西洋文學作品導讀 
(Introduction to Literature)

授課教師: 陳吉斯 
E-mail: kiss7445@mail.tku.edu.tw  
Latest update: 2003/11/23

導讀與討論大綱 (8)Multicultural America: Poetry, Song, and Story

• Alice Walker's "Everyday Use"
  

Characters:

Narrator: Mother of Dee and Maggie
Maggie
Dee (change her name to Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo)
Asalamalakim (Hakim-a-barber), Dee's boyfriend

Discussion:

1. In addition to the quilts, what things are in "everyday use" in this story?

2. Why does Dee change her name? Why does she need the quilts? How will she do with it?

3. What are the narrator's responses to Dee's and Asalamalakim's style?

4. Is Wangero's (Dee) cultural identity authentic?

5. What differences of values showed in the debate about the quilt (paragraphs 55-80)?

Webresources

Anniina Jokinen's  Alice Walker Page, probably the best page available on Walker.
David White:  "Everyday Use". Defining African-American Heritage
Sam Whitsitt: In Spite of It All: A Reading of Alice Walker's "Everyday Use"
Alice Walker, Voices from the Gaps.
Quilts and Art in "Everyday Use".