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EVERYDAY USE

Alice Walker

Plot Overview
Mama decides that she will wait in the yard for her daughter Dees arrival. Mama knows that her
other daughter, Maggie, will be nervous throughout Dees stay, self-conscious of her scars and
burn marks and jealous of Dees much easier life. Mama fantasizes about reunion scenes on
television programs in which a successful daughter embraces the parents who have made her
success possible. Sometimes Mama imagines reuniting with Dee in a similar scenario, in a
television studio where an amiable host brings out a tearful Dee, who pins orchids on Mamas
dress. Whereas Mama is sheepish about the thought of looking a white man in the eye, Dee is
more assertive. Mamas musing is interrupted by Maggies shuffling arrival in the yard. Mama
remembers the house fire that happened more than a decade ago, when she carried Maggie,
badly burned, out of the house. Dee watched the flames engulf the house she despised.
Back then, Mama believed that Dee hated Maggie, until Mama and the community raised enough
money to send Dee to school in Augusta. Mama resented the intimidating world of ideas and
education that Dee forced on her family on her trips home. Mama never went to school beyond
second grade. Maggie can read only in a limited capacity. Mama looks forward to Maggies
marriage to John Thomas, after which Mama can peacefully relax and sing hymns at home.
When Dee arrives, Mama grips Maggie to prevent her from running back into the house. Dee
emerges from the car with her boyfriend, Hakim-a-barber. Mama disapproves of the strange
mans presence and is equally disapproving of Dees dress and appearance. Hakim-a-barber
greets and tries to hug Maggie, who recoils.
Dee gets a camera from the car and takes a few pictures of Mama and Maggie in front of their
house. She then puts the camera on the backseat and kisses Mama on the forehead, as Hakima-barber awkwardly tries to shake Maggies hand. Dee tells her mother that she has changed her
name to Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo to protest being named after the people who have
oppressed her. Mama tells Dee that she was in fact named after her Aunt Dicie, who was named
after Grandma Dee, who bore the name of her mother as well. Mama struggles with the
pronunciation of Dees new African name. Dee says she doesnt have to use the new name, but
Mama learns to say it, although she is unable to master Hakims name. Mama says that he must
be related to the Muslims who live down the road and tend beef cattle and also greet people by

saying Asalamalakim. Hakim-a-barber says he accepts some of their doctrines but is not into
farming or herding.
Mama wonders whether Hakim-a-barber and Dee are married. Sitting down to eat, Hakim-abarber states that he does not eat collard greens or pork. Dee, however, eats heartily, delighted
by the fact that the family still uses the benches her father made. Hopping up, she approaches
the butter churn in the corner and asks Mama if she can have its top, which had been carved by
Uncle Buddy. Dee wants the dasher too, a device with blades used to make butter. Hakim-abarber asks if Uncle Buddy whittled the dash as well, to which Maggie replies that it was Aunt
Dees first husband, Stash, who made it. Dee praises Maggies memory and wraps the items.
Mama grips the handle of the dasher, examining the ruts and worn areas made by her relatives
hands.
Dee ransacks the trunk at the foot of Mamas bed, reappearing with two quilts made by her
mother, aunt, and grandmother. The quilts contain small pieces of garments worn by relatives all
the way back to the Civil War. Dee asks her mother for the quilts. Mama hears Maggie drop
something in the kitchen and then slam the door. Mama suggests that Dee take other quilts, but
Dee insists, wanting the ones hand-stitched by her grandmother. Mama gets up and tries to tell
Dee more about the garments used to make the quilts, but Dee steps out of reach. Mama reveals
that she had promised Maggie the quilts. Dee gasps, arguing that Maggie wont appreciate the
quilts and isnt smart enough to preserve them. But Mama hopes that Maggie does, indeed,
designate the quilts for everyday use.

Dee says that the priceless quilts will be destroyed. Mama says that Maggie knows how to quilt
and can make more. Maggie shuffles in and, trying to make peace, offers Dee the quilts. When
Mama looks at Maggie, she is struck by a strange feeling, similar to the spirit she feels sometimes
in church. Impulsively, she hugs Maggie, pulls her into the room, snatches the quilts out of Dees
hands, and places them in Maggies lap. She tells Dee to take one or two of the other quilts. As
Dee and Hakim-a-barber leave, Dee informs Mama that Mama does not understand her own
heritage. Kissing Maggie, Dee tells her to try and improve herself and that its a new day for black
Americans. Mama and Maggie watch the car drive off, then sit in the quiet of the yard until
bedtime.

Character List
Mama - The narrator of the story. Mama describes herself as a big-boned woman with hands
that are rough from years of physical labor. She wears overalls and has been both mother and
father to her two daughters. Poor and uneducated, she was not given the opportunity to break out

of her rural life. A loving mother, her frank, open nature prevents her from deluding herself when it
comes to her daughters weaknesses. Mama has a strong understanding of her heritage and
wont allow Dee to take the family quilts.
Read an in-depth analysis of Mama.
Maggie - The shy, retiring daughter who lives with Mama. Burned in a house fire as a young girl,
Maggie lacks confidence and shuffles when she walks, often fleeing or hanging in the background
when there are other people around, unable to make eye contact. She is good-hearted, kind, and
dutiful. Rather than anger her intimidating sister, she is willing to let Dee have the quilts that had
originally been promised to her.
Read an in-depth analysis of Maggie.
Dee - Mamas older daughter, who has renamed herself Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo. Dee
wears a brightly colored, yellow-and-orange, ankle-length dress that is inappropriate for the warm
weather. Her hair stands up straight on top and is bordered by two long pigtails that hang down in
back. Dee is educated, worldly, and deeply determined, not generally allowing her desires to be
thwarted. When Mama wont let her have the quilts to display, she becomes furious. She claims
that Mama and Maggie dont understand their heritage, but she is the one overlooking the
important aspects of her family history.
Read an in-depth analysis of Dee.
Hakim-a-barber - Dees boyfriend or, possibly, husband. Hakim-a-barber is a Black Muslim
whom Mama humorously refers to as Asalamalakim, the Arab greeting he offers them, meaning
peace be with you. An innocuous presence, he is a short and stocky, with waist-length hair and
a long, bushy beard. His desire to make a good first impression makes him seem awkward. He
makes Maggie uncomfortable by forcing his attention and greetings on her.

Analysis of Major Characters


Mama
Mama, the narrator of the story, is a strong, loving mother who is sometimes threatened and
burdened by her daughters, Dee and Maggie. Gentle and stern, her inner monologue offers us a
glimpse of the limits of a mothers unconditional love. Mama is brutally honest and often critical in
her assessment of both Dee and Maggie. She harshly describes shy, withering Maggies
limitations, and Dee provokes an even more pointed evaluation. Mama resents the education,
sophistication, and air of superiority that Dee has acquired over the years. Mama fantasizes
about reuniting with Dee on a television talk show and about Dee expressing gratitude to Mama
for all Mama has done for her. This brief fantasy reveals the distance between the twoand how

underappreciated Mama feels. Despite this brief daydream, Mama remains a practical woman
with few illusions about how things are.
Just as Dee embraces an alternative persona when she renames herself Wangero, Mama
rejected a traditional gender role when she worked to raise and provide for her daughters and
took on an alternative, masculine persona. She is proud of her hardy nature and ability to butcher
hogs and milk cows. In the story, she literally turns her back on the house, the traditionally female
space. She feels that it confines her too much. Despite her willingness to operate outside of
conventions, Mama lacks a broad view of the world and is, to some extent, intimidated by Dee.
She doesnt understand Dees life, and this failure to understand leads her to distrust Dee. Dee
sees her new persona as liberating, whereas Mama sees it as a rejection of her family and her
origins. It is not surprising that she names familiar Maggie as the caretaker of the familys
heritage.

Maggie
Nervous and maladjusted, Maggie is a figure of purity, uncorrupted by selfishness or complex
emotional needs. Severely burned in a house fire when she was a child, her scarred, ugly
appearance hides her sympathetic, generous nature. She lives at home and is protected by
Mama, remaining virtually untouched by the outside world. As much as her homebound isolation
protects her, she is also a victim of this seclusion: she suffers from a crippling shyness and lack of
education. Maggie moves with a meek, shuffling gait and hovers awkwardly in doorways rather
than getting involved in life around her. Although Mama mentions that Maggie is going to marry
John Thomas, it is doubtful that even a marriage will help Maggie become a strong and clearly
defined individual. Mama, protective as she is of Maggie, is frank about her shortcomings and
problems.
Maggies relationship with Dee is rife with jealousy and awe. Mama recalls how Maggie had
always thought Dee had been gifted with an easy life in which her hopes and desires were rarely,
if ever, frustrated. Maggie seems to have taken both sisters difficulties onto her own shoulders,
and although she never says explicitly that she finds it unfair, she clearly thinks so. The only time
Maggie reveals the extent of her innermost desires is when Dee attempts to take the quilts that
Mama had promised to Maggie. Maggie drops plates in the kitchen and then slams the door,
outraged. Later, although she tries to win Dees favor by giving up the quilts, her reluctance to do
so stirs pity and anger in Mama. Maggie does have a will, and although it is buried deep inside
her, it comes through when what she desires most in the world is about to be taken away.

Dee
Dee is the object of jealousy, awe, and agitation among her family members, while as an
individual she searches for personal meaning and a stronger sense of self. Dees judgmental

nature has affected Mama and Maggie, and desire for Dees approval runs deep in both of them
it even appears in Mamas daydreams about a televised reunion. However, Dee does not make
much of an effort to win the approval of Mama and Maggie. Unflappable, not easily intimidated,
and brimming with confidence, Dee comes across as arrogant and insensitive, and Mama sees
even her admirable qualities as extreme and annoying. Mama sees Dees thirst for knowledge as
a provocation, a haughty act through which she asserts her superiority over her mother and
sister. Dee is also portrayed as condescending, professing her commitment to visit Mama and
Maggie no matter what ramshackle shelter they decide to inhabit. Far from signaling a brand-new
Dee or truly being an act of resistance, the new persona, Wangero, comes across as an
attention-seeking ploy in keeping with Dees usual selfishness. Dee says she is reclaiming her
heritage, but she has actually rejected it more violently than ever before.
Through Dee, Walker challenges individualsincluding activists, separatists, or otherwisewho
ignore or reject their heritage. These people prefer to connect themselves to an idealized Africa
instead of to the lessons and harsh realities that characterized the black experience in America.
Dee and Hakim-a-barber are aligned with the abstract realm of ideology, which contrasts starkly
with the earthy, physical, labor-intensive lifestyle of Mama and Maggie. Dee is intrigued by their
rustic realism, snapping photographs as though they are subjects of a documentary, and in doing
so effectively cuts herself off from her family. Instead of honoring and embracing her roots, Dee
looks down on her surroundings, believing herself to be above them.

Themes, Motifs, and Symbols

Themes
The Meaning of Heritage
Angered by what she views as a history of oppression in her family, Dee has constructed a new
heritage for herself and rejected her real heritage. She fails to see the family legacy of her given
name and takes on a new name, Wangero, which she believes more accurately represents her
African heritage. However, the new name, like the African clothes and jewelry she wears to
make a statement, is meaningless. She has little true understanding of Africa, so what she
considers her true heritage is actually empty and false. Furthermore, Dee views her real heritage
as dead, something of the past, rather than as a living, ongoing creation. She desires the carved
dasher and family quilts, but she sees them as artifacts of a lost time, suitable for display but not
for actual, practical use. She has set herself outside her own history, rejecting her real heritage in
favor of a constructed one.

Mama and Dee have very different ideas about what heritage is, and for Mama, the family
objects are infused with the presence of the people who made and used them. The family
heirlooms are the true tokens of Dees identity and origins, but Dee knows little about the past.
She misstates the essential facts about how the quilts were made and what fabrics were used to
make them, even though she pretends to be deeply connected to this folk tradition. Her desire to
hang the quilts, in a museumlike exhibit, suggests that she feels reverence for them but that to
her they are essentially foreign, impersonal objects. Mama understands that Maggie, not Dee,
should have the quilts, because Maggie will respect them by using them in the way they were
intended to be used. When Dee contends at the end of the story that Mama and Maggie do not
understand their heritage, Walker intends the remark to be ironic: clearly, it is Dee herself who
does not understand her heritage.

The Divisive Power of Education


Although Mama struggled to send Dee to a good school, education proves to be more divisive
than beneficial to Dees relationship with her family. Mama herself was denied an education.
When she was a child, her school was closed, and no one attempted to try to reopen it. Racism,
passive acceptance, and forces beyond her control set Mama on the road that led to her life of
toil. Dee was fortunate that Mama gave her the opportunity for advantages and refinements, but
they have served only to create a wedge between Dee and the rest of the family. Dee uses her
intellect to intimidate others, greeting her mother with Wa-su-zo Tean-o, a greeting in an
obscure African language Mama most likely doesnt speak. Dee, with her knowledge and
worldliness, is a threat to the simple world Mama and Maggie inhabit, and Dee seems determined
to lord her knowledge over them. Even as a child, Dee read to her mother and sister without
pity, forcing strange ideas on them and unsettling their simple domestic contentment.
Education has separated Dee from her family, but it has also separated Dee from a true sense of
self. With lofty ideals and educational opportunity came a loss of a sense of heritage,
background, and identity, which only family can provide. Dee arrives at the family home as a
strange, threatening ambassador of a new world, a world that has left Maggie and Mama behind.
Civil rights, greater visibility, and zero tolerance for inequality are characteristics of Dees world.
These things are not, in and of themselves, problematic. Whats problematic is that Dee has no
respect for anything but her world, leading her to alienate herself from her roots. Maggie, on the
other hand, knows no world but the one she came from. Uneducated, she can read only haltingly.
By doing what she is told and accepting the conditions of her sheltered life without question,
Maggie has hampered her own self-fulfillment. Walker sets up this contrast to reveal an ironic
contradiction: Dees voracious quest for knowledge has led to her alienation from her family, while
the lack of education has harmed and stifled Maggie. Both education and the lack of it have
proven to be dangerous for the sisters.

Motifs
Eye Contact and Eyesight
Throughout the story, the presence or absence of eye contact and strong eyesight reveals the
difficulty that Mama, Dee, and Maggie have in relating to one another and, in Maggie and Mamas
case, to the outside world. Mama is unable to look a white person in the eye, suggesting that she
has never managed to embrace the idea of equality, whereas Dee can do so easily. Maggie cant
look anyone in the eye at all, hanging her head as she walks, portraying herself as a silent victim.
In describing Maggies ability to read, Mama says that Maggie does the best she can despite not
being able to see well. This qualified vision is associated with a lack of intelligence or mental
acuity. Walker describes Dee as wide-eyed, always taking in the world around her. During the
house fire that happened when she was a child, she was transfixed by the flames consuming the
home that, to her, represented ignorance and poverty. Mama claims Dees attention was often so
rapt that she would not blink for long stretches of time. Dees easy eye contact and intense gazes
reveal her critical, condescending nature. Soon after arriving at the family home, Dee and Hakim
send eye signals to each other, silently registering their disdain for Mama and Maggies simple,
rustic world.

Naming and Renaming


The act of namingor, in Dees case, renamingis a way of connecting to the past and an
indication of the fluid nature of identity. Walker doesnt tell us the origins of Maggies name, and
Mamas name is never given, but we know that these two characters are unchanging and have
strong ties to their heritage. It therefore makes sense that their names and identities are stable
and unremarkable. Dee, on the other hand, attempts to transform herself and embrace what she
considers her true heritage by adopting an African name. Her boyfriend, Hakim-a-barber, may
have taken on his name for similar reasons, as he grew to embrace Muslim ideas. Renaming is a
sign of these two characters attempts to leave behind their true selves by taking on a new
identity. Dee believes that the name Wangero holds more power and significance than Dee, the
name passed down through four generations. Dees belief that she was named after her
oppressors shows a critical lack of understanding. Quick to judgment, she sees her given name
as an emblem of a racist, abusive world, as opposed to a tribute to a long line of strong women.
Dees decision to take on a new name highlights the confused views she has of her own heritage.

Symbols
Quilts

Everyday Use focuses on the bonds between women of different generations and their enduring
legacy, as symbolized in the quilts they fashion together. This connection between generations is
strong, yet Dees arrival and lack of understanding of her history shows that those bonds are
vulnerable as well. The relationship between Aunt Dicie and Mama, the experienced
seamstresses who made the quilts, is very different from the relationship between Maggie and
Dee, sisters who share barely a word and have almost nothing in common. Just as Dee cannot
understand the legacy of her name, passed along through four generations, she does not
understand the significance of the quilts, which contain swatches of clothes once worn or owned
by at least a centurys worth of ancestors.
The quilts are pieces of living history, documents in fabric that chronicle the lives of the various
generations and the trials, such as war and poverty, that they faced. The quilts serve as a
testament to a familys history of pride and struggle. With the limitations that poverty and lack of
education placed on her life, Mama considers her personal history one of her few treasures. Her
house contains the handicrafts of her extended family. Instead of receiving a financial inheritance
from her ancestors, Mama has been given the quilts. For her, these objects have a value that
Dee, despite professing her desire to care for and preserve the quilts, is unable to fathom.

The Yard
Mamas yard represents a private space free of the regrets and shortcomings that have infiltrated
Mamas life. The yard appears in the first and last sentences of the story, connecting the events
and bookending the action. The yard has been meticulously prepared for Dees arrival. Mama is
sensitive to every detail of the yards appearance, referring to the wavy designs she and Maggie
have made in the dirt as they tidied it. Mama extols the comforts of the yard, comparing it to an
extended living room. In many ways, Mama prefers the yard to the confining house, where the
muggy air fails to circulate freely. The outdoors is a place of freedom, whereas the interior of the
house offers restraint and discomfort. The tense discussion about who gets the quilts takes place
inside, where the various objects provoke Dees desire to reconnect with her past. In contrast, the
yard is a blissful escape, a place where Mamas regrets can be sidestepped. For her and Maggie,
the yard evokes safety, a place where they can exert what little control they have over their
environment.

Historical Context

Everyday Use is set in the late 1960s or early 1970s, a tumultuous time when many African
Americans were struggling to redefine and seize control of their social, cultural, and political
identity in American society. There was also a greater attempt to recognize the contributions that

African Americans had already made in Americas long history. At the time, both scholars and
laypeople became interested in unearthing and reexamining the African American past. They
were particularly interested in the aspects of African heritage that had survived centuries of
slavery and were still present in African American culture. During this time, many blacks sought to
establish themselves as a visible and unified group and take control of how their group was
named. Black (and later Afro-American) replaced the term Negro, which took on offensive
associations. Many black Americans, uninspired by a bleak history of slavery in North America,
looked to their African roots in an effort to reconnect with their past.
The time period in which Everyday Use takes place was also an era when groups of all
ideologiessome peaceful, some militantemerged. The Black Panthers and Black Muslims
were groups created to resist what they saw as a white-dominated society. Dee is possibly
emulating the Cultural Nationalists, artists and writers who wore flowing robes and sandals and
emphasized the development of black culture as a means of promoting freedom and equality.
Walker may have created Hakim-a-barber with this new, younger, more militant generation in
mind. When Mama describes the Muslims who live down the road, who lead a labor-intensive life,
Hakim dismisses their hard lifestyle. He is unwilling to commit to the hard work of the cause and
faith he claims to embrace. Ultimately, Walkers story is a critique of individuals who misapplied or
misunderstood some of the ideals that black consciousness groups promoted during that time.

Voice, Diction, and Humor

Colorful language, specialized diction, and Mamas unique phrases and observations give
Everyday Use a sense of realism. Giving voice to a member of a group that had typically been
silenced, Walker gives Mama the power to narrate and control and use language to convey her
story and thoughts in her own way. Walker has Mama use the specialized language of butter
churning and cheese making (Dee wants to take her mothers dasher and the churn top),
which adds realism to the story. These objects evoke the self-supporting life of a rural farm family
and endless cycles of labor its members face.
The story focuses on the disappointment Mama feels in both her daughters and the tension that
arises when Dee forces her to make a difficult choice about who gets the quilts, but the tragedy is
undercut by Mamas lively cadences and distinctive narrative style. Mama makes the language
her own. For example, she refers to her husband carving benches when the family couldnt
effort (instead of afford) to buy chairs, and she describes the milk in the churn as crabber
(soured). Walker uses humor as a way of lightening the storys grim observations, such as in the
subtle comedy provoked by Mamas reaction to Dees and Hakims difficult-to-pronounce names.

Mama eventually gives up on Hakim-a-barbers name and secretly addresses him as what she
thinks he sounds like: a barber.

Irony

The significance of the title Everyday Use and the effect of the storys portrayal of a daughters
brief visit hinge on the irony that comes from the sisters differing intended use for the quilts. The
quilts are most valuable to Mama and Maggie, not as objects to be hung on the wall and
respected as folk art, but as the practical household items they are. Mama risks Maggies
harming or destroying the quilts, valuable and irreplaceable documents of family history, in
exchange for the peace of mind that comes from knowing that they have been passed on to the
right daughter. Mama contends that Maggie, supposedly mentally inferior to her sister, has an
ability that Dee does not: she can quilt. While Maggie may subject the quilts to the wear and tear
of everyday use, she can replace them and contribute a scrap of family history to the next
generation. Dee wants to preserve the quilts and protect them from the harm her sister might
inflict, but she shows no true understanding of their inherent worth as a family totem. She
relegates the objects to mere display items.
Although claiming that the preservation of the quilts is of paramount concern, Dee has no real
understanding of or respect for her mothers ancestors, viewing them much as she views her
mother: a country clod she is glad to have left behind. While Dee claims to have reverence for the
past, at the end of the story, she criticizes Mama and Maggie for remaining mired in the old ways
of living and thinking. Creating a life altogether different from the past is Dees primary objective.
This attitude is yet another way in which she expresses her disconnection to and lack of
appreciation for her heritage. To Dee, life in the country is something to escape, deny, and
condemn. Her sudden turn to embrace the objects of the past is thus all the more empty and
unbelievable. While she believes she is earnest, it is Mama, despite her poor education and lack
of worldliness, who sees the shallowness of Dees motives. For Mama, the best way to protect
the spirit of the quilts is to risk destroying them while in Maggies permanent care. The irony of
this is not bitter but touching: preserving the objects and taking them out of everyday use is
disrespectful because it disregards the objects intended, original uses. Keeping them in
circulation in daily life keeps the family history alive.

Important Quotations Explained

1. She used to read to us without pity; forcing words, lies, other folks habits, whole lives upon us
two, sitting trapped and ignorant underneath her voice. She washed us in a river of make-believe,
burned us with a lot of knowledge we didnt necessarily need to know.
Mama speaks these words in reference to Dees formative years, when she would return home
from boarding school in Augusta, full of newly acquired knowledge that she would lord over
Mama and Maggie. Rather than her daughters intelligence and accomplishments triggering pride
in Mama, Dees schooling prompts fear and intimidation in her instead. Like the fire that
destroyed the familys first house, knowledge is portrayed as a volatile and unwelcome presence
that threatens the homes safety, simplicity, and stability.
Education is the means through which Dee rejects and belittles her family, thus leading to division
and alienation. At the same time, knowledge is a provocation, reminding Mama of the exposure
and opportunities she was never given. Mama gives voice to her resentment at her own stalled
schooling and finds comfort in her physical strength and endurance. Infused with negative
connotations, education is suggested as a destructive force that harms individuals by exposing
them to worlds to which they will never really belong. Some are harmed or excluded by the
struggle to acquire learning and are destined to be like Maggie, hanging meekly in the doorway of
a room that she will never be able to enter, shut out from the ability to change. For Mama, this
threat is as real and unwanted as a fire racing through the rafters.
2. Have you ever seen a lame animal, perhaps a dog run over by some careless person rich
enough to own a car, sidle up to someone who is ignorant enough to be kind to him? This is the
way my Maggie walks. . . . She knows she is not bright. Like good looks and money, quickness
passes her by.
Mama narrates these words as Maggie joins her in the yard to wait for Dee. In this brief quotation
she bluntly characterizes Maggie as a pathetic figure who shows the effects of her sheltered life
and disfigurement. Maggies crushed spirit and withering, withdrawn nature disappoint Mama, but
she ultimately chooses Maggies simplicity and faithfulness over Dees shallow selfishness.
Mama feels she is the protector of one daughter and the victim of the other. She dreams of the
impending marriage that will relieve her of the burden of Maggie and leave her to a quiet life. On
one hand, Mamas brutal honesty and lack of illusions seem closely connected to her strength. At
the same time, Mamas honesty is also harsh. It dramatizes the subtle yet deep gulf that exists
between Mama and her daughters. Whereas Dee represents a world of extreme change, Maggie
relentlessly stays the same, an all-too-present reminder of the inequities of the past and present.

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