In “Everyday Use”, Alice Walker conveys the story of a mother and her two daughters’ conflicting ideas about their identities and ancestry. Mama is a simple woman that values culture and heritage for its usefulness but also its personal significance. However, her daughter Dee represents a materialistic way of life where culture and heritage are to be valued only for their artistic appeal. Walker displays how Mama’s perception of her two daughters changes regarding how they view the importance of heritage.
In the beginning, the story introduces the characterization of Mama and shows how she views her own individuality. Mama waits for Dee “in the yard that Maggie and [her] made so clean and wavy” (Walker 278). Her emphasis in the physical characteristics of the yard and the use of the word “so” shows the strong attachment that she and Maggie, her daughter, have to their home. The yard is also “not just a yard. It is like an extended living room” that expresses the essence of her being (278). The way Mama describes herself shows a familiarity and comfort with her own self: she is “a large, big-boned woman with rough, man-working hands” (278). Thus she knows the reality of her body and accepts it, even finding comfort in the way that her “fat keeps [her] hot in zero weather” (278). Mama is bound to her home because it represents who she is. Walker implies similarly this is how she stands in relation to her culture.
Mama attempts to differentiate Maggie and Dee in their physical appearance alone to disclose any change in culture. Even though Maggie believes in the same culture as she does, Mama initially does not fully recognize that. Instead, she focuses on describing her attributes by stating, “[Maggie] knows she is not bright. Li...
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...Mama begins to see Maggie in a different light and learns to appreciate her simplicity and goodness as compared to Dee’s sophistication and ambitions. Mama realized that Maggie is, like her, at home in her traditions, and she honors the memory of her ancestor. Walker states that a person’s heritage should be a living dynamic part of the culture from which it arose and not a frozen timepiece only to be observed from a distance. The power of heritage cannot be overlooked or misinterpreted; it is what makes up the individual. It should not be looked upon as history but as a living existence of the past. Instead it must be put into everyday use situation to keep it alive and active.
Works Cited
Walker, Alice. "Everyday Use". Prentice Hall Literature Portfolio Ital. Ed. Christy Desmet, D. Alexis Hart, Deborah Church Miller New Jersey: Pearson, 2007.645. Print.
... too, Maggie. It’s really a new day for us. But from the way you and Mama still live you’d never know it.” Instead of honoring and embracing her roots, she objectifies them and distances herself as a spectator of their lifestyle versus becoming a participant and learning her true heritage.
...sents some discrepancies in how people value their family history. To some, family does not mean much at all but others are very much aware of their ancestors and the traits that they share in common. Some people use this self-awareness to better themselves while others find ways of exploiting it to satisfy their superficial needs. Dee is the type of individual that misuses her heritage. She is using it to fit in and attract the new religious group with which she has begun to associate. Maggie just seems oblivious, although the story does not allow the reader to know what she is thinking. The truth is that Maggie and her mother are living their heritage. This is the lesson that Dee's mother is trying to teach her; to accept and embrace who she is rather than continuously search for something she is not. She could search for her entire life and never be fulfilled.
In Alice Walker’s story “Everyday Use,” symbolism, allegory, and myth stand out when thinking about the characters, setting, and conflict in the story. The conflict is between the mother and her two daughters (Maggie and Dee). There is also the conflict between the family’s heritage (symbolized by the quilt, bench, and butter chum) and their different ways of life. Dee chose a new African name, moved to the city, and adopted a new way of life while Maggie and her mother have stay behind. The quilt (the most important symbol) represents the family’s heritage in that it is made of scraps of clothing worn by generations of family members. The quilt has been sewn by family hands and used on family beds. It has seen history and is history. Maggie and her mother see that that history is alive but Dee thinks it is as dead as her name. Dee does not see that name as part of her heritage. By analyzing these symbols, a number of possibilities for a theme can be seen. Walker could be suggesting that to understand the African-American heritage, readers have to include the present as well as the past. However, the theme could be that poverty and a lack of sophistication and education cannot be equated with ignorance. Lastly, she could be telling her readers that dignity or self-respect rise from and are virtually connected to one’s entire heritage- not just a selected part of it.
In "Everyday Use," Alice Walker stresses the importance of heritage. She employs various ways to reveal many aspects of heritage that are otherwise hard to be noticed.
When we meet our narrator, the mother of Maggie and Dee, she is waiting in the yard with Maggie for Dee to visit. The mother takes simple pleasure in such a pleasant place where, "anyone can come back and look up at the elm tree and wait for the breezes that never come inside the house." (Walker 383) This is her basic attitude, the simple everyday pleasures that have nothing to do with great ideas, cultural heritage or family or racial histories. She later reveals to us that she is even more the rough rural woman since she, "can kill and clean a hog as mercilessly as a man." (Walker 383) Hardly a woman one would expect to have much patience with hanging historical quilts on a wall. Daughter Maggie is very much the opposite of her older sister, Dee. Maggie is portrayed as knowing "she is not bright." (Walker 384)
Velazquez, Juan R. "Characterization and Symbolism in Alice Walker's 'Everyday Use.'" Lone Star College System. Lone Star, n.d. Web. 3 Apr. 2014. .
Even though Mama is a strong woman, there are many flaws. Not so much with her, but more so with her family. Her youngest daughter Maggie was burned in a house fire, which has left her broken and battered. Mama really talks down about Maggie, but it’s all true, she says “Have you ever seen a lame animal,
The condescending attitude and request from Dee leads Maggie to feel ashamed of her life for a moment and she nearly gives the heirlooms away. “She can have them, Mama,” were the words of...
In the story 'Everyday Use', by Alice Walker, the value of ones culture and heritage are defined as a part of life that should not be looked upon as history but as a living existence of the past. Walker writes of the conflict between two Black cultures. Dee and Maggie are sisters whom do not share the same ideals. Mama is torn between two children with different perspectives of what life truly means. In the story, Walker describes the trial and tribulations of one daughter whose whole life is tormented by fear, failure and weakness; while the other "has held life always in the palm of one hand"(61) and moves to a better lifestyle. The possessions of the past will ultimately change the relationships of the future.
Throughout “Everyday Use” mama compares the two sisters very often. For instance, “Dee is lighter than Maggie, with nicer hair and a fuller figure. She is a woman now” (744) Mama is saying Dee is much more attractive than Maggie and how she has the figure of a grown woman, it also shows that Dee is more cherished and appreciated because she is light skin. In the slavery days, Dee would have been an in-house slave while Maggie would have been an outside slave which is based on their physical appearance. Mama also showed bias when she said “Dee feet were always neat looking like God himself shaped them with a certain style.” (745). Mama put Dee on a high pedal stool while she always brought down Maggie, like when she said “she isn’t bright . . . good looks. . . passed her by”. Mama has shown bias between the two sisters since the very beginning of “Everyday Use” comparing the two physical traits. Mama was vey bias throughout the story but between her bias Maggie’s potential and her ignorance tied together brought family themes in this
Regretfully, though readers can see how Mama has had a difficult time in being a single mother and raising two daughters, Dee, the oldest daughter, refuses to acknowledge this. For she instead hold the misconception that heritage is simply material or rather artificial and does not lie in ones heart. However, from Mama’s narrations, readers are aware that this cultural tradition does lie within ones heart, especially those of Mama’s and Maggie’s, and that it is the pure foundation over any external definition.
Tate, Claudia C. "'Everyday Use' by Alice Walker." African American Review 30.2 (1996): 308+. Literature Resource Center. Web. 2 Feb. 2014.
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.
In Alice Walker's "Everyday Use," the message about the preservation of heritage, specifically African-American heritage, is very clear. It is obvious that Walker believes that a person's heritage should be a living, dynamic part of the culture from which it arose and not a frozen timepiece only to be observed from a distance. There are two main approaches to heritage preservation depicted by the characters in this story. The narrator, a middle-aged African-American woman, and her youngest daughter Maggie, are in agreement with Walker. To them, their family heritage is everything around them that is involved in their everyday lives and everything that was involved in the lives of their ancestors. To Dee, the narrator's oldest daughter, heritage is the past - something to frame or hang on the wall, a mere artistic, aesthetic reminder of her family history. Walker depicts Dee's view of family heritage as being one of confusion and lack of understanding.
In “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker, we hear a story from the viewpoint of Mama, an African American woman, about a visit from her daughter Dee. Mama, along with her other daughter Maggie, still lives poor in the Deep South while Dee has moved onto a more successful life. Mama and Maggie embrace their roots and heritage, while Dee wants to get as far away as possible. During her return, Dee draws her attention to the quilt. It is this quilt and the title of the piece that centers on the concept of what it means to integrate one’s culture into their everyday life.