33 pages • 1 hour read
Alice WalkerEveryday Use
Fiction | Short Story | Adult | Published in 1973A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Quiz
How to use
This flexible-use quiz is designed for reading comprehension assessment and activity needs in classroom, home-schooling and other settings. Questions connect to the text’s plot, characters, and themes — and align with the content and chapter organization in the rest of this study guide. Use quizzes as pre-reading hooks, reading checks, discussion starters, entrance/exit “tickets,” small group activities, writing activities, and lessons on finding evidence and support in a text.
Depth of Knowledge Levels: Questions require respondents to demonstrate ability to:
- Recall and Understand Content (e.g., who, what, where, when)
- Apply and Analyze Ideas (e.g., how and why)
Questions
1. Which of the following best describes the mood at the beginning of the story?
A) anticipatory
B) despairing
C) bitter
D) ecstatic
2. Which of the following does Maggie have?
A) a cleft palate
B) burn marks
C) a stutter
D) acne scars
3. What recurring dream involving Dee does Mrs. Johnson describe? (short answer)
4) As a girl, Dee is implied to have felt what for her family?
A) pride
B) sympathy
C) resentment
D) mistrust
5. Mrs. Johnson describes Dee as “lighter than Maggie, with nicer hair” (Paragraph 10). This draws attention to which of the following?
A) Dee’s vanity
B) Dee’s resemblance to the narrator
C) Dee’s resemblance to her father
D Dee's more “Western” appearance
6. Roughly how long ago did the Johnsons’ old house burn? (short answer)
7. Mrs. Johnson’s school closed after she completed which grade?
A) first
B) second
C) third
D) fourth
8. We can infer that “Everyday Use” takes place in which of the following settings?
A) urban
B) suburban
C) rural
D) exurban
9. What does Dee do after arriving but before kissing her mother?
A) Photograph them in front of the house
B) Introduce them to “Hakim-a-barber"
C) Give them a pie she’s brought
D) Compliment Maggie’s skirt and blouse
10. Why does Dee asked to be called by the new name “Wangero”? (short answer)
11. Hakim-a-barber is implied to be which of the following?
A) atheist
B) agnostic
C) Christian
D) Muslim
12. How does Dee react to the dinner her mother serves?
A) She ignores it.
B) She eats and talks enthusiastically.
C) She criticizes her mother’s cooking.
D) She asks for her mother’s recipes.
13. How do Maggie’s and Dee’s attitudes towards the churn and dasher differ?
A) Maggie feels the items have artistic value, whereas Dee considers them unsightly.
B) Dee feels the items have artistic value, whereas Maggie considers them unsightly.
C) Maggie knows the personal significance and history of the items, whereas Dee views them symbolically.
D) Dee feels the items should be preserved, whereas Maggie thinks they should be thrown away.
14. What are Mrs. Johnson’s quilts made out of?
A) scraps of old sheets and curtains
B) scraps of her ancestors’ clothes
C) handwoven cotton
D) wool and felt
15. What does Dee want to do with the quilts she asks for? (short answer)
16. What finally persuades Mrs. Johnson to stand up to Dee?
A) Maggie’s selflessness
B) Something Hakim-a-barber says
C) A memory of her own mother teaching her to quilt
D) Dee’s prior dismissal of the quilts as “old-fashioned”
17. Dee’s remark that her mother doesn’t understand her “heritage” is an example of which of the following?
A) metaphor
B) foreshadowing
C) irony
D) sarcasm
18. What are Maggie and Mrs. Johnson doing as the story ends?
A) reading together
B) folding quilts
C) cleaning dishes
D) sitting in the yard
Answers
1. A
2. B
3. Reuniting with Dee on a TV show
4. C
5. D
6. Ten to twelve years ago
7. B
8. C
9. A
10. “Wangero,” because she doesn’t want to be “named after the people who oppress [her]” anymore (Paragraph 27)
11. D
12. B
13. C
14. B
15. Hang them as decorations
16. A
17. C
18. D
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By Alice Walker
