents herself to the world by the name – "Wangero Leewanika
Kemanjo” as a symbol of her new identity – a proud, mordern, black woman.
b. Dee takes pictures and reveals her new African name.

Dee comes a visit and makes a dramatic entrance. She treats the mother’s house and homestead
like they are part of museum rathan than the remnants of a life she once lived herself. She takes
photos of the place, and another of her mother and sister. Then, a cow appears, Dee includes it in
the photograph composition. At first, photography of Dee might seem sentimental and sweet.
Later, it becomes some strange. Because the house is unattractive, with its rough-cut windows,
tin roof, and surrounding cow pasture, and Mama used to guess "No doubt when Dee sees it she
will want to tear it down. She presumably hates this house as much as she hated the previous


one, so her only possible reason for photographing it is to document the poverty and primitive
conditions in which her mother and sister live. The implication is she will take these photos
home to show others just how far she has come in life as a self-made woman and how resistant to
change her unenlightened mother and sister still are. She wants the photos as proof of her humble
beginnings and the poverty she has escaped, rather than for sentimental reasons.
Next, Dee announces that she has changed her given name to an African name “Wangero
Leewanika Kemanjo”, she’s trying to claim the rights and ability to control her own destiny. She
wants to be the person she decides she should be.
Dee assumes the African name of Wangero that reflects African culture rather than American
culture because she has embraced Cultural Nationalism. As part of this new culture, Dee rejects
all that represents what she feel is an oppressed past. Part of this past is her name when she
informs Mama the name Dee came from “the people who oppress me”, her meaning is white
people, who historically oppressed Blacks in the United States. However, another implication is
that Dee has felt oppressed by her own family, too; she is ashamed of her family's poverty and

has struggled to overcome it. But her name was named by her aunt Dicie, who was called “Big
Dee”. She was named after her ancestors who probably go back as far as the Civil war, according
to Mama. And Mama explains that the name Dee has long been in the family. So the names are
very impotant in the family. They represent a relationship to heritage and identity.
By changing her name, Dee hopes to establish a new identity. By changing her name, she rejects
not only her people’s past history of enslavement and poverty, but she also repudiates her own
family heritage.
c. At dinner Dee admires and claims several heirlooms. Dee wants the two handmade

quilts promised to Maggie.
Although uneducated, the mother does not miss the significance of Wangero’s repudiation. So, at
dinner, when her daughter asks for family heirlooms such as the butter churn, the dasher and the
quilts, the mother recognizes that Dee will not use them properly but only wants them for
display. Dee wants to hang the quilts in her home as artwork for her and others to admire..
According to her mother, Dee says this “as if that was the only thing you could do with quilts”.
Mrs. Johnson tells her that she’s promised the quilts to Maggie. Dee condescendingly says that
Maggie “can’t appreciate” the quilts. Dee fears Maggie will them everyday, which could ruin
them from wear and tear. This is an absurd argument because the quilts were intended for
“everyday use”. She views the quilts as museumquality artifacts instead of what they actually
are: practical items created for daily use. On the other hand, Mama and Maggie believe by using
the quilts as intended, they honor and remember their ancestors and keep family traditions alive.
The quilts serve as a symbol of these traditions and of the hard work and creativity of many
generations of African American women.


 The significance of the Quilts in the Johnson family history:

Actually, the differing ways in which Dee and Mama view the quilts are representative of their
difference opinions overall un this story. To Mama and Maggie, the quilts are living history.
Although Maggie says : “I can remember grandma Dee without the quilts.” The quilts are

composed of her grandmother’s dresses, and pieces of her mother’s dresses and uniforms from
the Civil war of Grandfather. They were sewn by hand. They were made to be used, and for
Maggie, to receive these quiltsupon her marriage and put them to everyday use would represent a
rite of passage as she becomes the next one in the line of Johnson women, part of something
heritage that is not something in the past.
Dee, we are told, has rejected this family heritage more than once. When she away to college,
she is offered one of the quilts, which she turned down (rejected), declaring it “old fashioned”
and now she has rejected her own name Dee, she does not feel that this is her real “heritage”.
Instead, she wants to take the quilts to be hung on the wall as a symbol of a type of living
common to African Americans before time began to change, and she is critical of Mama and
Maggie for refusing to “make something” of themselves and embrace that change. To Dee, the
quilts represent a blip in history that occurred in the lives of African Americans between their
journey from Africa and their modern reinvention under Civil Rights. To Mama and Maggie,
they represent family history for as long as living memory can reach and which has continued
unbroken to the present day – and may continue beyond.
d. Maggie hears the argument about the quilts and to make peace Maggie offers Dee the

quilts.
Maggie had listened to the stories about the ancestors and knew how much these things meant to
her mother. Yet, to keep the peace, she was willing to give the quilts to Dee. Suddenly Mama
views the world through Maggie's eyes: Maggie who gets little and expects less from life, having
become accustomed to the little she has. Mama realizes even though "this was the way she knew
God to work," giving much to others and little to Maggie, Mama has the power to change this
pattern for her long-suffering daughter. She also realizes Maggie deserves the quilts; she has
worked hard all her life, and she honors her ancestors in the same way Mama does. It is then
Mama does "something I had never done before." She actually says "no" to Dee, who Mama
believes does not deserve the quilts. For once Maggie will win out over her demanding,
overachieving, pretentious sister.
3/ Climax:
Mama, with new courage, says "no" to Dee.

The climax of “Every day use” revolves around the question of which daughter should receive
the family’s heirloom hand sewn quilts.


Mama, with new courage, says "no" to Dee, which is foreshadowed in the beginning that the
world never learned to say her.
It seems as though Mama recognized which daughter will be the one worth valuing, something
she does not seem to have noticed before, because she spent so much time trying to get Dee all
the things that she wanted. Dee has always gotten her way in the past, but in this instance Mama
stands up for Maggie and opposes Dee's wishes, because Mama suddenly sees Maggie's kindness
and faith and realizes she can do something good for Maggie, who deserves the quilts more than
Dee does. She also shows goodness is sometimes rewarded; even the meek sometimes win the
day, as their religion tells them. Mama is no longer cowed by Dee's intimidating intelligence or
belligerent ways. She has found the inner strength to change the way she treats her daughters.
4/ Falling actions
Dee says Mama doesn't understand her heritage.
Dee and Hakim-a-barber leave without the quilts.
Dee's departure highlights how little she understands her family. Although times indeed have
changed as Dee explains and exemplifies, Mama and Maggie are not interested in participating
in those changes. If a new era began for Dee with her education, even before her neo-African
kinship, with her departure, a new era also begins for Mama and Maggie, one in which their
bond is closer than ever and in which Maggie has not lost out to her sister. Her mother's show of
support and her small triumph over Dee leave Maggie with a smile on her face, an expression
Mama enjoys seeing. Maggie’s smile represents a victory. There are two reasons behind
Maggie’s smile and its significances. The first, throughout the story, Maggie is described never to
be happy and she was always hiding in the shadows of her sister. When her mother told Dee that
the quilts were for Maggie, she was surprised and she smile because, for once, she was able to
receive something instead of her sister. The second, when they walk Dee to the car at the end of
the story, Dee encourages Maggie to "make something" of her life and insinuates that as long as
she and her mother stay in that house and they will never improve their life. Maggie smiles

beacause she knows they have the best life of all. They respect their culture and memories and
know that memories are meant for “Everyday use” , so one can always remember the past.
5/ Resolution
Maggie and Mama enjoy the evening together.
The story ends with Mama and Maggie more or less where they started— together in the yard. It
is a scene of domestic intimacy and comfort. With Dee gone, Mama and Maggie enjoy their
home once again, free of judgment of their way of life and their traditions.
6/ Conflict (Trần Duy Khang)


In the short story of “Everyday use”, the main conflicts include internal and external conflicts.
However, the basic conflicts are essentially the daughter’s competition for heirlooms, it is
opposing ideals about traditions, and the conflict is between the side of Maggie and her mother
and Dee on the other side.
a. The external conflicts
 Person vs. Environment

There is the conflict of appearances between Dee and Maggie. Maggie is the second daughter
who is simple person and lack confidence because she has scars from the house fire. However,
she lives with her mother, so she knows how to sew and make the butter like her mother and
grandmother. In other words, we can say that Maggie represents the female culture of the
Johnson family like her mother. But when she hears about her sister’s visit, she feels nervous and
thinks about the comparison between her and Dee. It reflected that she is no one and nothing to
Dee.
About Dee, she is charming with light skinned, she has gone off to college and she feel
embarrassed when she sees the simple and backward ways of two females of the Johnson family.
She is not like Maggie, she is arrogant and it seems that no one can say “no” with her. After she
points out her dress and her boyfriend who uses African names, we know that she is opposing
native domestic and the tradition of the Johnson family. And these oppositions are the main of
this external conflicts. In the first meet of Dee and her mother, she uses the Islamic greetings and

she is wearing the African grab. Therefore, she proves that she is following the new Pan-Africa
culture and goes against mother’s family traditions. Besides her opposing tradition, she is also
showing the opposing opinion on the value of their various items or heirlooms.
This external conflict clearly make us see that the worth of tradition and people is always more
important than the new trendy.
 Person vs. Person:

It will look like that this is the conflict of 3 main characters, but actually this is the conflict
between Dee and society. The title “everyday use” will be the point of evidences for this
conflict. The author has already shown that Dee doesn’t consider the heirlooms like her mother
and Maggie, she doesn’t consider that the heirlooms are the items in daily use, and she considers
that the quilts should belong to her although her mother promises to give them to Maggie in her
wedding. Dee thinks that these heirlooms should be put on the display such as decorate and hang
on the wall like an artwork, or she prefers using these objects like the exhibits to using like daily
equipment. Therefore, this is the reason why the story has this conflict and the mother never
agree with the way that Dee uses the heirlooms and Maggie disapproves like her mother
although she just know to be quiet and give the quilts to her. The mother also want to try to
protect the family traditions or we can say the heirlooms, she thinks Maggie is the one who


deserved those objects more than her older daughter, Dee. Both of them consider it same as
normal things and use it every day, for example, quilts can make you feel warm in cold weather
or butter churn made to churn milk into butter. They used it every day, but it doesn’t mean that
they don’t treasure the heirlooms, they use it because they want to save the traditions and the
traditions make these heirlooms become the “everyday use”.
 Person vs. Fate

This the conflict of struggle of poverty. Mama and Maggie live in the poverty after house fire.
Although they don’t live in hungry, the word of wealthy is far away from them. The fire
consumes the house when Maggie and Dee are young. It not only burns the house but also burns

the relationship between Dee and her family. It seems that it creates the line between them, it
divides into 2 different personalities and views. Mama knows Dee will do a “dance around the
ashes” because of how much she hated the house after house fire and she might be known that
Dee will change to be another person but she doesn’t think she will abandon the family tradition.
Dee totally seems not to care about her lack of respect or connection to her mother, her sister,
and the heritage because she really hate the poverty of her family. Therefore, when Maggie and
Mama can take the quilt back, it is such a victory for them. The poverty already divided into 2
different lives between them, but now they can prove that they still can live with their poverty,
they can stand up and protect for something what they want to treasure, and they completely
ignore Dee’s fancy life and the ways that she is living now.
b. The internal conflicts

The internal conflicts are the Mama and Maggie’s struggles with themselves. Mrs. Johnson
struggles with 2 things. The first thing is her desire, she really wants her family to be honored
publicly on Johnny Carson show where Dee will show her love to her family in front of
thousands of audiences, but she realizes that it is just the imagination. The second thing is that
she struggles with herself to protect the family tradition. Although Dee is her elder daughter,
Mama doesn’t admit her to be a part of female of Johnson family and decide not to give Dee the
quilts or not let Dee have what she wants anymore. She found that Dee is very different from her
and Maggie, then it is hard to love her.
Maggie is afraid of standing in front of Dee, she is feeling shame about herself because she is not
pretty and knowledgeable as her older sister. She says that she can give the quilts to Dee, but
deep down, she really doesn’t want to give it to Dee. She is struggling with herself or we can say
it clearly she is struggling with the fear. At the end of the story, we can see that Maggie is so
happy when she knows she still can keep it and she is honored to succeed to the family tradition.
Throughout the external and internal conflicts, it seems that Dee looks like an antagonist, but we
should sympathize for her. She might be had totally wrong opinion, wrong behavior, but it’s not
her faults. If she lives in another environments, she lives with another person, grows up in
another ways, she won’t think and do like that.

III – SETTING (Lâm Phương Thảo)
The short story “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker was published in 1973 and was probably meant
to be read as contemporary to the time of publishing. This is indicated in the story by references
to Johnny Carson, a popular TV show host who began his career in the 1960s, and allusions to
Dee’s and her husband’s participation in movements such as Black Power and Black Pride,
which were prominent in the 1960s and 1970s in the US.
1/ Social background
Civil Rights in the 1960s
"Everyday Use" takes place in the rural South, most likely Georgia, in the late 1960s or very
early 1970s. These years saw great social and political upheaval in the region and the entire
country as well. New voices such as the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, and
Malcolm X demanded full equality for African Americans, giving hope and inspiration to people
across the United States. Landmark events such as the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting
Rights Act of 1965 helped bring about many gains for African Americans. However, life for
blacks in the South was still viewed as far from equitable. Blacks had higher unemployment rates
than whites, and many blacks were still prohibited from voting. In some areas of the South,
segregation of businesses and schools still existed, and black students were far less likely to
complete high school or college. For many African American residents of the Black Belt, a
region stretching across the South with large black populations in many states, a life of rural
poverty was still the norm.

3/ Chronological setting
The story begins in the present, with Mama Johnson narrating events as they occur. In the
beginning of the story, she reflects on Dee’s childhood: what she was like, what Mama tried to
do for her by raising the money to send her away to school, and so forth. But when Dee arrives,
the story seems to proceed almost in real time, as the family greets one another, discusses Dee’s
new name, eats the meal together, and finally ends up in the bedroom with the quilts.
In this sense, then, Walker uses the “time” as an ordering device because she presents us with the
past, the background information we need to really understand this family’s dynamic and their

potential dysfunctions, via Mama’s memories, and then she proceeds with the present, presenting
conversations and actions in chronological order.
2/ Physical setting
The Southern setting


The events in the short story take place in the state of Georgia. This is indicated by the fact that
Dee goes to school in Augusta, which is a city in the state of Georgia. Alice Walker herself was
born in a rural town in Georgia and attended school in a time when schools were segregated, so
readers can imagine that “Everyday Use” is inspired by the writer’s own experiences.
In “Everyday use”, the mother lives in the Southern setting of a hard working woman. There are
no frills in her clothing. The mother is ordinary and down to earth:
“Mrs. Johnson’s “man working” hands symbolize the rough life she has had to forge from the
land on which they live.”
The rural Southern setting represents the home of a strong black woman who grew up knowing
how to work hard.
The house, the yard : the free, comfortable and private space
“The yard appears in the first and last sentences of the story, connecting the events and
bookending the action.”
The main physical setting is Mama’s yard, which she describes in the first paragraph. The yard is
central to the characters’ way of life. Mama explains how "A yard like this is more comfortable
than most people know."
She considers the yard as an "extended living room" and describe the hard, bare ground. All of
these observations show the yard is not much to look at—it has no plants or flowers as other
yards might—yet Mama and Maggie have made the best of their surroundings by keeping the
yard neat and enjoying it as it is. Mama has made something out of nothing regarding the yard.
Its use gives a completeness to the story, although it is actually just an empty space. Meaning
therefore does not necessarily depend on objects, important as they may be as symbols. The yard
is a blissful escape, a place where Mama’s regrets can be sidestepped. For her and Maggie, the
yard evokes safety, a place where they can exert what little control they have over their

environment.
In the last sentence of the first parapraph. She appreciates "the breezes that never come inside the
house," and views the yard as a welcoming place where "anyone can come and sit."
The reason why the narrator describes “breezes never come inside”, this indicates not only the
yard’s comfortable, but she also mentions the house. Because Mama and Maggie live in a rural
area, and their lifestyle is modest – their house does not have windows but holes in the walls,
“like the portholes in a ship, but not round and not square, with rawhide holding shutters up on
the outside”. As an extension of the house, it is part of the family's heritage and Mama and
Maggie's way of life.


Mama also describes their old house, which burned down, and its surroundings: “And Dee. I see
her standing off under the sweet gum tree she used to dig gum out of; a look of concentration on
her face as she watched the last dingy gray board of the house fall in toward the red hot brick
chimney.”
Like the old house, the new house is built on a pasture, on which cows come to graze.
At the end of the story,
The Heritage
The homemade quilts are an important part of setting.
In reference to the quilts, Dee and Maggie are set in the different view to keep the family objects.
Dee sets the quilts to be hung on the wall, which she and others can display as a workart. On the
other hand, Maggie desires to use the quilts that were made by family members who have kept
the traditions alive for the family.
The name are also important, which the author set Dee who is the person does not appreciate
being named after the family member who made the quilts. Dee changes her name to an African
name. Dee does not truly appreciate her heritage.
The family heritage is one of the best messages that the author often inspires in her work to
honor the memories and respects the ancestors and the traditions they have passed down through
the family. This heritage also engage the readers in the theme driven by these heritages.
IV – Characters: Mrs. Johnson (Trần Thị Hương Giang)

a. By physical description:

A story is told by a character who called “Mama” and the appearance of her was described by
herself: “I am a large, big boned woman with rough, man- working hands.”, “I am the way my
daughter would want me to be: a hundred pounds lighter, my skin like an uncooked barley
pancake.”, “My hair glistens in the hot bright lights.”
By those details, we can see that this mother is a strong woman who can do works like a man. At
the same time, she still has an appearance traditionally associated with women like others one
because the attractive things like the color of her hair or her skin make readers can feel about a
normal woman. It creates a warm feeling about an independent mom at the beginning of the
story.
b. By psychological description

The character “Mama” describes about herself with a normal emotion “I never had had an
education myself”, “I was always better at a man’s job”. A women who can know clearly about


herself and know what she goods at can be an independent and intelligent person about living
skills. In my opinion, a person maybe can not have much about knowledge by studying but they
have to have some experiences about life. Mama had brought up her children without husband
and lived strongly so I think she is an excellent mother.
In the beginning of the story, she describes herself as a man but after that when she is waiting her
daughter - Dee, she dreams about a conversation which her child can understand her and cuddle
her without any hesitation. This detail shows that although she had a strong will, she is still a
mother who is burning to have her children’s love. Understanding is always the thing everyone
needs in life. Her emotion changes when she sees her daughter, her feeling increases with an
exclamation “there they are!”, this emotion again shows that a women like “Mama” will like
others one who have their children far away from home, they miss them and of course they will
feel happy and emotional when she could see her child again after a long time.
Although she loved her child, she could compose her thoughts by do not show any action or

emotion to them: “but I stay her with my hand. “Come back here,” I say”. She is a person that
always care about her children but she does not want to show it out. It can help readers see a side
that the environment makes her action like a man a little bit because she lives and decides things
by herself.
She is a person who love the beauty because when she sees her daughter, her thinking shows
that: “The dress is loose and flows, and as she walks closer, I like it.” By those things, a woman
like her is an interesting person because she not only can work independently but she also can
enjoy the beauty with an open mind.
 By what she says and by how she says it

The attractive detail which describes her behavior is when her daughter Dee said she changes her
name, “Mama” does not angry with Dee or object to change the old name. She just ask Dee:
“What happen to ‘Dee’?”, she said that she just wants to know. I think that a women who does
not have well-educated knowledge but she can observe her daughter’s freedom to do what she
wants by these details can be known as a nice aspect that is not everyone can do it.
An aspect that can help the readers can notice more about her behaviors is some details by what
she says: “why shouldn’t I?” I asked. “If that’s what you want us to call you, we’ll call you.”
helps readers know that she can listen and agree about that though it is a strange thing. Besides,
she even does not need to discuss about the changing and just want to understand Dee. This
mother is a representative for the symbol of the farmer and at the same time it represent for a
modern woman that can live well and understand for everyone.
She is also an emotional woman when her daughter want to take old things which made by
Mama and her grandmother and “I look it for a moment in my hands.” She loves Dee so she does
not say “no” to her but when she looks at the dasher and the handle, she regrets about things


which save the memories from the past. The love that Dee has from “Mama” also show by the
question she asked Dee: “Why don’t you take one or two of the others?”. Basing on that detail,
she chooses the solution that she compromise with Dee and try to explain to her: “These old
things was just done by me and Big Dee from some tops your grandma pieced before she died.”

and "Some of the pieces, like those lavender ones, come from old clothes her mother handed
down to her," I said, moving up to touch the quilts.” She is imperturbable when she talks to Dee
and in that moment, I wonder that the woman who said that “I am a large, big boned woman with
rough, man working hands. In the winter I wear flannel nightgowns to bed and overalls during
the day. I can kill and clean a hog as mercilessly as a man. My fat keeps me hot in zero weather. I
can work outside all day, breaking ice to get water for washing; I can eat pork liver cooked over
the open fire minutes after it comes steaming from the hog” can easily talk without causing
inconvenience to Dee, it is so wonderful that a woman can “knocked a bull calf straight in the
brain between the eyes with a sledge hammer and had the meat hung up to chill before nightfall”
that can behave so well to their children. So I think that her family is great because they teach her
so adorably and also her personality is excellent.
When the story occurs a argument about using their old quilts, she said "I reckon she would," I
said. "God knows I been saving 'em for long enough with nobody using 'em. I hope she will!".
People always say that when someone is angry, you can know exactly who they are. When
Mama answer Dee, she also think that “I didn't want to bring up how I had offered Dee
(Wangero) a quilt when she went away to college.” A person who do not talk about the past is a
good person, even others parent want to talk about it to convince their children of doing what
they do not want. Mama does not. She just answer what her child is talking at that moment,
answer the question. That is all. Even that Dee said that "they're priceless![.......] Maggie would
put them on the bed and in five years they'd be in rags. Less than that!" She just answer "She can
always make some more," I said. "Maggie knows how to quilt." I think that old traditions from
family teaches her about the moral value which helps she can remember the feeling when she
with family. Besides, how the quilts are made and why they are made are two important things
that leads to the way they use the quilts. Their quilts are things to use in life, to recall the
memories and to share their stories so I think because of those reasons so Mama does not want
Dee does that. I believe her state of mind day by day live with these tradition of family so when
she hear Dee say “You just will not understand. The point is these quilts, these quilts!", she asked
with a stumped voice: "What would you do with them?". How an old tradition which is used
over years can change to use for different purposes, they can use for a business purpose or for
fame, that is not right. That is what I can understand after Mama asked and her child answered

“Hang them,” she said. “As if that was the only thing you could do with quilts.” It shows two
opinion about the quilts, it also point out the thinking of people nowadays about old stuffs which
can use for developing more than for preserving.
When Mama sees Maggie looked at her like that something hit Mama in the top of her head and
ran down to the soles of her feet and she shows her thinking about behavior’s Maggie “just like


when I'm in church and the spirit of God touches me and I get happy and shout. I did something I
never done before: hugged Maggie to me, then dragged her on into the room, snatched the quilts
out of Miss Wangero's hands and dumped them into Maggie's lap.” Her emotion changes because
in that moment, she realize her younger daughter who has illness and always feel shy about
almost of things can say to her without fear. She even thinks that she can understand an
important message from God send to her that just a person that can understand the tradition,
create the tradition as if they are destroyed, care about tradition more than their fear and do not
care about how much it can create the value for them deserves have it. That is the reason why
Mama choose Maggie to have those quilts.
 By what she does

A detail that readers also notice that when she is waiting for Dee, she does not choose to stay at
the living room or at any room at her house to wait. “I have deliberately turned my back on the
house.” that’s what she does. I think because she is an independent woman so she choose to
stand at the place she can feel confident, where she does not have to think about house works and
others thing that at that time women still have to do. She knows that her life is freedom and she
will always live like that so she “deliberately turned my back on the house”.
 By what others say about her

Dee says to her that “It's really a new day for us. But from the way you and Mama still live you'd
never know it.", it can represent for a number of people believe that live like Mama and Maggie
can not help them know when they can live better than the past and enjoy new things. But Mama
and Maggie represent for a number of people like to preserve the value of old tradition so they do

not have to live with a hope that will be “a new day”.
Mama represent for a stratum of women can work well, can have independent opinion and like
to preserve old tradition. She also shows a side that like others mother, she loves her children.
She also can compromise with her children’s opinion and she does not agrue about what her
children want to do but what needs to be kept their own value, she never compromise.

1. Dee/ Wangero (Trần Hoàng Trúc Ngân)

Dee's physical beauty can be defined as one of her biggest assets that Maggie sees Dee "with a
mixture of envy and awe" and we also realise this is Dee's favorable appearance. Furthermore,
Dee's beauty has made it easier for her to be accepted outside her family in society "Dee is
lighter than Maggie, with nicer hair and a fuller figure". The author plays on Dee's physical
beauty to contrast the homeliness of Maggie and her mother. The author goes so far as to
describe her feet as "always neat-looking, as if God himself had shaped them with a certain
style" . In describing Dee's feet, she is giving the impression of perfection from head to toe. We


are also told that Dee is quite the fashionista. Dee wears a brightly colored, yellow-and-orange,
ankle-length dress that is inappropriate for the warm weather. Her hair stands straight up “like
the wood of the sheep”. She knows how to make herself more beautiful and attractive “at sixteen
she had a style of her own: and knew what style was”. Dee's outward beauty is possible to make
her transition from a poor farm girl to an educated woman.
When reading the story, I feel that Dee is arrogance, greediness and selfishness. As being a girl,
for Maggie- Dee’ younger sister, she always has anything she wants “held life always in the palm
of one hand”, or ““no” is a word the world never learned to say to her”. She wants nice things
such as “a yellow organdy dress”, “a green suit”,etc that her mother “fought off the temptation to
shake her” . She is also the only daughter sent to school. As she goes to school, she likes to read
and shows her knowledge to her family almost assuming unnecessarily to them. The simplify
reason is that she makes them feel her superiority, and her mama and younger sister will admire
her. Her attitude toward her sister, mother and her background is negative. To Dee, her home and

her family are an embarrassment. Her selfishness were tools used to escape a life she did not
want. When the house burned, she stands and watches rather than show concern for her sister
Maggie who is severely injured. She rarely brings her friends to visit her old house because
being ashamed. At first, she hates everything belonging to her home, however, after returning,
she has positive attitude toward them, because she is educated that they are valuable. She only
lives for herself.
Dee speaks directness when she tells her mother she has already changed her name- Wangero
Leewanika Kemanjo, an African name, and Dee “is dead”. She does not want to relate to the
name of white slave though she is named after her grandmother. When she says “Maggie ‘s brain
is like an elephant’s”, this comparison indicates that elephants have good memories and Maggie
would use those memories and put the quilts to “everyday use”. Dee looks down upon her sister
and believes she is backward. At the time her mother refuses her wish, she socks and she says
that “Maggie can’t appreciate these quilts”. When they walk Dee to the car at the end of the
story, Dee tells Maggie she should make something of her life and insinuates that as long as she
and her mother stay in that house they will never improve their life.
Dee has changed her given name to an African name, whose length and difficult pronunciation.
She greets her family by foreign languages- Asalamalakim - that means “peace be upon you”,
making her mother misunderstanding. Dee’s extreme hairstyles, and her clothes underscore how
different they are from Mama and Maggie. Dee’s action above shows us she wants to escape
from her childhood poverty, slaves, and creates a new life, new “position” in that society. She is
influenced of the social background-The Black Arts movement. Dee wants some of these items
for purely purposes thought she knows the family’s objects are still used. She intends to display
the butter churn and the quilts as cultural artifacts. When Dee emerges from the car and starts
taking pictures, she is doing the same thing. She wants to show the pictures to her more
“modernized” friends.


For Dee, heritage is about preserving things, not using them. Heritage is something past for her,
and she wants to take the quilts so that she can hang them on the wall. She is not connected to
her heritage at all; she does not know the story, and she does not care to. They represent Dee’s

alienation from them.
Dee, who is also ambitious and scholarly, partly represents to the author, who was ambitious and
pursued her studies devotedly without the support of her father but relying only on that of her
mother. This is further confirmed by the strong resemblance between Dee and the author with
regard to their attempts to preserve their culture and heritage. Alice worked for the Civil Rights
movement in Georgia and proposed the introduction of literature about the Black experience in
the American curriculum.
Round Characters: Mother
A story is told by a character who called “Mama” and the appearance of her was described by herself:
“I am a large, big boned woman with rough, man- working hands.”, “I am the way my daughter would
want me to be: a hundred pounds lighter, my skin like an uncooked barley pancake.”, “My hair glistens in
the hot bright lights.” By those details, we can see that this mother is a strong woman who can do works
like a man. At the same time, she can know that she is not a beautiful woman. Even that her children
wishes she could change her appearance.
The character “Mama” describes about herself with a normal emotion “I never had had an education
myself”, “I was always better at a man’s job”. A women speaks about herself without any positive
emotion can show a little bit about her negative mood. We can see that Mama has brought up her children
without husband and lives strongly so I think she is a strong mother. In the beginning of the story, she
describes herself as a man but after that when she is waiting her daughter - Dee, she dreams about a
conversation which her child can understand her and cuddle her without any hesitation. This detail shows
that although she had a strong will, she is still a mother who is burning to have her children’s love.
Understanding is always the thing everyone needs in life. Her emotion changes when she sees her
daughter, her feeling increases with an exclamation “there they are!”, this emotion again shows that a
women like Mama will like others one who have their children far away from home, they miss them and
of course they will feel happy and emotional when she could see her child again after a long time.
The attractive detail which describes her behavior is when her daughter Dee said she changes her
name, “Mama” does not angry with Dee or object to change the old name. She just ask Dee: “What
happen to ‘Dee’?”, she said that she just wants to know. I think that a women who does not have welleducated knowledge but she can observe her daughter’s freedom to do what she wants by these details can
be known as a nice aspect that is not everyone can do it. An aspect that can help the readers can notice
more about her behaviors is some details by what she says: “why shouldn’t I?” I asked. “If that’s what

you want us to call you, we’ll call you.” helps readers know that she does not good at speaking and using
words because she does not have much education.
She is also an emotional woman when her daughter want to take old things which made by Mama and
her grandmother and “I look it for a moment in my hands.” She loves Dee so she does not say “no” to her
but when she looks at the dasher and the handle, she regrets about things which save the memories from


the past. The love that Dee has from “Mama” also show by the question she asked Dee: “Why don’t you
take one or two of the others?”. Basing on that detail, she chooses the solution that she compromise with
Dee and try to explain to her: “These old things was just done by me and Big Dee from some tops your
grandma pieced before she died.” and "Some of the pieces, like those lavender ones, come from old
clothes her mother handed down to her," I said, moving up to touch the quilts.” She is imperturbable when
she talks to Dee and in that moment, I wonder that the woman who said that “I am a large, big boned
woman with rough, man working hands” can easily talk without causing inconvenience to Dee. In this
details we can see that her love for Dee can not deny.
When the story occurs an argument about using their old quilts, she said "I reckon she would," I said.
"God knows I been saving 'em for long enough with nobody using 'em. I hope she will!". People always
say that when someone is angry, you can know exactly who they are. When Mama answer Dee, she also
think that “I didn't want to bring up how I had offered Dee (Wangero) a quilt when she went away to
college.” A person who do not talk about the past is a good person, even others parent want to talk about it
to convince their children of doing what they do not want. Mama does not. She just answer what her child
is talking at that moment, answer the question. And the detail: She just answer "She can always make
some more," I said. "Maggie knows how to quilt." I think that old traditions from family teaches her about
the moral value which helps she can remember the feeling when she with family. Besides, how the quilts
are made and why they are made are two important things that leads to the way they use the quilts. Their
quilts are things to use in life, to recall the memories and to share their stories so I think because of those
reasons so Mama does not want Dee does that. I believe her state of mind day by day live with these
tradition of family so when she hear Dee say “You just will not understand. The point is these quilts, these
quilts!", she asked with a stumped voice: "What would you do with them?". How an old tradition which is
used over years can change to use for different purposes, they can use for a business purpose or for fame,

that is not right. That is what I can understand after Mama asked and her child answered “Hang them,”
she said. “As if that was the only thing you could do with quilts.” It shows two opinion about the quilts, it
also point out the thinking of people nowadays about old stuffs which can use for developing more than
for preserving.
When Mama sees Maggie looked at her like that something hit Mama in the top of her head and ran
down to the soles of her feet and she shows her thinking about behavior’s Maggie. Her emotion changes
because in that moment, she realize her younger daughter who has illness and always feel shy about
almost of things can say to her without fear. She realizes that the suitable person for owning it should be a
person can understand the tradition, create the tradition as if they are destroyed and care about tradition.
That is the reason why Mama choose Maggie to have those quilts.
Dee says to her that “It's really a new day for us. But from the way you and Mama still live you'd
never know it.", it can represent for a number of people believe that live like Mama and Maggie can not
help them know when they can live better than the past and enjoy new things. But Mama and Maggie
represent for a number of people like to preserve the value of old tradition so they do not have to live with
a hope that will be “a new day”.
Mama represent for a stratum of women can work well, have independent opinions and like to
preserve old traditions. She also shows a side that in an African family, a mother sometimes can be do
things as a father because from a long time ago their cultures give a lot of responsibilities for woman in
the family.