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Identity And Heritage In Alice Walker's Everyday Use

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Over time, the items created and used by the African race slowly disappear. Preserving these artifacts, however, allows them to be passed from one generation to the next. This is precisely the point of view that I believe Dee has. While this may be true, Dee goes about it the wrong way and only sees the superficial value of the artifacts. Dee views relics of rural life simply as collector’s items (Cowart 174). Cowart’s interpretation of Dee is a “visitor who reproaches others for an ignorance of their own heritage” yet she herself is “disconnected from a nurturing tradition” (172). Dee tells her mother that she does not understand her heritage (321). Ironically, it is Dee who does not understand. Dee and her companion only dress the way they …show more content…

Each character represents different ways that African-Americans chose to define their identity and heritage after the Civil Rights Movement. Mama does not embrace her heritage because she is confused as to whether or not she should embrace it. Should she be proud of what her ancestors endured? Or should she be ashamed? Maggie on the other hand, embraces her heritage and accepts all the injustice, pain, and the humiliation endured by her ancestors. Dee wants to embrace only the beautiful parts of her heritage and completely disregard the aspects that bring shame to her. But it is the very things that bring ‘shame’ that define heritage and identity. As I read the story, I saw myself in Mama and Dee. I am Mexican-American and sometimes exhibit behavior similar to Dee’s. I want to completely disregard my ‘Mexican’ side because I live in America and therefore should be ‘American.’ Yet, at the same time I do not want to lose the tiny bit of Mexican in me and want to embrace it and explore that side of me. Like Mama, I am not ashamed of who I am. I am not ashamed of the struggle that my parents and their parents went through. My biggest dilemma is that I do not know enough of my Mexican side such as the culture, traditions, foods, and even the history because from young age I was not exposed to those things. I feel as though

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Have you ever not seen eye to eye with your mother? In Alice Walker’s short story “Everyday Use”, we are shown how many of the choices we make and the things we value create our identity. This story focuses on two characters, mama and her daughter Dee (Wangero), who struggle to see the same way about their heritage. Dee wants the things made by her grandmother, to not admire it as an artifact, but rather to remake it. She wants to take them, and change them to match her lifestyle as it is today.

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The speaker is uneducated, so the writing in the first person is readable for beginners as well as educated adults. Walker addresses the audience specifically to to create deeper imagery, where the audience can add their own experiences to the story, such as “You’ve no doubt seen those TV shows” (46). The speaker directly addresses the audience, and so anyone reading the story, whether a minority, or the majority, will be connected to the story. Purpose: Walker describes the impact of oppression on the relationship between mother and daughter, and how the oppressed view themselves.

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Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use” illustrates Dee’s struggle for identity by placing her quest for a new identity against her family’s desire for maintaining culture and heritage. In the beginning, the narrator, who is the mother of Dee, mentions some details about Dee; how she “...wanted nice things… She was determined to stare down any disaster in her efforts… At sixteen, she had a style of her own: and (she) knew what style was.” Providing evidence to the thesis, she was obviously trying exceptionally hard to find for herself a sense of identity. She wanted items her family couldn’t afford, so she worked hard to gain these, and she found a sense of identity from them, but it also pushed her farther away from her family.

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In this case the action is taken by refusing to back down and acknowledging their citizenship as part of the Blackfoot people. By maintaining her identity as a Blackfoot person and disregarding the significance of the borders the mother highlights the power of maintaining and creating a connection to one’s roots and refusing to accept to fit the mold that society has placed on her. Ultimately this proves the theme statement by serving as an example of inner strength that is gained from one's heritage and identity. This theme statement can be further proven in the response Morgan had to Ocheck which goes as

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Dee doesn’t truly know what her culture represents, but instead she tries to use everything from college to apply to everyday life. Dee never appreciated her roots as a child, and she still don’t. Mama and Maggie used the churnand dasher daily with care, and all Dee wants to do with the churn and dasher is “think of something artistic to do with it” ( Walker 273.) She sees the churn as a project she can work on; on the other hand Mama and Maggie see it as a churn with a lot of meaning behind it. Maggie and Mama cherish the handmade quilts that were made by Grandma Dee.

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The character Dee represented in Walker 's story shows how easily one can completely depersonalize heritage while showing mannerisms of condescending nature. Dee’s name was in fact passed down from her grandmother and given to her as a symbol of respect for family and fondness for their grandmother. Dee completely oblivious to the nature of her given name simply changes it to what she believes is her authentic African name. “No, Mama,” she says, “Not Dee; Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo!”(492). Displaying the name in boastful temperament and parading it in front of her mother and sister.

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Everyone defines and identifies themselves in different ways. Whether it’s by our names, our religion, or our sexuality, we all have something different that make us unique and that we identify ourselves as. In Alice Walker’s short story “Everyday Use,” an African American woman tells the story of her daughter Dee’s long awaited visit. Upon her arrival the mother and her other daughter, Maggie, discover some drastic changes in Dee: she has changed her name to Wangero, she has also arrived with a mysterious man who calls himself Asalamalakim, and has adopted an African style of dress; all of this in an effort to depict what she sees as her heritage. During the course of her visit, Dee tries to take several items important to her family’s heritage.

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Alice Walker wrote what Mama said about Dee or Wangero, “Dee wanted nice things.” Mama describes Dee as a lavish person who is only interested in herself and her fulfilling’s. Dee had changed her name to show that she is not accepting that a “white person” named her ancestors in way, so it can be passed down. Walker describes Mama as someone who is satisfied with what they have. “I will wait for her in the yard that Maggie and I made so clean and wavy yesterday afternoon,” Walker demonstrates how Mama is pleased with nature where her life takes place in.

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The short story, Everyday Use, is written by Alice Walker. This short story tells about the narrator, mama, and her daughter Maggie wait for a visit from Dee, mama’s older daughter. Throughout this short story, the reader can see the distraught relationship between mama and Dee. The reader can see how Dee is different than mama and Maggie; she thinks that she knows way more about her heritage than mama and Maggie, when she really does not. In the short story, Everyday Use, Walker uses imagery, symbolism, and point of view to show that heritage can only be understood when one is true to their roots.

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The comparison of characters is something an author allows us to do while reading a story, by telling us about the characters’ looks, their personalities, their lifestyles, and also the traits that may describe a character. “Everyday Use” written by Alice Walker, two characters named Maggie and Dee had a few things in common and many differences from each other. The characters Maggie and Dee, also known as “Wanergo,” are sisters who compete on who inherits the family heirlooms. The story is told from the mother’s (Mama’s) point of view.

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And, womanism here represented through Mama, calls for a critical relatedness to the heritage. The narrative articulates the shallowness of Dee’s

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