this is what i insight after reading every day use. it may not match with what alice walker wanted to convey through the story.

alice walker's every day use is the comparison of african and american culture. here dee represent african culture while maggie, the little sister represents american culture

the story is against the notion that african americans should go back to their original african culture by boycotting american culture. here alice walker insists that after livin for centuries in american land, blacks have developed their own culture, which is a modified version of original african culture. this is now the cultue of blacks in america. so to boycott this culture is to omit the identity of american blacks. she agrees in following the african culture, but at the same time she also urges the black ameicans to follow their own home grown american  culture side by side.

   by giving the example of quilt, alice walker says that the way of preserving heritage is not by keeping them in the museum or places like that. heritages should be made an "everyday use". for example maggie uses the quilt every day . even if it is torn. she can make another one easily. her offsprings will make some more. in this way heritage is preserved. by keeping them in museum, as dee says, heritage do not get preserved.