Week 7

Everyday Use:
1. Consider the relationship between the story’s content and title. Ultimately, is “everyday use” a good thing? The narrator uses this term in the story itself, referencing the possibility that Maggie will receive the quilts. One sister has a very negative association with the idea that such items will be used “everyday”, and in a casual manner; the other appears to believe that such items should be used in order to demonstrate value – unused items have no value in Maggie and her mother’s household. Which definition of “everyday use” does the story, as a whole, appear to uphold?
The story in this case appears to uphold the definition of everyday use as something more practical. I think the mothers strong arguments, not only to defend Maggie but the fact that a promise had already been made to hand down a family heirloom stands as more important than how the quilt will actually be used. Dee wants it for nostalgic purposes, to have a constant and shown reminder of her heritage. Personally, we have a quilt that is a family heirloom and this story was so interesting to me because if that quilt were in my possession, I would do like Dee and hang it to be viewed, not used. How could something like that be replaced? I’m a huge fan of practicality but not for an item such as that.
1. “Is this story optimistic or pessimistic about true love? Is the old couple a positive or a negative example of true love? What about Nick and Laura? What about Ed? Could you argue that he was in love?” (Making Literature Matter 685)
Pessimistic! The couples are so drastically different! The question can’t helped but to be asked is love purely chemical, a physical reaction to another person or is it fate, something that is romantic and in the hands of destiny as though only two people were meant to be? That is left in the opinion of the reader! Laura is a hopeless romantic, flirting with Nick the whole time the story is taking place. Ed, might have been in love but it was such a distorted kind that nobody in the story could possibly relate to. Ed, took his own life for the sake of love and that could be considered the ultimate sacrifice….how isn’t that similar to love, say in comparison with Romeo and Juliet?