A Family's Old and New Legacy "Everyday Use" begins with Mom and her youngest daughter, Maggie, awaiting the arrival of Mom's eldest daughter , Dee, at their family's home. In the second paragraph of the story, the reader is given a harsh perspective of Maggie's personality and perception of her older sister; Maggie is "ugly and ashamed of her burn scars... she looks at her sister with a mixture of envy and awe. She thinks that her sister has always held her life in the palm of her hand, that 'no' is a word that the world he never learned." tell her" (106). Alice Walker uses Mama's point of view, as well as her flashbacks in time, to convey a family's conflicting opinions about heritage and tradition. Because the reader is limited solely to Mama's first-person point of view and her descriptive memories regarding Dee's past, the idea of ​​her family's cultural heritage is presented in such a way as to have the reader on Mama's side of the conclusion of the story. Mom counters and compares Dee to Maggie. Dee is described as "the kid who made it" (106), while Maggie is pitifully compared to a lame animal; "have you ever seen a lame animal... sneak up on someone who is ignorant enough to be kind to him? That's the way my Maggie walks. She's been that way... ever since the fire broke out in the other house. " down" (107). Dee is strong, confident, has her own style, has big goals set and eventually gets sent to college. However, Dee has not maintained strong friendships, most likely chasing them all away with her “power to find fault” (109). Mother claims that she herself had no education; her school just closed its doors. “Don't ask me why,” she says, “in 1927 the colors asked fewer questions than now " (108). Maggie seems to humbly understand her position in her life and within her family, she will marry John Thomas and live a quiet and simple life. When Dee arrives at the family home, Maggie and her mother are surprised to see Dee accompanied by a man with hair seemingly everywhere and notices that Dee is dressed in bright colors and has let her hair "stand up straight like a sheep's wool"" (109).