Introduction
This essay compares Alice Walker’s two short stories with a recurring theme about black women’s experience in contemporary life. The first story is Everyday Use, and the other one is The Temple of My Familiar. The two stories are similar in that the author shows the exclusive women’s journey in changing the perception of prejudice against them from their male counterparts in the two stories. For example, Mrs. Johnson and her children have struggles as independent-minded women. Similar to that, The Temple of My Familiar describes Zede confronting decisions made against her due to her racial affiliation.
Recurrent Theme of Black Women’s Experiences in Life
In the Everyday Use, the author shows women’s life experiences through the main character Mama, known as Mrs. Johnson, and her two daughters, Maggie and Dee. The audience can see infused family elements through the work with evidence of individuals who developed and applied them. In the first book the family has three black women trying to make ends meet through cultural and education transformations. In the other work, the struggle is evident in a family setting, with Zede and Carlotta being used to highlight women experiences. Houses that are associated with historical perspectives. Maggie had been taught how to sew by Mama and followed the quilting skill to ensure that she did not deviate from the family ties in terms of duties done by the group that had come before them. Unlike Mama and Maggie, Dee has a different opinion on life, the same way Zede has, since she decides to deeply idealize African culture due to her desire to understand it (Hadi Radhi 120). Dee had believed that going to college was critical in helping her realize the issues taken lightly by people due to disparities that had existed then.
Alice Walker had expanded her literary concept of women’s life experiences from the dimensions of culture and personality. The way she portrayed Mrs. Johnson and her daughter’s bravery in contemplating contemporary life aspects is similar to how the audience can learn about women in her book The Temple of My Familiar. Published in 1989, the book has various sections on how women have experienced life in terms of humiliation, empowerment, freedom, and other values. Walker’s affiliation to women’s experience concerns the African culture on its influence on American culture. In this book, there is Zede, who lives in South America amidst poverty characterized by peace. Zede is smart and later receives a scholarship to become a tutor. In the other story of Everyday Use, Dee is more enlightened than Maggie, giving the same notation about her character that effectively tallies with that of Zede.
Mama and Maggie are examples of how the author has continued to express her thematic message about black women’s experiences. The two characters’ just like Zede in the second book, view heritage as one which comprises everyday life and is often changed and transformed by the changing global trends. Despite Mrs. Johnson and her younger daughter Maggie having no education and a picture of Africa, they appreciated the root from which they came and kept the traditions without questioning relevance and application in certain contexts (Muttalib 170). The treasures in life are seen when Maggie uses quilts daily as blankets since that was the intended use for the materials. She had learned how to sew courtesy of their grandmother, added the items to their family collection, and ensured the tradition was relevant. There is no doubt that women’s experience in life is characterized by tribulations due to their racial affiliation and the societal placing. In the two stories, there is similarlity since Zede and Dee have stood to be staunch in their beliefs. For example, Zede is a communist and arrested and imprisoned due to her beliefs about the need to empower women.
Zede’s daughter, Carlotta, has been changed while growing and has a different opinion about her culture and that of her mother. She alleges to be more American than African as she had seen the humiliations that were done against black women. Carlotta’s experience in growing while witnessing the social difference in terms of color makes her have choices in marriage. She has an affair with Arveyda, and they start a romantic relationship (Hasanthi 5). Like Zede, Dee is portrayed as a girl with a vast life experience. Her boyfriend, who is white, had taught her the major changes that had moved her mindset to believe differently from her family. All these points show the black women’s experience in life due to the matters that come along the way. It is possible to expand this theme by looking further into other literary works by Alice Walker.
Through Dee, the author shows how black women can be motivated by the need to maintain personal freedom by all means, similarly to how Zede is depicted. Dee was bright and wanted to form a collaborative base with her family members to treasure their past life by keeping the family artifacts for future reference (Sharma 106). Additionally, there is a social perspective of how women live with each other in terms of interconnections required to make people have a meaningful life. The author mentions that Dee and her partner Hakim-a-barber saw each other while on campus, which shows the foundational view of marriage between black women and the whites. It is true to say that forming a complete family starts from relationships such as that which is mentioned.
Black women are showcased to have been taken for granted, depicting a unique life perspective experience. In The Temple of My Familiar, Walker introduces an American history professor who contemplates how black women have failed more from their marriage (Hasanthi 7). The professor agrees that her concept of masculinity was toxic to his estranged wife, whom they had divorced. From that issue, a reader can imagine how black women had faced issues that affected their lives, giving a different life experience. In the other story, the similar is evident since author has not given many details about Mrs. Johnson. Rather, he has developed the agenda of disclosing how women confront difficult family issues hence, depicting a strong experience in dealing with contemporary life issues.
Walker has expanded her theme of black women’s experience in dealing with life issues by various points. In Walker’s book The Temple of My Familiar, the author tells the audience about how Fanny, an ex-wife to the professor, engaged in therapy for women to deal with men’s unfaithfulness (Hefny 19). In this case, women’s sexuality is taken for granted, and they have to face major practices to get satisfaction. Women are looking for freedom and liberty in living, which is a rare chance, more so if they live in the modern world that has developed a culture of prejudice against individuals. Thus, through these two books, Walker perfectly conveys the broad ideas about women’s conditions that are associated with the evolution of modern-day black women. Similarly, Maggie, who is less educated than her sister Dee has not been enlightened to understand the metrics of life, showing the gradual transition of women in the early societal setting. She has continued to live in darkness when it comes to liberalism, which indicates that black women’s experiences have been marked by major blocks that affect them adversely.
Black women have been associated with being oppressed mostly by their male counterparts. From the Civil War, women were given menial duties such as quitting, which made them cheap labor in linen making. In her story Everyday Use, Walker conveys Mrs. Johnson talking about the oppressive whites who had grown the idea of mistreating women sexually and, hence, demeaning them significantly. In the same case, Dee is not given much credit by her boyfriend, who declines Mrs. Johnson’s food offer. The extent to which women were disrespected was great, which made several females maneuver their ways and become liberals the way Dee and Zede were (Walker 45). If women needed a revolution, there would be a volunteer who would spearhead that, showing a gradual process in women’s empowerment and values in life.
Conclusion
Alice Walker’s Everyday Use and The Temple of My Familiar are useful literary pieces that can be beneficial in understanding black women’s experiences in life. The author had put a family setting whereby a mother and two daughters have conflicting ideas on the living style characterized by the traditional and educational norms. The two books depict women’s struggles in making their lives satisfying. The audience can learn about various factors that made black women prejudiced, such as the superiority and inferiority of black and white people in the US regions.
Works Cited
Hadi Radhi, Shaimaa. “Aesthetic Image of the Animal Epithet in Alice Walker’s Short Story “Everyday Use”. Advances in Language and Literary Studies, vol 8, no. 5, 2017, p. 120. Australian International Academic Centre, Web.
Hasanthi, Ratna. “Womanism and Women in Alice Walker’s the Temple of My Familiar”. Shanlax International Journal of English, vol 7, no. 2, 2019, pp. 1-9. Shanlax International Journals, Web.
Hefny, Mostafa. “Tracing The Mother-Daughter Relationship in Toni Morrison’s Beloved, Alice Walker’S Temple of My Familiar and Dorothy West’s the Wedding.”. Egyptian Journals, vol 45, no. 2, 2017, pp. 17-36. Egypt’s Presidential Specialized Council for Education and Scientific Research, Web.
Muttalib, Fuad. “The Characters of Children in Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use” and Eudora Welty’s “A Worn Path”: A Comparative Study”. International Journal of Language and Literary Studies, vol 3, no. 2, 2021, pp. 166-174. Tawasul International Centre for Publishing, Research, And Dialogue, Web.
Sharma, Tripathi. “Alice Walker’s Everyday Use: Decoding Cultural Inheritance and Identity”. Smart Moves Journal IJELLH, vol 33, no. 9, 2022, pp. 103-109. Smart Moves, Web.
Walker, Alice. Everyday Use. 1973, pp. 314-321, Web.
Walker, Alice. The Temple of My Familiar. Open Road Media, 2010.