Everyday Use

At the beginning of the story, the narrator speaks of Dee's yearning to get past her roots and make a way for herself in the world. Her mother has no problem with this. But when Dee returns, so eager to reconnect with her heritage, her mother becomes irritated. The reason that she feels this way is that when Dee was trying to be different, she wasn't exploiting her roots. Now, she is seeking them for the wrong reasons. She wants to "hang them up", present them to the world and yet not truly live by them, and her mother and Maggie do. Maggie is the one who will truly appreciate and use her heritage. That is the problem with some people relying too much on their non-American roots. They exploit them, rather than embrace them.