Alice Walker's Everyday Use revolves around a conversation the mother has with Dee, the daughter who has gone to college, and her sister Maggie. A discussion about who most deserves the quilts hand-sewn by their mother, grandmother and Aunt Dee. During their conversation, both girls will demonstrate how much they appreciate their family quilts, but unfortunately we can conclude that only one of the girls exemplifies how to appreciate her culture. Maggie uses the quilts in memory of her grandmother Dee, while her sister Dee changes her name and only wants to use the quilts to decorate her house. Dee, a surname that the mother can trace back beyond the Civil War (464), but despite this lineage Dee will exchange her name for Wangero (464). When the narrator asks, "What happened to 'Dee'?" (464), she was curious as to why her daughter would reject her birth name. “She is dead” (464). Dee responds: "I could no longer bear to bear the name of the people who oppressed me" (464) but the original name that her oppressors gave to their ancestors was misused over the generations and the name Dee, had a family and historical importance for the mother. Dee believes that ancestral heritage is more important than one's immediate inheritance. The mother explains: “I could have brought it back before the Civil Road through the branches” (464). Dee couldn't understand the cultural significance of her name, the same name that came from her loved ones and not her oppressors. She fails to appreciate the cultural significance of the name Dee. Dee wants to appreciate her family's quilts by framing them in her home, but Maggie would most likely use them on a daily basis and keep them to remember her grandmother..... .middle of paper...... show how little she cares about her family culture by displaying her family quilts as decor, changing her last name, and with her new identity she has left her family culture completely. The mother can understand Dee's point of view, but that is why she cannot grant these quilts to Dee. When Maggie shows her affection for the quilts and is ready to part with them, her mother realizes that she is more deserving of the family quilts. This is how we can appreciate our family culture, by remembering those who came before us and keeping their memories alive within us. We do not need to be accepted by our own culture since we were born into it, but we must perpetuate ideas so that they stay with us over time. Works Cited Walker, Alice. “Daily use.” The Seagull Reader: Stories / edited by Joseph Kelly. New York: Norton, 2008. Print.