Everyday Use Themes

Race is much more than a small box that we sometimes check on forms and applications in "Everyday Use"—for the characters in this story it's an enormous part of who they are. Make no mistake, tho...

Any story that begins with a mother fantasizing about reuniting with her daughter on a TV talk show is probably going to have something to tell us about family. Probably a lot to tell us, in fact....

Tradition in "Everyday Use" is mostly represented through practical objects that have been passed down in the narrator's family for generations. Sounds lovely, right? Well, not so much. A disagreem...

Some of the narrator's earliest descriptions of her home may make us feel all warm and fuzzy, but don't be fooled: the home in "Everyday Use" isn't some little backdrop to the action of the story....