Commentaries on Alice Walker's "Everyday Use" typically center
on Mama's awakening to one daughter's superficiality and to the
other's deep-seated understanding of heritage. Most readers
agree that when Mama takes the quilts from Dee and gives them to
Maggie, she confirms her younger daughter's self-worth:
metaphorically, she gives Maggie her voice. Elaine Hedges, for
example, refers to the "reconciliation scene" in which "Mama's
gift of the family quilts to Maggie empowers the previously
silenced and victimized daughter." The text underscores such a
reading by stating that immediately... (The entire page is 1609
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