Alice Walker Heritage

Alice Walker's "Everyday Use," is a story about a poor, African-American family and a conflict about the word "heritage." In this short story, the word "heritage" has two meanings. One meaning for the word "heritage" represents family items, thoughts, and traditions passed down through the years. The other meaning for the word "heritage" represents the African-American culture.

In her short story “Everyday Use,” Alice Walker focuses on a rural family and their different interpretations of the African- American heritage. The story begins when Dee, the educated older daughter, comes to visit her Mama and younger sister, Maggie. The two sisters are completely different physically, mentally, and emotionally. Dee lives an educated and financially stable life with her boyfriend in the city, away from her family; while, Maggie lives an uneducated and poor life at home with her mother. Some may argue that there is no difference between Dee and Maggie’s Interpretations; however, Alice Walker uses characterization and different types of symbolism in her short story to show the difference between Dee and Maggie’s interpretations

In the short story “Everyday Use”, Alice Walker does a great job as being a black American women that maintain a home and chores/duties alone as a lady proving many stereotypes to be wrong or misjudged and keeping the meaning of heritage in the picture. She is proud or astonished about her accomplishment and or what she has done with things from how they first were in the beginning.

What would you do, if your eldest daughter came back to town, and completely disrespected you and her younger sibling? This is what Mama had to face in Alice Walker’s, ‘Everyday Use’. In this fiction short story, the story is told from the point of view from the main character, Mama. Readers soon discover that Mama is a colored female, living in the 1960’s, oppressed by whites. The eldest daughter, Dee, is one of the main contributors to the conflict in the story. However, the biggest contributors that help build the story, ‘ Everyday Use’ are, heritage, the setting of the 60’s, and the characters.

During the late 1960s and 1970s the Civil Rights Movement experienced a dramatic shift. Nonviolent organizations like the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) were losing popularity to the new militant organizations like the Black Panther Party, during the rise of the Black Nationalism. Black Nationalism advocated for racial pride through the reconnection of African culture. Many African-Americans began to wear their hair in afros and wore traditional African clothing like Dashikis. This caused many to question their previous beliefs on heritage. In Walker’s “Everyday Use” the theme of heritage is developed through the main characters’ view on their own heritage, the symbolism of the quilts, and Mama’s and Dee’s reaction to oppression. Alice Walker develops a theme of heritage through the main characters’ view on their own heritage. In the story, Dee/Wangero’s disdain for her heritage is shown when she writes to her mother that “…no matter where we “choose” to live, she will manage to come see us. But she will never bring any of her friends” (487). Dee/Wangero is embarrassed by her family’s poverty and for her it is a symbol of the past. Because she is more educated and less tolerant to the inequality around her, Dee/Wangero wants to separate herself from a family history of people who seem to be content with their oppression. For example, before leaving for college, Dee/Wangero claimed that Grandma Dee’s quilts were “old-fashioned, out of

Everyone has different views on culture and how to preserve it. “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker is a story about two sisters and their mother. The two sisters have completely different ideas on how to preserve their heritage. Mama has to basically choose which way is better. Maggie wants to continue her heritage, and Dee wants to save itl.

In the story “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker, we are shown that heritage is one of the most important issues that embodies where an individual derived. This story exemplifies not only the representation of heritage but also divides the difference between what heritage means and what it may be viewed to be. Throughout the story, it exposes an African-American family living in a small home and struggling financially. Three women are described in this short story, two sisters, and their mother. One of the sisters is named Maggie, and the other is named Dee.

In addition to setting, the use of symbols in “Everyday Use” also helps shape the theme of honoring heritage. Mama calls to her returning daughter and addresses her by her given name, Dee. Immediately, Dee corrects her mother and declares "she's dead" to the name Dee (Walker 138). In a rejection of "the oppression implied by the taking" of black slave names, she tells her mother that her name is now Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo (Ross 1229). Dee denies her real heritage in which she was named for her aunt Dice in a tradition that "could have carried it back beyond the Civil War” and instead embraces the distant aspects of her supposed heritage (Walker 140). The author's use of two names for Dee directly represents the two opposing views of honoring

People tend to relate readings to personal experiences of theirs to become connected to the story. Some authors will do the same with their stories, as including details from their lives draws a connection to their writing, in turn enhancing the quality of their writing. Good quality writings will feature details from the author's history, as the author wants to draw the reader in by having them relate to what is at hand. “A Family Supper”, “Story of an Hour” and “Everyday Use” are examples of past experiences from the author present in their writing.

An individual’s lifestyle is often influenced by their family background and the environment they grow up in; these influences can be negative or positive, and sometimes cause the individual to leave behind what truly matters. Individuals leave behind the factors that formed who they are and are only left with faint knowledge of what these factors represent. Walker uses symbolism and pathos to demonstrate how heritage is often underappreciated and forgotten. Alice Walker starts the story off strong from the beginning by using pathos to set up the story. Walker uses the daughters in the story as symbols and makes one superior to the other.

Beauty: When the Other Dancer Is the Self, an essay written by Alice Walker, touches the famous concept of “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” The popular quote is altered multitudinous times throughout the chapters of Walker's life, capturing her most vulnerable and memorable moments. Although, Walker believed she stopped being beautiful at the moment the cataract occurred in her eye, by believing in her own beauty later on, she was able to lift her head and achieve what she thought was the impossible. In other words, Walker thought that she had negatively changed greatly due to her appearance, but whom ever she asked believed otherwise. Thus, beauty does not have a definition, but is based upon each person; everyone's vision of beauty is not necessarily physical. (Whenever Walker asked if she changed, the reply was always no; whereas Walker believes she did, physically.)

In Alice Walker’s Creativity of the Black Women in the South, she expresses the idea of a black woman’s spirituality that is characterized as “intense”, “deep”, and “unaware of the richness” they already carried. This oblivious spirituality is caused by the societal standards that force their minds to abandon their body. Walker pushes to persuade black women to get rid of “contrary instincts” that held them back mentally (Walker 5); consequently, Walker argues that black women began to become “loony and pitiful” instead of pushing to dream their dreams and live without fear of gender roles. I concede with Walker in that women doubt themselves because of societal standards and the “contrary instincts” that pressures women into not feeling

Laurie Holden, a Hollywood actress and producer, stated, “I think women are amazing and women's friendships are like a sisterhood and we should see more of it in television and film” (BrainyQuote). In the entertainment industry, the representation of friendship between women in books and movies regularly develops and empowers this special relationship. Alice Walker, author of The Color Purple and many short stories and poems, believes in the mission to represent real life friendships and the true character building and development that happens in reality. Walker was born on February 9, 1944, during the last year of World War II, and her book, The Color Purple, had its setting in this time period (Unger 519). Walker used this personal experience to reflect a sense of knowledge with her characters and the places where her characters were.

‘I think it pisses God off if you walk by the colour purple in a field somewhere and don't notice it’. A plethora of themes emerge as Walker's words make flesh, flesh makes words, thoughts make breath, flowers and southern dirt and African drums and Native American incantations make spirit and sustenance. Alice Walker explores nature as one of the most important themes through Celie’s journey in the novel. Nature plays along the emotions of the characters and symbolises their moods at various events and most predominantly parallels Celie’s submissive, stoical life to a triumphant one. It is explored in two fashions, ranging from an inferior, beaten.

Each writer has their own individual and distinct writing style which is unique to their own work. Most authors use distinctive methods to connect with their readers on a personal level. Although many authors do not succeed in fully being able to capture the attention of the typical reader, one famous author is known for her abilities to strengthen the bonds between her work and her reader. Her name is Alice Walker. She has won many awards for her unique and effective writing methods which have captured the attention of millions of readers worldwide. Walker is a novelist, poet, and even an activist. She is an influential person as she has mastered many fields of literature. Nonetheless, she has experienced many adventures throughout her life