Heritage In Alice Walker's Everyday Use

     Dee believes she is more cultured than her family. She may have more knowledge about different cultures and religions that she learned in school, but she does not know as much about the family heritage as she thinks she does. For example, when Dee changes her name to “Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo” she destroys important links to her heritage that she will never understand. Her mother tries to explain to her that her name is significant because it belonged to particular beloved ones. However, Dee seems to reject the names of her ancestors, yet she is eager to seize their handmade goods. When Dee realizes she is not going obtain possession of the quilts, she storms out of the house without saying a word. It is apparent that the only reason for her visit is to get the family heirlooms, not to see the house, her mother, or Maggie.

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

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.

Dee’s selfishness is also portrayed by her cultured verbal skills. Dee can talk her way through anything. Dee often manipulates others with her verbal skills. This is shown when she reads to her mother and sister “without pity; forcing words, lies, other folks’ habits, whole lives upon us, sitting trapped and ignorant underneath her voice” (Walker 289). This statement further demonstrates the fact that Dee’s family feels inferior to her. Mama describes the situation as if Dee has some kind of power over her family because she is scholarly and her family is not. Dee uses her education to make Mama and Maggie feel less important without, necessarily meaning to.

Dee is a controlling person who always wanted everything to herself only and don't want anybody to take something more than her. And that appeared when mama said that the quilts which were handmade by their grandma Dee, that she would give it to Maggie, Dee was very angry for that and she wanted to take the quilts herself not because she wanted, just because she don't like anybody to take something more than her and wants everything for herself only. Dee was well educated and didn't liked her mother's and sister's way of living so she traveled and when

“Everyday Use” demonstrates real life struggles during the period is was written and published (1973), by using historical criticism, we can see that people are often disconnected due to their education. Alice Walker successfully shows the disconnection of heritage value by having one character well-educated and young, and another character who was not able to get an education and is much older. Taking the historical context, plays a major role in the way this short story is viewed. It was a time where people of color had a different and difficult experiences getting an education. The narrator was talking about not being able to get an education, so it was important her daughter get an education; The narrator wanted to be on a television show with her daughters to demonstrate how successful she became. However Dee the narrator's daughter sees her mother and Maggie her sister differently as if they do not know how to appreciate things for their valuable history. One example is, when she wanted the quilts that were suppose to go to Maggie; Dee gets upset that she cannot have them and her mother does not understand why she wants to put them on display.

For example, “Dee is lighter than Maggie, with nicer hair and a fuller figure…She was determined to stare down any disaster in her efforts… She burned us with a lot of knowledge we didn’t necessarily need to know”(492 ). In this quote, Mama, who is the narrator, describes Dee as being good looking, ambitious, and educated. All of those characteristics play a part in the way Dee interprets the African- American culture. According to Nancy Tuten, Dee uses language to abuse her mother and sister, leading Mama to form an alliance with Maggie, which will eventually lead to the exclusion of Dee (128). Furthermore, “Most critics see Dee’s education and her insistence on reading to Mama and Maggie as further evidence of her separation from and lack of understanding for her family identity and heritage” (Farrell 182). Alice White uses a completely opposite characterization for the younger sister, Maggie. “[Maggie] has been like this, chin on chest, eyes on the ground, feet in the shuffle, ever since the fire that burned the other house to the ground… She knows she is not bright. Like good looks and money, quickness passed her by”(492 ). Maggie is being described as a shy, unattractive, uneducated person by her mama; however, one can infer that Maggie and her mother have the same interpretation of the African- American culture because of their same educational level. For example, “ [Dee] used to read to [maggie and mama] without pity; forcing words, lies, other folks' habits, whole lives upon us two, sitting trapped and ignorant underneath her voice” (cite page number). In this quote, Mama states that Dee would use her ability to read to put them down leading me to believe that Mama would have to be on the same educational level as Maggie to be put down by Dee.

According to The Merriam-Webster Dictionary (2015), heritage is defined as, “traditions, achievements, beliefs, etc., that are part of the history of a group or nation” (“Heritage”). Heritage takes on mixed meanings for different people as a consequence of life experiences and belief systems. Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use” utilizes characters with varying ideas of “heritage” to enlighten the world of the issues inside the African American community. The short story “Everyday Use” was written in 1973 at the end of the Civil Rights Era and beginning of the age of freedom; it embodies the struggle within a family to differentiate between authentic American traditions and new age notions of African history. Walker uses juxtaposing lead characters to symbolize the contrast between true, folk legacy and Dee’s romanticized idea of heritage. “Everyday Use” distinguishes the conflicting opinions of three African American women, and how they each express their own philosophies of family heritage.

The behavior of overlooking her sister's, Maggie, and Mama's feelings since her childhood to the present indicates Dee's character as a person who disregards others. Mama ponders that while the house where they used to live burned to the ground; Maggie was burning, her "hair smoking and dress falling off her in little black papery flakes." Although she saw that Maggie needed her sister's aid, Dee stood "off under the sweet gum tree" at a distance (87). Walker reveals that Mama still finds Dee carrying her self-centeredness when she excludes herself from the pictures and "never [took] a shot without making sure the house is included" (89). Dee wants to capture the signs of poverty from her past so that she can show how much success she has gained in spite of being poor to her friends. Dee is so egotistical that she declares her sister is "backward enough to put [the quilts] to everyday use" (91) whereas she considers herself smart and would appreciate the quilts by hanging them. Her coldness and lack of concern make

She sees Dee as a girl in her own world who doesn’t care about anything but herself. Mama describes Dee’s hair in major detail “It stands straight up like the wool on a sheep. It is black as night and around the edges are two long pigtails that rope about like small lizards disappearing behind her ears.” This shows Mama’s disproval in how Dee has changed, she is in awe of what she sees.

Dee’s mother, uses language that points to a definite association amid herself and the physical surrounding (Walker 136). Mama says that she will wait for Dee “In the yard that Maggie and I made so clean and wavy yesterday afternoon” (136). Mama’s stress on the appearances of the backyard, the pleasure in it revealed by the term “so,” is an indication that she and her daughter Maggie have an affection to their family as well as the routine practice of their lives. In the story, the yard has been portrayed as a place for mama’s life, as a sort of expression, because she considers it to be an extended living room. At this point, Walker has managed to show how to honor one’s heritage.

In “Everyday Use”, Alice Walker reveals that once Dee fails to see Mama’s family legacy and the value in their own heritage, Dee loses respect for the items given by their ancestors, instead treating them as lost artifacts that should go on display for money. Mama views some of her ancestral objects, such as the old quilts that had “pieces of dresses Grandma used to wear, and Great Grandpa Ezra's uniform that he wore in the Civil War ” as ancient memories (Walker 4). Mama has respect and value for the objects she was left with, she will take good care of them and make sure they’re used in the same culture and traditions as her ancestors did before. Unlike Mama, Dee has given up her family name and is all about wealth which makes her value

Dee’s superiority stems from the fact that she sets high standards for Mama, which in turn causes Mama to feel inferior to Dee. Dee demands Mama to act a certain way, which is reminiscent of a television show. “On TV mother and child embrace and smile in each other’s faces. Sometimes the mother and father weep, the child wraps them in her arms and leans across the table and tell how she would have made it without her help” (paragraph 3). This description is the polar oppositeness of how Dee acts towards her mother; Mama is well aware of the fact that her own daughter will never embrace her like the people in the TV shows. Another major flaw of Dee’s is that she acts ashamed of both Mama and her family’s background. Dee’s impossibly high standards drive the ones who should be closest to her, her family, away. She is constantly nagging and is persistent at finding things she thinks need to be fixed, even going so far as being hypocritical about these various fixings. Mama says “she pins on my dress a large orchid, even though she has told me once that she thinks orchids are tacky flowers” (paragraph 4). Dee needs everything to be luxurious and elegant in her life. “But even the first glimpse of leg out of the car tells me it is Dee. Her feet were always near-looking, as if God himself had shaped them with a certain style” (paragraph 19). As seen through this excerpt, Mama puts Dee on a high pedestal and even relates her daughters foot to God.

Momma explains that her and Dee are polar opposites when it comes to how bold they are. Momma describes herself as very shy when it comes to social situations, but then explains “Dee though. She would always look anyone in the eye. Hesitation was no part of her nature”. Momma seems bothered by this. Considering when she was Dee’s age, it was unheard of. An example of these conflicting character traits would be how resourceful momma is while Dee is lacking in this area. Dee has always wanted and asked for new things, even if her current possessions were functioning fine. In the beginning, Dee comes home to visit. Quickly, she begins naming things off that she wants from the home. Dee eventually comes across a couple of quilts made by her grandmother. When she realizes that they are made of her grandmother and grandfather’s old clothing she snatches them up. Momma then clarifies that those are being saved for when Maggie gets married. “Maggie couldn’t appreciate these quilts, she’d probably be backward enough to put them to everyday use” Dee ranted to her mother. Momma was quick to retort with “I recon she

Dee dances with contradiction upon exclaiming her sister’s fate with the heirlooms she once declared antique. One can imagine Maggie assuming she would lose yet again to her full figured, beautifully toxic sister. Her tear ducts aching and the lump in her throat developing as she fears losing all that was left to be hers. Maggie remained in the kitchen of the small house one might infer that she heard these conversations or that she had a “just give the quilts to her” attitude had she been