"Everyday Use" by Alice Walker, List 2

Sandy (United States of America)
Mama Johnson has two daughters: Maggie, living with Mama and steeped every day in their heritage; and Dee (now Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo), who is college-educated, has moved away, and embraced a "new day" lifestyle. Which daughter shows more respect for their heritage: the one giving her handmade quilts "everyday use"; or, the one preserving Mama's old quilts, as if in a museum?

This list covers vocabulary from "When she comes…"—"...go to bed."

Here are links to our lists for the book: List 1, List 2
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. stocky
    having a short and solid form or stature
    From the other side of the car comes a short, stocky man. Hair is all over his head a foot long and hanging from his chin like a kinky mule tail.
  2. navel
    a scar where the umbilical cord was attached
    The short stocky fellow with the hair to his navel is all grinning and he follows up with "Asalamalakim, my mother and sister!"
  3. stout
    fairly large
    "Don't get up," says Dee. Since I am stout it takes something of a push. You can see me trying to move a second or two before I make it.
  4. cower
    crouch or curl up
    Out she peeks next with a Polaroid. She stoops down quickly and lines up picture after picture of me sitting there in front of the house with Maggie cowering behind me.
  5. oppress
    come down on or keep down by unjust use of one's authority
    "Well," I say. "Dee."
    "No, Mama," she says. "Not 'Dee,' Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo!"
    "What happened to 'Dee'?" I wanted to know.
    "She's dead," Wangero said. "I couldn't bear it any longer, being named after the people who oppress me."
  6. doctrine
    a belief accepted as authoritative by some group or school
    Hakim-a-barber said, "I accept some of their doctrines, but farming and raising cattle is not my style."
  7. churn
    a vessel to separate butterfat from buttermilk
    She jumped up from the table and went over in the corner where the churn stood, the milk in it crabber by now. She looked at the churn and looked at it.
  8. whittle
    cut small bits or pare shavings from
    "This churn top is what I need," she said. "Didn't Uncle Buddy whittle it out of a tree you all used to have?"
    "Yes," I said.
  9. centerpiece
    a decoration placed in the middle of a table
    "I can use the chute top as a centerpiece for the alcove table," she said, sliding a plate over the chute, "and I'll think of something artistic to do with the dasher."
  10. alcove
    a small recess opening off a large room or garden
    "I can use the chute top as a centerpiece for the alcove table," she said, sliding a plate over the chute, "and I'll think of something artistic to do with the dasher."
  11. quilt
    bedding made of layers stuffed and stitched together
    After dinner Dee (Wangero) went to the trunk at the foot of my bed and started rifling through it. Maggie hung back in the kitchen over the dishpan. Out came Wangero with two quilts.
  12. paisley
    a fabric with a colorful swirled pattern of curved shapes
    They had been pieced by Grandma Dee and then Big Dee and me had hung them on the quilt frames on the front porch and quilted them. One was in the Lone Star pattern. The other was Walk Around the Mountain. In both of them were scraps of dresses Grandma Dee had worn fifty and more years ago. Bits and pieces of Grandpa Jattell's paisley shirts.
  13. reckon
    expect, believe, or suppose
    "Maggie can't appreciate these quilts!" she said. "She'd probably be backward enough to put them to everyday use."
    "I reckon she would," I said.
  14. heritage
    practices that are handed down from the past by tradition
    "What don't I understand?" I wanted to know.
    "Your heritage," she said, And then she turned to Maggie, kissed her, and said, "You ought to try to make something of yourself, too, Maggie. It's really a new day for us. But from the way you and Mama still live you'd never know it."
Created on Fri May 08 21:31:36 EDT 2026 (updated Sun May 10 15:54:15 EDT 2026)

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