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In “Everyday Use,” the notion of heritage serves as the primary foundation for the narrative’s development. The drastic differences between Mama’s way of life and Dee’s imagined identity emerge quickly as a source of tension between them, and questions of what cultural authenticity looks like carry through to the end of the story. While the direct conflict of the story is the fight that Mama and Dee have over who will inherit the family’s special quilts, this interpersonal argument actually represents the broader struggle between two different understandings of what heritage truly means. Mama believes that honoring culture is a practice, but Dee treats her heritage as something meant for display. Walker challenges the reader to look past Dee’s flashy and superficial approach to see the inherent value of Mama’s simple yet honest lifestyle, emphasizing that outward appearances are not always truthful. Authentically engaging with heritage, Walker ultimately argues, is an active practice which requires everyday use.
Through both the story’s dedication and its early moments, Walker establishes the tension between Mama and Dee by emphasizing the sacrifices that older generations make for the benefit of the next. Preceding the narrative with the dedication “For your grandmama” allows the reader to begin the story with the notion of family history in mind, and Walker’s choice to use “your” rather than “my” invites the reader to consider their own position in the conflict about to unfold. Walker goes on to begin the story with Mama’s dream about joyfully reuniting with her daughter on a talk show, an image which she quickly acknowledges is unrealistic. Despite the sacrifices Mama made for their family, such as taking on the more traditionally masculine responsibility of physical labor, she knows that Dee would never express gratitude for her support. This selfish attitude serves as foreshadowing for the surface level approach she will eventually take to honor her ancestors. For Dee, everything is about visual impact rather than inherent meaning. She perceives her mother’s house, for example, as an embarrassment rather than a symbol of her family’s perseverance.
The inciting incident of the story occurs when Dee and her partner, a Black Muslim man who Mama refers to as Hakim-a-barber, arrive at the house, flaunting their sense of worldliness. Both offer foreign greetings to Mama and Maggie that they do not understand, and rather than dressing appropriately for the warm weather, Dee appears in a bright, African-inspired dress. These details reveal the performative nature of Dee’s understanding of heritage. Speaking to her family in a foreign language and wearing a bold, eye-catching outfit ensures that everyone around her is aware of her culture. Dee’s decision to change her name to Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo, while enhancing the outward projection of her identity, also works to actively distance her from the authentic personal history that her family-derived name represents. Through the confidence and superiority she feels as a result of her education away from home, Dee abandons her true rural heritage in favor of inventing a new one which appears more impressive to others.
The longer that Dee and Hakim-a-barber are at Mama’s house, the more apparent her superficial understanding of culture becomes as she begins taking items with the intention of displaying them like artifacts in a museum. After taking Polaroid pictures of the house and sending looks to Hakim-a-barber which reflect her condescending opinion of it, the story’s rising action continues as everyone sits down to eat and Dee starts laying claim to what she views as family heirlooms. She asks Mama for the top to her butter churner as well as the dasher, both of which serve functional purposes in their home, so that she can use them as decoration. This perspective not only reinforces her reliance on visual signifiers to create a sense of culture, but it also reveals her belief that heritage is stagnant and made up of relics from the past. Dee does not even consider the fact that Mama still uses these pieces as she only values them for their age.
Although Mama tries to play along and accept Dee’s new identity, the conflict between their different interpretations of honoring heritage come to a head when Dee demands that she have the special family quilts set aside for Maggie. This moment, which serves as the climax of the story, reveals Mama’s perspective more fully as well as just how strongly she believes in it. The fact that she stands up to her daughter and explains that she wants Maggie to have the quilts, an act which requires courage given how intimidated she feels in her presence, highlights her conviction that culture is a practice that must be put to everyday use in order to remain authentic. She can no longer accept Dee’s performative heritage, especially knowing that Maggie will genuinely cherish the quilts and use them as a way of further developing her family’s legacy.
After significant pushback and literally tearing the quilts out of her daughter’s hands, Mama finally succeeds in getting Dee to back down from her demands. This outcome reflects the endurance of treating heritage as a personal practice rather than an outward performance. In the falling action, Dee ironically claims that Mama does not understand heritage, a retort which highlights the persistence of her ignorance. Mama and Maggie watch Dee leave and bask in their success, and this final image reflects the joy that can come from living authentically.
