Who wrote Everyday Use?

• A. Alice Walker
• B. Zora Neale Hurston
• C. Toni Morrison
• D. Matthew Arnold

Answer: (A)

Authorship matters because it connects a work to the writer’s perspective and place in literary history. Everyday Use was written by Alice Walker, a prominent American author who published this story in 1973 as part of the collection In Love and Trouble. The narrative follows a mother and her two daughters, Maggie and Dee, and uses the idea of heritage—symbolized by quilts and everyday objects—to explore how culture is understood and valued in daily life. Walker’s portrayal emphasizes lived, practical connection to one’s roots rather than a flashy, performative display of culture, which is a recurring thread in her work about African American family life and identity.

The other authors listed are known for different works and time periods: Zora Neale Hurston for Their Eyes Were Watching God, Toni Morrison for novels like Beloved, and Matthew Arnold as a 19th-century British poet and critic. The writer of Everyday Use is Alice Walker.