Alice Walker Quilts

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Alice Walker is a highly regarded African-American author. Although “Everyday Use” did not earn her a Pulitzer Prize, her novel “The Color Purple” did (Whitted). Walker is a self-proclaimed “womanist” (Johnson). She coined this phrase over the term feminist because her number one duty was to bring awareness of the essence of African-American women which was her primary goal (Johnson). Walker was born in 1944 and wrote many of her stories during the 1960’s. She was making her debut during the Black Arts Movement (Whitted). “Everyday Use” was written in 1973 which was a time during the Civil Rights Movement. This in turn led Walker to be an activist during the Civil Rights Movement. Alice Walker does an excellent job of illustrating some trying…show more content…
They are a huge symbol for African-American culture. Quilting was not just a craft for African-American women, it became a way of life for them. African-American women actually quilted as a way to bond with one another. They were even known to be making quilts since they were slaves who had just arrived in America (Martin). Martin states in her article, “The art of quilting involves sewing scraps of cloth to join fragments into both a work of art and a functional household necessity” (Martin). Each quilted piece could be a sign of courage. Each part of the blanket represented a meaning whether it was no education, poverty, or in some cases being somewhat deformed. The creation of the blanket was a way to escape all of the dismay that the women faced. This is where young Maggie comes in. Maggie was unfortunately burdened with no education, poverty, and deformation due to a house fire. Therefore, she relates the most with the art of quilting. Walker says, “It was Grandma Dee and Big Dee who taught her how to quilt herself” (Walker 816). The quilts symbolizes not only the family’s culture but it has a lot of history attached to it. The quilts had sewn pieces of the Grandma’s dresses, material from their Grandpa’s shirts, and even pieces from a Great Grandpa’s uniform. The uniform that was sewn into the quilts was from the Civil War. Since Maggie knows how to quilt it is she who will pass on the…show more content…
Therefore, it is only natural that Mama would use animal imagery to describe the characters. After all, livestock is a part of her culture. Since animals is what Mama knows best, she compares not only herself but her daughters to different animals. By Mama associating each of the characters to animals, it gives the reader a better glimpse into the characters appearances and personalities. In this story we learn that Maggie and Dee/Wangero are total opposites. Unfortunately, Maggie was left deformed due to a house fire that took place several years before. As a result from the burns it left Maggie scarred and timid. Mama describes Maggie as a “lame animal, perhaps a dog run over by some careless person rich enough to own a car, sidle up to someone who is ignorant enough to be kind him? That is the way my Maggie walks.” (Walker 811). From the description that Mama gives us you get a sense of how just burdened Maggie really is. Dee on the other hand is described as being very attractive and she never has any hesitations. Mama describes Dee/Wangero’s hair stating, “It stands straight up like the wool on a sheep. It is black as night and around the edges are two long pigtails that rope about like small lizards disappearing behind her ears” (Walker 813). Mama’s description of Dee’s hair gives us a visual that Dee is well kept and very fashionable. Mama also at one point describes Dee’s voice as
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