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Symbolism is used throughout "Everyday Use " to further the development of Walker`s characters. .
One of the first presented symbols is Dee`s new name, "Wangero Leewanika Keemanjo. " While Dee believes it represents her true African culture, she fails to recognize that the name she already had had more true cultural significance than her new name. Mama quickly realizes that Dee`s newfound cultural appreciation is superficial, as she stops herself from telling Dee where her name comes from, even though, " [Mama] could have carried it back beyond the Civil War " (494). Dee has little real understanding of Africa, so what she believes to be her true heritage is actually fake. Dee later asks Mama for two household objects to take with her. A, "churn top as a centerpiece for the alcove table.' and a dasher that, "Aunt Dee`s first husband [whittled] " (495). The churn and the dasher are significant to Mama who can remember even the, "tree that grew in the yard where Big Dee and Stash had lived " which the dasher had been whittled from (495). The churn is also an object of "everyday use " as Mama says there is still milk within. Dee wants to use these items as decorations, much like she uses her heritage as a decoration upon her new self. The use of these objects not as utilities but as decorations reflects greatly on how Dee views her heritage. Dee believes her heritage as something from the past, something to be stored and displayed, and fails to realize that her heritage and cultural are living still within the everyday lives of Mama and Maggie.
Walker`s use of irony is mainly displayed through Dee`s constant desire to connect with her heritage superficially and her belief that Mama and Maggie do not "understand " their heritage properly. This develops both Mama and Dee`s characters by highlighting the misunderstanding Dee has on her culture. This irony is developed mainly through Dee`s desire of the quilts, "done by [Mama] and Big Dee from some tops your grandma priced together before she died " (495).