Everyday use by Alice walker deals with a young woman who is trying to find her place in her heritage. The story begins with Mama and Maggie awaiting the arrival of Dee a college student coming home from college. The change of Dee's attitude toward her heritage ties in with the theme of the story. When Dee left for college she thought that her heritage was old and out of style but, now Dee wants a couple of artifacts of her heritage because it can make her fashionable. She tries to pick and choose the parts of her heritage that she thinks will make her fashionable, such as the quilts and the benches. She believes her heritage will make her fashionable but; her heritage is to be lived. It's not a tool to entertain her friends.
             Dee doesn't understand the traditions that come along with her heritage. However, Dee tells Mama and Maggie that they don't understand their "heritage" (121) because Maggie is going to put the quilts to "everyday use" (120). The quilts are an important part of Dees heritage because they where created by past members of her family. Heritage isn't something you can decide you want one day and the next day say you don't want it. Dee is being picky about what parts of her heritage she wants. When Dee arrived home from college she went around the house picking out the things she wanted because, she thought they would make her fashionable. If she really wanted to live her heritage she would accept everything that is apart of it.
             Dee's name is a great example of her attitude change. Dee picked a new name "Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo" (118) to exorcise the oppression that her old name Dee is associated with. Dee's attitude toward her name before she went to college was of acceptance, and after college she thought that the name Dee was associated with oppression. Mama doesn't see a problem with the name Dee. Mama believes that Dee is a fa
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