Everyday Use Quiz
Questions: 16 · 10 minutes
1. Which statement best captures the central conflict over the quilts?
Dee treats heritage as something to display, while Maggie embodies it through memory and daily practice
The family disagrees about whether old objects should be sold or donated
Mama wants to destroy the quilts, while both daughters want to preserve them
Maggie values the quilts for their price, while Dee values only their warmth
2. Mama imagines appearing with Dee on a television program. What does this fantasy mainly reveal?
Mama hopes to become famous for making quilts
Mama expects Dee to begin a television career
Mama imagines an idealized reunion in which she becomes the kind of mother Dee would proudly embrace
Mama wants the family’s house to be remodeled on television
3. Who narrates “Everyday Use”?
Hakim-a-barber, Dee’s companion
Maggie, the younger daughter
Dee, the older daughter
Mama, the mother of Dee and Maggie
4. When Dee photographs Mama and Maggie, what does she deliberately include in the images?
The ruins of the family’s previous house
The church and Dee’s former school
John Thomas and his family
The house and a cow in the yard
5. Which detail most clearly shows that the quilts contain tangible pieces of family history?
They were ordered from a catalog using money from the church
They reproduce patterns Dee studied while away at school
They include scraps from relatives’ clothing and a piece of a Civil War uniform
They carry written labels identifying every family member
6. Why does Dee say she no longer wants to use the name her family gave her?
She wants to use the same surname as Hakim-a-barber
She thinks it is too easily confused with Maggie’s name
She believes it connects her to people who oppressed her ancestors
She learns that Mama chose the name by accident
7. What name does Dee use when she returns to visit her family?
Asalamalakim Johnson
Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo
Dicie Hakim Walker
Maggie Leewanika Johnson
8. What prompts Mama to take the quilts from Dee and place them in Maggie’s lap?
She discovers that Dee has damaged one of the quilts
She remembers that the quilts belong legally to Maggie
She recognizes Maggie’s quiet, lived connection to the family tradition
She decides that handmade objects should never leave the family home
9. Which contrast is most evident when Dee arrives at the house?
Dee avoids the camera, while Maggie eagerly poses for photographs
Dee presents herself boldly, while Maggie hangs back self-consciously
Dee wears plain work clothes, while Maggie dresses elaborately
Dee speaks very little, while Maggie controls the conversation
10. As Dee prepares to leave, what advice does she give Maggie?
Try to make something of herself
Leave home and attend the same school Dee attended
Change her name to reclaim her heritage
Preserve the quilts by placing them in a museum
11. How does Maggie respond when it appears that Dee will take the quilts?
She says Dee can have them because she can remember Grandma Dee without the quilts
She demands that Mama honor the original promise
She offers to divide each quilt into two equal pieces
She asks Dee to pay for them before leaving
12. Dee asks for the butter churn top even though she does not plan to churn butter. How does she intend to use it?
As a tray for serving food
As a pattern for a new wooden churn
As a gift for Hakim-a-barber
As a decorative centerpiece for a table
13. Before Dee asks for the quilts, to whom has Mama already promised them?
Maggie, for when she marries John Thomas
Dee’s future children
Hakim-a-barber’s family
The local church that helped Dee attend school
14. How did the fire at the family’s previous house physically affect Maggie?
It damaged her eyesight
It left scars on her arms and legs
It left her with an injured hand
It caused her to lose her hearing
15. Dee argues that Maggie should not receive the handmade quilts because Maggie would most likely do what with them?
Sell them to pay for her wedding
Put them to everyday use
Take them apart to make clothing
Give them to John Thomas’s family
16. Which detail best shows that Maggie participates in the family’s quilting tradition rather than merely admiring it?
She knows how much antique quilts can sell for
She plans to display the quilts for visitors
She photographs the quilts to preserve their patterns
She learned how to quilt from Grandma Dee and Big Dee