The Story
"Everyday Use" is narrated by a woman who describes herself as "a large,
big-boned woman with rough, man-working hands." She has enjoyed a rugged
farming life in the country and now lives in a small, tin-roofed house
surrounded by a clay yard in the middle of a cow pasture. She anticipates
that soon her daughter Maggie will be married and she will be living
peacefully alone.
The story opens as the two women await a visit from the older daughter, Dee,
and a man who may be her husband--her mother is not sure whether they are
actually married. Dee, who was always scornful of her f…
