The courage to be expressive and unique in your own ways without being influenced by the criticisms of the external environment and society is not very easy to do. This is because you’re in an environment that has established their own culture for you to adhere to and for you to stand out and distance yourself and follow what you believe, is very hard and difficult and it also takes a great deal of courage to do so. This is an issue that is present in Alice Walker “Everyday Use.” Dee and Maggie conflict stems from different ways of seeing their culture.
I would like to research on the concept of culture in relation to Alice Walker’s story, “Everyday Use”, because I want to find out how culture is expressed in Walker’s story and how she defines culture. Moreover, this story that I have chosen will help me to give my reader a better understanding of culture and how refining culture is in all parts of the world.
As means of understanding the concept of culture, we must first know what culture is and its components because culture is a broad subject which is defined in different ways. Culture is expressed in so many ways, some of these are our gestures, our beliefs that we abide by and our custom. In the field of the social sciences, culture is a broad subject that is explained something that is primarily in your life, meaning it is what you’re made of from the beginning. According to the search engine Bing, “Culture is the shared beliefs and values of a group; the beliefs, customs, practices, and social behavior of a particular nation or people.
This implies that culture is considered a virtue that is obtained from a group of people through sharing and also considered, a custom that people follow within a society. Moreover, culture ...
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...Mannon, 10 Aug. 2011. Web. 13 May 2014. .
O'Neil, Dennis. "Human Culture: What is Culture?." Human Culture: What is Culture?. Dennis O'Neil, 6 May 2006. Web. 17 Apr. 2014. .
Reliable Prosperity. "Reliable Prosperity: Cultural Preservation." Reliable Prosperity. Reliable Prosperity, 3 July 2006. Web. 17 May 2014. .
Velazquez, Juan. "Characterization and Symbolism in Alice Walker's "Everyday Use"." Characterization and Symbolism in Alice Walker's "Everyday Use". Lone Star College Systems, 21 Apr. 2013. Web. 20 May 2014. .
Walker, Alice. “Everyday Use.” Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. Ed. X. J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. 8th ed. New York: Longman, 2002. 88-95. Print.
Ultimately, the dispute over what is considered everyday use is what brings about Alice Walker’s title. In the case of Alice Walker, her title is derived from the idea of the conflict and message of the story. Alice Walker challenges her readers to see the negative outcome of being a materialistic person. She shows how this often harms people’s families, and also hurts livelihoods in convincing people to use things in a good or insecure manner. Alice Walker identifies much in “Everyday Use,” and these things are displayed through title which she selected. It draws people to the story, in craving what the story is about, and it also gives enough information to make the story interesting. Titles reflect a story and show how important it is for people to discuss the messages, certain lines, and conflicts in a story, and Alice Walker’s story really shows all three of these things. Overall, Alice Walker’s choice of “Everyday Use,” for her title is correctly chosen because first it portrays differing ideas, is the indirect source of conflict, and last, identifies the ‘good’ and the
Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use” centers on a mama, Mrs. Johnson, and her two daughters, Maggie and Dee, and how they view their heritage. In “Everyday Use”, the author, Alice Walker, uses symbolism not just to convey imagery and increase the story’s emotional impact, as is typical for most literature, but also to tell parts of the story, be more descriptive with her depictions of characters and objects within the story, give back story, and communicate more of her characters’ personalities. Like most writings, “Everyday Use” contains symbolism in the form of objects and actions, but the symbolism in Everyday Use is very notable and striking because it is materialized in rather unorthodox ways and places, such as characters’ names, in the back
The search for identity in "Everyday Use" written by Alice Walker uses the family's contrasting views to illustrate the importance of understanding present life in relation to the traditions of ancestral culture. Using careful descriptions and attitudes, Walker uses the voice of the protagonist (the mother) to demonstrate which factors contribute to the values of one’s heritage and identity; she illustrates that these are represented not by the possession of objects or mere appearances, but by one’s lifestyle and attitude. Also, in the illustration “Girl”, Jamaica Kincaid uses a mother’s voice, like Walker, to illustrate the mother’s meaning of identity. Both mothers in each story have their own outlook of what defines a person’s identity. Although each mother has different...
Velazquez, Juan R. “Characterization and Symbolism in Alice Walker’s ‘Everyday Use’.” Lone Star. N.p, n.d. Web. 17 Mar 2014.
Velasquez, Juan R. “Characterization and Symbolism in Alice Walker’s ‘Everyday Use’.” Lonestar. N.p.,n.d.Web. 17 Mar 2014.
n “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 live poor in the Deep South while Dee has moved onto a more successful life. Mama and Maggie embrace their roots and heritage whereas Dee wants to get as far away as possible. During her return, Dee draws her attention to a 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.
Tate, Claudia C. "'Everyday Use' by Alice Walker." African American Review 30.2 (1996): 308+. Literature Resource Center. Web. 2 Feb. 2014.
Culture by definition is the set of shared attitudes, values, goals and practices, as well as customary beliefs, social forms and material traits that characterize a racial, religious or ...
The characters in “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker serve as a comparison between how family heritage and traditions are viewed. Walker illustrates that heritage is represented not by the possession of items or how they look, but buy how they are used, how one’s attitude is, and how they go about a daily lifestyle. Every memory or tradition in “Everyday Use” strengthens the separation in the relationship between Dee and her mother, the narrator, which involves different views on their family heritage.
In the short story “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker, the author portrays opposing ideas about one’s heritage. Through the eyes of two daughters, Dee and Maggie, who have chosen to live their lives in very different manners, the reader can choose which character to identify most with by judging what is really important in one’s life. In Dee’s case, she goes out to make all that can of herself while leaving her past behind, in comparison to Maggie, who stays back with her roots and makes the most out of the surroundings that she has been placed in. Through the use of symbolism, the tangible object of a family heirloom quilt brings out these issues relating to heritage to Mama, and she is able to reasonably decide which of her daughters has a real appreciation for the quilt, and can pass it on to her. Dee and Maggie shed a new light on the actual meaning of heritage through their personality traits, lifestyle decisions, and relationships with specific family members.
Velazquez, Juan R. "Characterization and Symbolism in Alice Walker's 'Everyday Use.'" Lone Star College System. Lone Star, n.d. Web. 3 Apr. 2014. .
Author Alice Walker, displays the importance of personal identity and the significance of one’s heritage. These subjects are being addressed through the characterization of each character. In the story “Everyday Use”, the mother shows how their daughters are in completely two different worlds. One of her daughter, Maggie, is shy and jealous of her sister Dee and thought her sister had it easy with her life. She is the type that would stay around with her mother and be excluded from the outside world. Dee on the other hand, grew to be more outgoing and exposed to the real, modern world. The story shows how the two girls from different views of life co-exist and have a relationship with each other in the family. Maggie had always felt that Mama, her mother, showed more love and care to Dee over her. It is until the end of the story where we find out Mama cares more about Maggie through the quilt her mother gave to her. Showing that even though Dee is successful and have a more modern life, Maggie herself is just as successful in her own way through her love for her traditions and old w...
Culture is strongly demonstrated in “Everyday Use,” a short story by Alice Walker. The representation of African –American culture, heritage, and struggles powerfully takes over the story. “Everyday Use” was published in 1973. The story is focusing about a mother and her two daughters. The author shows their different identities and their ideas about heritage. In the story, Mama who is also the narrator shows how tradition and education in her family causes conflicts between both her daughters, Dee and Maggie. The Johnson family, experiences some stress when Dee, the daughter who does not live with the family comes back home for a visit. Dee is the only member of the family who has received a proper college education. Maggie, the younger daughter
Walker, Alice. "Everyday Use." Harper Anthology of Fiction. Ed. Sylvan Barnet. New York: Harper Collins, 1991.
Culture is the totality of learned, socially transmitted customs, knowledge, material objects and behavior. It includes the ideas, value, customs and artifacts of a group of people (Schaefer, 2002). Culture is a pattern of human activities and the symbols that give these activities significance. It is what people eat, how they dress, beliefs they hold and activities they engage in. It is the totality of the way of life evolved by a people in their attempts to meet the challenges of living in their environment, which gives order and meaning to their social, political, economic, aesthetic and religious norms and modes of organization thus distinguishing people from their neighbors.