Tradition And Tradition In Alice Walker's The Lottery

Everyday use is a short story by Alice Walker published in her 1973 collection in Love and Trouble. This story revolves around the relationship between a mother and her daughters. The story concerns a young woman who has visited her mother in the village after a very long time. She thinks herself very educated and smart and attempts unsuccessfully to get the quilt which her mother had promised to gift to her younger daughter on her wedding. Another story, The Lottery is one of the most famous American short story written by Shirley Jackson. This story talks about the annual lottery that is drawn in a village. This is not the lottery where the winner goes home with a huge sum of money it is the lottery where the prize is death. Both the stories are contrast to each other but some how they have one common ground and that is the

Here, the quilt is merely just not a quilt but a heritage. It was hand made by the grandmother and aunts of the family. It had a very high cultural as well as emotional values. It linked to the generations and the earlier generations. It represented the past as it was not only hand made but it also contained scraps of dresses that was worn by the grandmother and even great grandmother and a piece of uniform worn by great grandfather who served in the army. The quilt gives a true connection with the past and the heritage. The mother wanted to pass the tradition to her younger daughter by giving the quilt but Dee, her eldest daughter wanted it for herself, but mother did not give it to her.” I promised to give them quilts to Maggie, for when she married John Thomas” (Walker). The story also shows the struggle over tradition as Dee changes the name to Wangero,” I couldn’t bear it any longer, being named after the people who oppress me”