Introduction
Everyday Use is a short story by Pulitzer Prize winner Alice Walker. First published in her short story collection “In Love and Trouble,” it focuses on a figure marginal to American literature at the time: a working-class black woman in the American South. An interest in how gender, race, and class intersect is characteristic of Walker’s work.
The author’s writing process is not an act of bringing thoughts to life, as it defines how one is shaped. Walker significantly focuses on black people, especially women, in her novels and how they interact. Her creative legacy and activism touch on several important twentieth-century processes, identity, culture, and motherhood as the special bond between two people. Everyday Use occupies a special place in this context; despite its simplicity and brevity, the novel has a much deeper meaning. The image of Maggie is the most significant as it embodies the desire of a fragile soul to preserve the culture vital for all African Americans.
Maggie as a Humble Embodiment of True Heritage
Everyday Use by Alice Walker is a light, somewhere even humorous, account of how heritage enters the lives of those who have lived with it and those who have only read about it. However, it seems uncomplicated at first glance, and with each next line, the reader begins to realize the hidden subtext, which the author carefully covers in her novel. In terms of content, the novel is very relevant to what is happening worldwide. The struggle for culture, nation, and identity symbolizes the image of Maggie, a seemingly humble and intimidating girl.
Despite her nobility, Maggie is always behind, and there are several reasons for this place in the family. The author embodies authentic purity and innocence in this character, emphasizing her tough fate. Despite the terrible fire that undoubtedly affected her appearance, Maggie’s inner world is much richer.
She is not one to be spoiled by selfishness; she does not make any demands and accepts anything one tells her, just smiling quietly. The generous and compassionate nature hidden beneath the scars embodies the most luminous character in the novel. Maggie lives in the house with her mother, and their relationship is not straightforward (Walker 42).
At first glimpse, the closest person protects the girl from all possible threats. However, after reading the novel to the end, it becomes clear that Maggie is a victim of isolation. How the mother protects her daughter reminds her of a hidden reproach for her daughter’s imperfection. Nevertheless, it should likewise be noted that Maggie and her mother are not opposites, for they both have a love of legacy in common.
Heritage and Identity: A Complex Family Dynamic
In the context of heritage as the novel’s central theme, the contrast of thoughts in the literature should be emphasized first. Most researchers agree that the story’s point is to show, as Nancy Tuten states, “a mother’s awakening to the superficiality of one daughter and the deeply rooted understanding of the other’s heritage” (Tuten 125). This stance underscores the fact of Maggie’s nonfinancial simplicity.
The heroine and her mother are true to their family identity and folk heritage. They value family and culture and, therefore, are unwilling to change at the whim of the outside world, which does not have much to do with them. At the same time, this interpretation completely condemns the older, more down-to-earth sister, Dee. It may seem that she is not interested in her culture and its future.
However, this popular viewpoint may seem overly simple when reading history. A point that Dee offers a perspective on heritage and a strategy for contemporary African Americans to cope with an oppressive society should likewise be mentioned. Thus, there are two most prominent ways of considering the roles of characters. It is not obvious what sense Dee has in the story; however, her place in the family is central.
The obvious love for her eldest daughter is apparent from the first lines, while at the same time, Maggie seems to always remain in the shadows. The story begins with the line, “I will wait for her in the yard, which Maggie and I made clean and undulating yesterday afternoon” ( Walker 47). The mood at the novel’s beginning seems joyful at first glance, but at the same time, it evokes vague emotions.
Dee seems to reach an almost mythical height in her mother’s imagination as she and Maggie wait for her to appear. Mom transfers what appears to be her fear to Maggie when she assumes she will be frightened by Dee’s arrival. She thinks that her sister has always held life in her hand and that “no” is a word the world has never learned to say to her (Walker 47).
The lexical content of the portrait descriptions plays a large role in the creation of character portraits. The credibility of the description and the originality of the characters are emphasized through the contrast of the images. The beautiful, educated, self-confident, proud, stylish city lady Dee versus the unattractive, uneducated, modest, always embarrassed sister Maggie.
Obviously, Maggie is not central to the family; she is ordinary, maimed by life, and no one believes in her bright future. At the same time, despite the contrasting views, this character embodies a love of heritage, emphasizing its importance to every member of society (Walker 46). It is especially important for African Americans who have struggled for so long for their own culture and the right to it. The author clearly contrasts Maggie and her sister to demonstrate the difference in opinion and the two completely distinct paths that impact life.
Conclusion
Thus, as a writer of black feminist insight, Walker gives voice in this story to all the maternal ancestry often silenced by the political rhetoric of the period. Finally, the story stands out as an example of Walker’s response to the many black intellectuals who stressed the need to leave behind old, rural customs to improve their economic and political standing. Walker’s portrayal of the quiet dignity of Maggie and Mrs. Johnson is a recognition of what rural Southern blacks are, not what they should become. Empires destroy but likewise bring modernity; numerous cultural masterpieces came about through the brutal exploitation of subjugated peoples.
Certainly, they should not be rejected, but it is important to fight for self-identity, which is what Meggie is trying to accomplish. Walker’s approach to motherhood is twofold, influenced on the one hand by her feminist views and on the other by her African-American background. Still, through the mother-daughter bond, through a spiritual rather than relational relationship, she shows the multiple facets of the images she creates and their ambiguity.
Works Cited
Tuten, Nancy. “Alice Walker’s ‘Everyday Use’.” The Explicator, vol. 51, no. 2, 1993, pp. 125-128.
Walker, Alice. Everyday use. Blind & Dyslexic, 2004.