Introduction
Everyday Use is a story written by Alice Walker and published in 1973. The text has become vastly prominent in the African-American community due to its transparent demonstration of rural life and the cultural heritage of black people. At the time of publishing, America was going through the reconsideration of the image of the African-American people, and Everyday Use has excellently displayed the worries and aspirations of the community. The primary themes in the narrative are the relationships within the African-American families that are divided between progressive perspectives and cultural heritage. The current essay attempts to critically analyze the aforementioned social issues in the narrative of Everyday Use and demonstrate their relevance to society.
Summary of the Text
The story of Everyday Use revolves around an African-American family consisting of three women – a mother and her two daughters, Dee and Maggie. The three characters differ vastly in their personalities, aspirations, and perspectives on life. Mama and Maggie are not educated and live in a rural area with most activities revolving around farm work. On the other hand, Dee has received a proper scholarship and has ambitious aspirations. The author also emphasizes Dee’s beauty, “Dee is lighter than Maggie, with nicer hair and a fuller figure” further demonstrating the differences between the daughters (Walker 316). After the introduction of the characters, Walker depicts a single event that displays the purpose of the narrative.
The central setting of the story is the family gathering in the farmhouse when Dee visits Mama and Maggie. She is accompanied by her husband who Mama refers to as Hakim-a-barber. Furthermore, Dee presents her new name ‘Wangero’ and claims that she could not bear the burdens of her previous name. Concerning the title, Wangero claims, “I couldn’t bear it any longer being named after the people who oppress me” clearly identifying her discontent with the position of the African-American community in society (Walker 318). Ultimately, Mama agrees to the name change and acknowledges the situation. Nevertheless, shortly after, Mama and Wangero start arguing over another subject – the usage of the quilt. Wangero asks the family to hand over the quilt, so she could utilize it as a piece of art due to its cultural significance. However, Mama denies the request and claims that it is an item for everyday use and should not be displayed publicly. The narrative ends with Wangero leaving the family gathering and stating that neither Mama nor Maggie understands their own heritage and that the African-American community has a new path to follow.
Cultural Heritage
As seen from the summary, the primary theme of the text is cultural heritage, and the three primary characters of the story demonstrate opposite perspectives on the subject. Without any doubt, it is a highly complicated topic with the possibility of different perspectives. Therefore, it provides several difficulties interpreting the narrative of the story since there is nothing fundamentally wrong with any of the positions. Mama and Maggie attempt to protect the lifestyle that they are used to and satisfied with. On the other hand, Wangero is an activist and searches for new ways to appreciate her African heritage. From the contemporary viewpoint, both positions seem reasonable and justifiable; nevertheless, Wangero’s perspective is highly relevant due to the period of publication.
The position of the African-American community has been slowly improving in the 20th century, and 1960-1970 is a period of high relevance to black people. Some experts believe that the author specifically emphasized the progressive approach to cultural heritage to reflect the social issues of society (Yang 363). In the 1960s, there were several Black political movements that aimed to reconsider the image of the African-American community concerning their original heritage in the eyes of the public (Yang 363). Therefore, the author attempted to highlight the problem of racial and gender inequalities by demonstrating the dialogue between the conservative and progressive African-American people (Yang 367). The issues of race and discrimination have been central to American society for a long time; that is why it is essential to continually elaborate on the topic and strive for a better future.
Relationships within the Family and Parental Expectations
While cultural heritage is the primary theme of the narrative, the relationships within the families in the African-American community also play a vital role in the story. The generation gap followed by the vastly different experiences of Mama and Wangero in society has built the foundation for arguments and disputes. While Mama acknowledges Wangero’s superiority in terms of intelligence, beauty, and confidence, she cannot comprehend the idea of African heritage and refuses the hand over the quilt. Some experts believe that these negative feelings might heavily influence the relationships within the family (Bell 15). Nevertheless, this concept does not seem to affect Wangero’s aspirations and objectives.
Conclusion
Summing up, the current essay has transparently demonstrated the different perspectives on the cultural heritage of African-American people and highlighted their relevance in contemporary society. The author has particularly emphasized Wangero’s perspective on the African legacy to support several Black political movements that were highly prominent in the 1960s. Furthermore, Alice Walker has also transparently portrayed the dialogue between the conservative and progressive parties in the argument to demonstrate the need for the African-American community to change. Such relevance to American society in the 1960s has turned Everyday Use into a highly prominent story that is widely discussed even at the present time.
Works Cited
Bell, Judith. “Like Mother, Like Daughter: Parental Expectations in Alice Walker’s ‘Everyday Use’.” McNair Scholars Research Journal, vol. 1, no. 1, 2019, pp. 6-15.
Walker, Alice. Everyday Use. Rutgers University Press, 1994.
Yang, Xinyu. “Study of Black Woman Spirituality in Alice Walker’s Everyday Use.” Proceedings of the 2020 International Conference on Language, Communication and Culture Studies (ICLCCS 2020), Atlantis Press, 2020.