Everyday Use

   When I read this story at first I was a bit angry. Dee was a selfish child who never really appreciated what her mother did for her or where she came from. She was that one child in every family who always seems to get their way. There was never speak of a father in this family so I assume that maybe he died when they were young. Yet her mother did all the work needed to take care of her girls and their farm. Yet Dee was nothing but ashamed of her mother and their meager simple lives. She even goes so far as to change her name. She tries to make it seem as though she changed it and became Muslim but it is evident that she hadn't at dinner. "We sat down to eat and right away he said he didn't eat collards and pork was unclean. Wangero, though, went on through the chitlins and corn bread, greens and everything else." Know several Muslims I know that there is nothing short of maybe starvation itself to persuade a Muslim to partake in pork that I am sure was not only the chitlins but also in the greens. ( And if anyone is confused the correct spelling of chitlins is chitterlings and it is pig intestine and is eating on special occasions my many southern people). So Dee left with a hatred of where she began and then came back with what she thought was an appreciation for heritage but yet still a disdain for her mother and sister. I feel that the adherence and "everyday use" that Dee's mother and Maggie had for where they came from was more then what Dee had which was just a want to show the material things off to people.