Question

In the short story "Everyday Use," by Alice Walker, why does the narrator want Maggie to have the quilts instead of Dee? A. Maggie is marrying someone the narrator approves of, but Dee has married someone of a different religion. B. Maggie would use them and appreciate them, but Dee would hang them and make them useless antiques. C. Maggie helped her grandmother make the quilts, but Dee refused to learn how to make them. D. Maggie is the favored daughter and gets everything she wants, while Dee remains in the background.

Answer 1

The best answer here is answer B. If we look at the title of the short story, we can get an idea of one of the main themes of the story itself. The moral, for lack of a better word, comes down to the everyday use of items throughout the home. We see the two daughters--Maggie and Dee--and the hard relationship they have. They are two different personalities and want two different things with the quilts. Dee wants to cherish, in a way, the quilts that were made by their grandmother. However, the narrator (their mother) doesn't want the quilts to be placed up as a decoration. They were meant to be used everyday. That is why Maggie is given them instead of Dee: she will use them the way they were intended.