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Everyday Use By Alice Walker Complexity Of Heritage

1279 Words6 Pages

Aadarsha Shrestha

John P. Lozano

English 111/11

03/20/2023

The Complexity of Heritage and Identity in Alice Walker's "Everyday Use"

In Alice Walker's thought-provoking short story "Everyday Use," readers are immersed in the world of an African American family living in rural Georgia, providing a lens through which to examine the complexities of heritage, identity, and the role of tradition in shaping individual and collective experiences. Set against the post-Civil Rights era backdrop, Walker's narrative centers on the strong-willed matriarch, Mama, and her two daughters, Dee and Maggie, who embody distinct and contrasting perspectives on their shared heritage. Through the central conflict that emerges over a set of cherished handmade …show more content…

She has learned the skill of quilting from her grandmother and great-grandmother, and her daily life is steeped in the customs and practices passed down through generations. Maggie's appreciation for the handmade quilts symbolizes her connection to her family's history. Unlike Dee, who views the quilts as objects of aesthetic value, Maggie understands the sentimental and historical significance of the quilts. She recognizes they are tangible representations of her family's experiences, memories, and traditions. Maggie's connection to her family's traditions is further evidenced by her knowledge of her family's history. While Dee cannot remember the names of her ancestors, Maggie is familiar with the stories and experiences of those who came before her. This understanding of her family's history allows Maggie to form a solid connection to her heritage and develop a deeper appreciation for the sacrifices and experiences of her …show more content…

Through the contrasting perspectives of Dee and Maggie, the story emphasizes the value of understanding and respecting one's roots. Maggie's growth and acceptance of her heritage serve as a powerful example of the importance of embracing one's roots. Through her connection to her family's traditions and history, Maggie can develop a strong sense of identity and maintain a link to her ancestors. Dee's rejection of her heritage and her desire to distance herself from her family's rural lifestyle serves as a cautionary tale. Her superficial understanding of her heritage ultimately leaves her disconnected from her roots and alienated from her

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Maggie on the other hand, is characterized by her unattractiveness and timidity. Her skin is scarred from the fire that had happened ten or twelve years ago. Those scars she has on her body in the same way have scarred her soul leaving her ashamed. She “stumbles” in her reading, but Mrs. Johnson loves her saying she is sweet and is the daughter she can sing songs at church with, but more so that Maggie is like an image of her. She honors her family’s heritage and culture, by learning how to quilt and do things in the household, like her mother views their heritage.

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A Rhetorical Analysis Of 'Everyday Use' By Alice Walker

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Occasion: Alice Walker writes the story to draw attention to the mindset of the minorities. Walker was an activist. “Everyday Use” is a short story within a collection documenting the stories of black women, such as Alice Walker herself. Audience: Walker writes the story for everyone to read.

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Through Dee, Walker critiques the modern trend of superficial appropriation of cultural symbols without deeper knowledge or understanding. Dee only values the quilts for their aesthetic beauty and the cultural stereotype they represent, disregarding their historic value and sentimental connection to her family. In contrast, Mama and Maggie understand the quilts' worth lies not in their surface appearance but their emotional meaning and historic significance. The quilts are passed down from one generation to the next as a way of maintaining their family history and culture. Walker uses

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Maggie uses the quilts to honor their memory because she and her mother view the quilts for daily use. On the other hand, Dee’s view on culture is seldomly influenced by her experiences. This is because when the house burnt down Dee watched it be engulfed with flames, and she hated the house so much she could care less if it burnt down. Dee detests everything about her family’s culture. One way she despised it was by finding the meaning of her culture that does not relate to her family.

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This shows that Maggie views the quilts as a way of remembering her deceased grandmother. It’s not as much about the physical looks of the quilt, but more about them being a passed down memento from her grandmother. In addition, Sarnowski states, “Losing the quilts would not extinguish or reduce Maggie’s sense of heritage, but it would rob her sense of heritage of an affirming token” (Sarnowski 280). Maggie knows what her heritage is and does not necessarily need the quilts to define it. She is happy with the life she lives and although she would be losing this “affirming token” she would still know where she comes

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Everyday Use By Alice Walker

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‘It was Grandma Dee and Big Dee who taught her how to quilt herself’” (120). Maggie took the time to learn her family’s tradition of quilt making and made memories with her relatives and the quilt while learning, resulting in Maggie likely having feelings of fondness towards the quilt. Maggie is able to continue the tradition of quilt making and pass down the tradition, keeping it alive, unlike Dee, who would be ending the tradition of quilting due to her not putting the effort into learning how to quilt. Maggie has made memories with her family members and the quilt and is also able to continue the quilt making tradition for further

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Ms. Johnson didn't have an education, yet she knew the value of the quilts and she didn’t let a few words from Dee change her decision of giving the quilts to Maggie. Dee leaves her mother’s house quite upset and tells her sister, “You ought to try to make something of yourself, too, Maggie. It’s really a new day for us. But from the way you and Mama still live you’d never know it” (Walker 12).

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Everyday Use By Alice Walker

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“Everyday Use” by Alice Walker is a story about a family, with two sisters and a mother, and about the appreciation of their heritage. One of the sisters, Dee, treats objects from their culture as something that can only be appreciated by viewing and displaying, instead of appreciating it by using it every day. The older sister, Dee, leaves to go to school and when she arrives home, she is wearing African attire, she has changed her name, and she seems curious at all of the regular everyday items that her mother and sister use at home. Although Dee was making an effort to appreciate her culture and heritage, she was not going about it in the best way possible. This story “represents a severe conflict within America’s black society, where new radical views and misperceptions of the word heritage collide with traditional black rural life style.”

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This heritage that she seeks to connect to through her identity, is not something she truly understands. She has never lived in Africa and neither has any of her family, but she still believes that her new identity reflects who she truly is. She connects the various items passed through her family as part of her heritage, but has no idea of the meaning behind any of it. However, Mama and Maggie look at heritage much differently than Dee does; they look at it is as a long connection to their long gone family members that is always being expanded. Walker’s theme of identity is present in almost every aspect of her short

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The oldest daughter, Dee, is an educated young women who redefines her identity and beliefs of her heritage. On the contrary, the youngest daughter, Maggie, leads a traditional lifestyle in the South with her mother and remains faithful to her idea of heritage. The author of the short story, Alice Walker, shares several parallels between her own life and this story. Kathleen Wilson, award winner of the Guggenheim Fellowship

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629 Words | 3 Pages

With determined ambitions and education resulted in a lack of sensibility in heritage, history, and self identity, which only family can implement. Dee presents herself almost as a weird, intimidating individual foreign to what her family has ever known. The conflict that Mama and Maggie are confronted with is that Dee is does not care about anything but herself. When being rejected to have possession of the quilts Dee stated “But they’re priceless! She was saying now, furiously; for she has a temper.”.

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Characterization In Everyday Use

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The story goes beyond these traits to deal mainly with the way in which the two sisters value their heritage. Maggie knows nothing but her heritage, for she has never left home. On the other hand, Dee seems to have

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1283 Words | 6 Pages

‘Maggie can’t appreciate these quilts!’ She said. ‘She’d probably be backward enough to put them to everyday use.’ … ‘But, they're priceless!’ ” (172).

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Most people struggle with figuring out who they really are. The short story "Everyday Use,” written by  Alice Walker, emphasizes this aspect of individuality. It is about an African- American mother and her two daughters. The story concentrates on the lives of two sisters named Maggie and Dee(Wangero). Maggie is portrayed as a homely and ignorant girl, while Dee is portrayed as a beautiful and educated woman.

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As she looks at her quilts, Mama remembers that a certain patch came from her grandfather's paisley shirts, that some pieces came from dresses that Grandma Dee wore 50 years earlier, and even that there was a very small piece of her great-grandfather's Civil War uniform. From this, we can all see how and why they mean so much to her. To Dee, the quilts are a quaint "primitive" art. To Mama and Maggie, they represent more than that. They are family memories, very personal and very special mementos of loved ones who are gone.

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