Question

Read the passage. [Dee (Wangero) is still admiring the quilts, but the narrator explains that she has promised them to Maggie as a wedding present.] She gasped like a bee had stung her. “Maggie can’t appreciate these quilts!” she said. “She’d probably be backward enough to put them to everyday use.” . . . [The narrator exclaims that she hopes Maggie will use the quilts. No one has used them all this time that she has saved them. She also remembers that Dee (Wangero) had once told her that the quilts were old-fashioned and that she didn’t want to take one to college with her.] “But they’re priceless!” she was saying now, furiously; for she has a temper. “Maggie would put them on the bed and in five years they’d be in rags. Less than that!” . . . In “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker, what does Dee’s dialogue reveal about her feelings toward her sister?

Answer 1

“Everyday use" by Alice Walker was  set in the late 1960s or early 1970s, a tumultuous time when many African Americans were struggling to redefine and seize control of their social, cultural, and political identity in American society.

The time in which “Everyday Use” took place was an era when groups of all ideologies—some peaceful, some militant—arrived on scene. The Black Panthers and Black Muslims were groups created to resist what they saw as a white-oppressive society.

The narrator’s treatment of Maggie might seem contradictory to the emotions set in the later dialogue if one has not understood the overall context in which the scene takes place. The novel is about an African-American Mama and her two daughters, Maggie and Dee. The plot surrounds The Quilts which are full of the family heritage. And the Mama wants to give two of the most important Quilts to Maggie while Dee wants to prevent the situation arguing that Maggie would not be careful enough to take care of the Quilts and they would get destroyed.

This dialogue reveals that Dee's feeling toward her sister are ones of resentment and anger due to the importance of the Quilts and their heritage.

So, the final Answer to this question would be:

Resentment and anger