Quilts and Art in Everyday Use With her story, "Everyday Use", Alice Walker is saying that art should be a living, breathing part of the culture from which it was born, rather than a frozen clock to be observed from a distance. To emphasize this point, in her story she uses quilts to symbolize art; and what happens to these quilts represents her theory of art. (thesis) Quilts themselves, as art, are inseparable from the culture from which they arise. (thematic sentence) The story of these quilts is a family story. The narrator says, "In both were scraps of clothes that Grandma Dee had worn fifty-odd years ago. Bits and pieces of Grandpa Jarrell's Paisley shirts. And a tiny faded blue piece...that came from Great-Grandfather's uniform Ezra that he wore during the Civil War." So these quilts, which have become a family heirloom, not only represent the family, but are an integral part of the family. Walker is saying that true art not only represents its culture, but is an inseparable part of that culture. The way the quilts are treated shows Walker's view on how art should be treated. Dee desires quilts for their financial and aesthetic value. "But they are priceless!" he exclaims, when he learns that his mother has already promised them to Maggie. Dee claims that Maggie is "backward enough to use them every day." In fact, that's how Maggie sees quilts. She appreciates them for what they mean to her as an individual. This becomes clear when she says, “I can member of Grandma Dee without the quilts,” implying that her connection to the quilts is personal and emotional rather than financial and aesthetic. She also knows that quilts are an active process, kept alive through continuous renewal. As the narrator points out, "Maggie knows how to quilt." The two sisters' values ​​regarding the quilt represent the two main approaches to art appreciation in our society. Art can be valued for financial and aesthetic reasons, or it can be valued for personal and emotional reasons. When the narrator tears the quilts from Dee and gives them to Maggie, Walker is saying that the second set of values ​​is the correct one. Art, to be kept alive, must be put into "everyday use" - literally in the case of quilts, figuratively in the case of conventional art.