What is the plot of "Everyday Use"?
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The best way to find out what the plot of a story is would be to read it. If you're pressed for time or want to know whether the story might fit into your lesson plans, you can refer to the eNotes summary. A link to that page appears below.
A question about choices made in the story was asked recently, and because it relates to the plot as well, a link to that page is below also.
The plot of "Everyday Use" is what is more important to one's culture? Do you cherish things because they are part of the "Black Pride Movement" and "Civil Rights Movement" or do we cherish things because they are part of our heritage and what is part of growing up? In the story, Dee wanted possessions because they were part of her "Black Pride" where Maggie wanted them because they were things made by her ancestors and they represented their familly. Dee just wanted them to use as a "symbol" for what the Civil Rights movement gave to African Americans. This story taught you to cherish things that were made with love and will always remind you of Home.
Reference: The Language and Literature Book by McDougal Littell
Relvoing around a family conflict triggered by a proud, confident character Dee's desire to obtain her personal and cultural heritage but inability to appreciate genuine identity of other characters, her mother and very disparate sister, Maggie, "Everyday Use" underscores a generation gap and a contrast between two distinctively different attitudes toward heritage. Although Maggie and their mother do not attempt to understand their cultural heritiage intellectually, they know and can feel it everyday by simply living their cultural heritage, maintained int he form of family relics: the quilt.
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