"Everyday Use" is a short story that was written by Alice Walker and it was published for the first time in 1973. It is probably one of the best-known works of this American writer and it made part of the short-story collection <em>In Love and Trouble.</em>
"Everyday Use" narrates the story of three African American women, a mother, Mama, who is the one that tells the story from her point of view, and her two daughters Dee and Maggie. While Mama and Maggie decide to maintain their traditional Deep South, African American, lifestyle and customs, Dee goes off to school and becomes enamored with the idea of the origins and customs of her African ancestors before they were enslaved. The conflict arises when the three women come together again after a period of separation and the two views: Mama´s and Maggies on old-school Deep South traditions, and Dee´s, who actually goes so far as to change her name to Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo and now dresses as an African woman would, clash and generate trouble, especially when Dee pretends to take away two hand-made quilts that had been promised to Maggie for her wedding.
The main theme of this short story, then, is the relationship between mother and daughter, but most importantly, the clash that arises from the different perceptions regarding true origin and identity of the African American woman.
