The Importance Of Family Heritage By Alice Walker

Alice Malsenior Walker, an African American born into poverty, came into this world on February 9, 1944 in Eatonon, Georgia. She was the youngest child of eight children born to Willie Lee and Minnie Tallulah Walkers. Both of her parents were sharecroppers as well as expert story tellers. Things were not easy for the Walkers and Alice often witnessed her mother’s frustration of having the burden to take care of eight children with little means. Even though children of share croppers were usually made to work the fields, Alice’s mother made sure that her kids received an education. Alice was brilliant at writing poetry.

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.

Alice Walker is a well-known African- American writer known for published fiction, poetry, and biography. She received a number of awards for many of her publications. One of Walker's best short stories titled "Everyday Use," tells the story of a mother and her two daughters' conflicting ideas about their heritage. The mother narrates the story of the visit by her daughter, Dee. She is an educated woman who now lives in the city, visiting from college. She starts a conflict with the other daughter, Maggie over the possession of the heirloom quilts. Maggie still lives the lifestyle of her ancestors; she deserves the right of the quilts. This story explores heritage by using symbolism of the daughters' actions, family items, and tradition.

The story “Everyday Use” is set in the southern part of the US in the early 1970’s, a time when many african americans were still being mistreated and were adapting to the changing times just after a civil rights period. Alice Walker presents two of the main characters in the story, Mama and Dee, as culturally opposite and having different views towards the role of their shared heritage. The style dialogue between them and the structure of the story highlight these conflicting values and send a message to the reader that black southern culture and one based on African roots can’t coexist. Rather, they will attempt to cut each other out and end up hurting their overall culture.

Alice Walker is a writer of many powerful short stories, novels, essays and poetry. She used her work to bring black women’s lives to the main focus, such as the rich and important in the US American Literature. In the short story “Everyday Use” written by Alice walker, she showed the conflicts and struggle throughout the African- American culture. “Everyday Use” addresses the dilemma with African Americans, trying to escape prejudice and poverty. The short story “Everyday Use” focuses on the encounter between a mother and her daughters. The setting of the story takes place in the driveway of the mother’s house. The mother and her youngest daughter Maggie wait for her oldest daughter Dee and her male friend to visit from school. Alice

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 “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker, this short story characterizes not only the symbolism of heritage but also shows a difference in human character. The story reveals an African American family who lives in a small home and struggles financially, while it consists of a mother and her two daughters that are treated very differently from their mom. One of the daughter’s name is Dee, a well-educated woman, who struggles to understand her family’s heritage and is embarrassed by her family’s background. Maggie is the other sister who is kind, obedient and manages to appreciate her family. To represent the appreciation she provided for her family, the quilt is described as a powerful symbol to them. The quilts play an important role in depicting symbolism of heritage because they signify mama family origins. For instance, Dee's significant family members all have pieces of their fabric gown on to the quilts as a remembrance of who they were and their importance in the family. However, Dee does not see the quilts her ancestors made as valuable, handmade quilts should be passed down and taken care to keep their history alive. As for Maggie, Dee believes she can’t appreciate the quilt in the same way she can. “Maggie can’t appreciate these quilts,” Dee responded. She thinks Maggie will use these quilts, so she can turn them into rags. Despite what Maggie concludes, the quilts for Maggie and mama are meaningful to them, because they were made by members of the Johnson family and have

The examination of black women's need to keep their powerful heritage and identity is important to the protagonist in “Everyday Use.” Walker uses the mother’s voice to show the trials and tribulations of a small African American family located in the South. She 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. Unlike Kincaid, Walker gives her black female character’s an identity of their own, each in their own right, and observes the internal conflicts of each mother and daughters struggle with identity. The mother represents a simple content way of life where identity and heritage are valued for both its usefulness, as well as its personal significance. In order to illustrate how the mother viewed identity versus her daughters, Walker quickly acknowledges that the mother has inherited many customs and traditions from her ancestors. She describes herself as a large big-boned woman with rough man-working hands (485). She also describes here various abilities including, killing and cleaning a hog as mercilessly as a man. Being able to work hard and not care about being such a lady, is how the mother defines identity at this point. On the other hand, the two daughters each have opposing views on the value and worth of the different items

Alice Walker, a protuberant African American writer from the rural South, understood all too well this idea of “double consciousness”, which she demonstrated in many of her writings. In her short story, “Everyday Use”, Walker makes the African American struggle palpable and brings it into the present by interlacing the double consciousness into characters and settings that investigate the social and personal struggles facing the African American people. In her story, she has three main characters Mama, Dee, and Maggie. Walker incorporates the struggle of being an African American as the centerpiece of her story “Everyday Use.” The author uses Mama, who is unwilling to submit to the expectations of white America and what it must offer. Mama is not in a rush to pick at herself to be accepted into America. The next character Maggie is also not in a rush to grow up and get in line with the rest of society and being a part of the White supremacy that her nation must offer. Finally, Dee, Mama’s oldest is returning from college and does

The short story “Everyday Use,” by Alice Walker, contains multiple different literary elements. History and heritage play a key role in the development and conclusion of this rather intriguing story. Although history and heritage are important, the driving factors of this story are the literary elements. In particular the elements of symbols, characterization, and point of view in this story are significant.

Alice Walker, author of “Everyday Use”, was a well-known author. She used three types of symbolism such as the quilts made by African American that bore significances, the house that was burned and the one that was rebuilt, and hands is various areas of the story. The main characters were the mama, sisters Maggie, and Dee. Maggie was the young girl who was scared due to burns, and Dee who was the Miss Goody two-shoe type of girl and also thought she could get anything she wanted.

In the story “Everyday Use”, author Alice Walker uses a comprehensive illustration to help describe the family heritage through the quilts, and the different characters to represent the main theme that heritage is something to always be proud of. The main characters in this story are Mrs. Johnson(Mama), Wangero (Dee) and Maggie, and each character has different values and meanings for the quilts. The quilts show the bond between each generation and illustrate the tradition of African American culture throughout the story. Alice walker use quilts to portrait the symbolism in this story.

Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use” is a short story included in her collection In Love and Trouble published in 1973. The story’s setting takes place in the Deep South during the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s as many “blacks” were struggling to define their cultural identities (White). Traditions and culture in “Everyday Use” is portrayed contrastingly between Ms. Johnson and Maggie, who still follow rural black cultural of the south and Dee who has newly adopted a “native African” culture. An encounter over the use of quilts simplifies into two different interpretations of culture. Walker uses symbolism and contrasting characters to portray these interpretations and implies that culture and heritage are a part of everyday life.