Family Heritage In Alice Walker's Everyday Use

Alice Walker’s story “Everyday Use” is a story decipating family and heritage. She released the story with a collection of other short stories called In Love and Trouble: Stories of Black Women. This collection revealed Walker to be one of the finest of late twentieth century American short-story writers (Phy-Olsen). According to Cowart, the story address itself “to the dilemma of African Americans who are striving to escape prejudice and poverty.” One of the main characters, Dee, made drastic changes and would like her mother and sister to see things her way. Dee’s statement to her mother and sister regarding their disregard of heritage is very ironic considering the fact her name is a part of the family’s history, her new behavior, and her

In her short story “Everyday Use,” Alice Walker summarizes the representation of the beauty, the conflicts and struggles within African-American culture. “Everyday Use” focuses mainly between members of the Johnson family, consisting of a mother and her two daughters. One of the daughters Maggie, who was injured in a house fire and has living a shy life clinging to her mother for security. Her older sister is Dee, who grew up with a grace and natural beauty. “Dee is lighter than Maggie, with nicer hair and a fuller figure… (716) She also grew up determined to have a better life than her mother and sister. This takes place when Dee (the only family member to receive a formal education) returns to visit Dee’s mother and younger sister Maggie. Again this portrays a slight issue between two different views of the African-American culture. Alice uses symbolism to empathize the difference between these interpretations, showing that culture and heritage are parts of daily life. The title of the story, Everyday Use, symbolizes the living heritage of the Johnson family, a heritage that is still in “everyday use”.

In “everyday Use,” Alice Walker tells a narrative of a mother’s frustrating relationship together with her two daughters. At this facet, “,Everyday Use”, tells that how a mom little by little refuses the cursory values of her older, successful daughter at the aspect of the useful values of her younger, much less lucky daughter. On a deeper outlook, Alice Walker takes on the theme of heritage and its norms as it applies to African-Americans.

In Alice Walker's "Everyday Use," the message about the preservation of heritage, specifically African-American heritage, is very clear. It is obvious that Walker believes that a person's heritage should be a living, dynamic part of the culture from which it arose and not a frozen timepiece only to be observed from a distance. There are two main approaches to heritage preservation depicted by the characters in this story. The narrator, a middle-aged African-American woman, and her youngest daughter Maggie, are in agreement with Walker. To them, their family heritage is everything around them that is involved in their everyday lives and everything that was involved in the lives of their ancestors. To Dee, the narrator's oldest

Everyday Use, a short story about the trials and tribulations of a small African American family located in the South, is an examination of black women’s need to keep their powerful heritage. It speaks on multiple levels, voicing the necessity and strength of being true to one’s roots and past; that heritage is not just something to talk about but to live and enjoy in order for someone to fully understand themselves. A sociological landmine, it was written to awaken the concepts of feminism as well as the civil rights movement, while being able to focus on just three women and their relationship to one another. Everyday Use give its black female characters an identity of their own, each in their own right, and observes the internal

Alice Walker made the conflicts of race very well known in her short story, “Everyday Use”, told from the perspective of Mama, a “big-boned woman with rough, man-working hands” (5). The story begins with Mama nervously awaiting the arrival of her eldest daughter Dee, as she stands near her timid and physically scarred younger daughter Maggie. While waiting for Dee’s arrival details about Mama’s life and her relationship with Dee is revealed. Making it known that Dee always wanted more than her family history and higher lifestyle than what Mama could offer. Upon arriving Dee’s intentions of coming to her childhood home is obvious as she searches through Mama’s possessions, seeking to find authentic pieces from early rural black life, being that

In “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker we see many different struggles within an African American family. “Everyday Use” focused on a situation between different members of the Johnson family. This situation takes place when Dee and a friend from college return to visit Dee’s mother and her sister Maggie. Walker uses characterization and symbolism to highlight conflicts and struggles of being an African American including showing and appreciating one’s culture and heritage.

In the short story “Everyday Use,” written by Alice Walker in 1973, is about a poor African American mother and daughter in the south during the 1960’s, who awaited on the arrive of the other daughter and her unexpected guest, which she end up trying to take home some homemade items, which caused a problem between the mother and other daughter. When she didn’t get her way she and her guest left. Although this story is often viewed as showing the idea of heritage, the author uses symbolism to represent figurative meaning. Walker uses the main characters Maggie, Mama, and Dee to symbolize three different time period for African American Women.

“Everyday Use” tells a story about a single mother who puts her all into raising her two daughters “Dee (Wangero)’” and “Maggie”. Alice Walker; the author, explains how heritage and diversity in culture cannot be changed. This short story describes the significance of: family, traditions, and the unity being passed on no matter how you’ve been brought up. Maggie and Dee both have personalities that contradict each other. Maggie is more timid and soft-spoken, meanwhile Dee (Wangero) is more courageous and fearless.The narrator in the story is mama, mama is a very plain and quiet women. Mama does express her opinion throughout the story but only in times where her daughters depend on her.

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

In Alice Walker’s, “Everyday Use” the topic of how to properly uphold a family’s heritage is shown through Maggie’s and Dee’s desire for their family’s passed down quilt. The reason why I have selected to explore this short story more in-depth is due to the fact that I’m indecisive about who has the correct approach about embracing one’s heritage. While preserving and embracing family heritage is important, it is completely redundant if one does not completely understand and appreciate their heritage or does so in a superficial manner. On the flip side, how is a person or family supposed to progress if they are constantly applying outdated traditions to everyday use? Ultimately, the question must be asked, what is the proper way to uphold a family’s heritage?

In “Everyday Use”, the author Alice Walker addresses the dilemma of African Americans who are striving to escape from prejudice and poverty, risk a terrible displacement (Cowart, 171). Also different sides of culture and heritage are described in the story through the characters of Dee, Maggie and Johnson, each with divergent personalities in life. Dee is described as a young women, who came back to her rural home after a long time period and want to become more stylish, modern. Also, she wants to adopt a new American culture instead of traditional African American culture. In the story, Dee (Wangero), fails to achieve her goal of getting quilts from her mother. The

In Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use” there can be several elements and ideas that a person could get from reading this story. Heritage is a theme that has made great impact by providing plenty of evidence towards the reaction that each character demonstrates toward the symbolic meaning of life being lived. Mama, Maggie, and Dee all show different emotions toward the quilts and traditions that had been left behind from their ancestors. Alice walker manifests the meaning of heritage through literary elements such as characterization, symbolism, and setting.

In everyday use the narrator understands the importance in of cultural heritage suggesting that children should appreciate their heritage as it is passed down. “She can have them, Maggie said” to her mom. “I can remember Grandma Dee without the quilts”. This represents that Maggie doesn’t need objects to remember the times she had with her grandma. Dee wants the quilts to use as art and not to use to remember her family. Maggie appreciates what she has and had, and her heritage. “No mama” she say’s. “Not Dee, its Wangero Leewanika kemanjo”. “What happened to Dee”? “She’s dead”. “I couldn't bear it any longer being named after the people who appress me”. This represents that Dee doesn’t want anything to do with her past. She just wants to move

Alice walker’s “Everyday Use” focuses on a mother, Mrs. Johnson, her two daughters, Dee and Maggie, and their views towards their African heritage. The story centers on Dee’s first return visit after completing her college. Mrs. Johnson and her daughter Maggie are awaiting in the yard in anticipation of Dee’s coming. Dee’s visit was nothing as if her mother hoped and dreamed. Dee has changed completely, she said to her mother that Dee is dead and she changed her name to Wangero, despite of the fact that she was named after her grandmother. Despite of her education, it naturally appears that she does not have an appreciation to her inheritance. Apparently, she has an underlying motive and desire behind her visit. She is the kid who always used to get what she wanted, except it turns out that her mother refused to have the quilts. Dee is spoiled woman who never struggled to get what she wanted in her life, and her personality has an excessive amount of Id, with one-sided ego, and underdeveloped superego.