Introduction
In Everyday Use, Walker deals with controversial topics for African-Americans, both generations and cultures. The author raises the question of rather do individuals need to give up their African-American roots and more common families when they leave home and embrace the African-American heritage. The problem is primarily African-American, but it can also be seen as a universal problem for modern youth who do not know the ideals of their ancestors and relatives. Everyday Use addresses an issue of heritage through the relationship between the characters and their relation to the cultural background.
Everyday Use. Heritage
Heritage and tradition might be perceived differently by people who belong to the same culture. The story Everyday Use, written by Alice Walker, portrays two different overviews of one’s heritage under the circumstances that the two polar viewpoints belong to people within the same family. Yang (2021) supports the statement that Walker emphasizes the differing attitude and views of the main characters on heritage and culture throughout the work.
On the one hand, Mama is a continuation of generations that have lived through slavery and have changed, alternating the traditional African ways of life while remaining loyal to the values exacerbated by direct ancestors. On the other hand, Dee, the daughter, discovers new ideas about her African roots and disregards the more Westernized values of her family, emphasizing the ethnical connotations of the cultural background she belongs to. However, the two life choices related to how one portrays the heritage are not only different concerning values but also in their physical manifestation. The short story illustrates the theme of heritage, its subjectivity, and how one interprets and externalizes it.
Heritage as a Value
Mama and Dee have opposite overviews of the meaning and value of heritage. Specifically, the ideas differ based on how they interpret cultural preservation. In Mama’s case, she preserves the culture by sharing the experience of her ancestors, continuing the legacy of her family, and maintaining strong family bonds. On the other hand, Dee disregards the history of her family since it was critically shaped by oppression and slavery. An example is when she mentions Dee being dead and wanting to be called Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo since she “couldn’t bear it any longer, being named after the people who oppress me” (Walker, 1973, p.3). On the other hand, her name has a meaning related to the history of her family. As Mama points out, “you were named after your aunt Dicie” (Walker, 1973, p.3).
However, since the name is not traditional, Dee disregards it as a result of westernizing Africans being given names that align with the oppressive history. Bell (2019) suggests that the mother’s interpretation of heritage is also influenced by her issues such as low self-esteem. Nevertheless, heritage has a different value for both. For Mama, it is about honoring the culture as it changed through the generations before her since each ancestor had a personal history that changed them. Dee, however, believes in traditional values, and if they change because of adaptation to oppression, they lose authenticity and value. Edmondson (2020) says that the values toward heritage are shaped by the experience of black women. Thus, the theme of heritage is illustrated through the perception of one’s self through heritage, which each of the characters interprets constructively.
Manifestation of Heritage
The theme of heritage is also portrayed through how the characters choose to manifest it. The manifestation is critically different and is illustrated through how both Mama and Dee chose to implement parts of their culture in their lives either through direct involvement or showcasing. Everyday Use describes the issue of cultural trauma concerning identity and heritage (Elmore, 2019). An element that best illustrates the diversity in approaches is the quilt. It serves as the “symbol of cultural heritage” in work (Zheng & Zhang, 2018, p. 462).
As a traditional African textile, the quilts have a deeper meaning in terms of the character’s heritage. However, Mama believes they have to be used for the tradition to be expressed. Thus, she points out that she is leaving them to the other daughter, Maggie, stating that “God knows I been saving ’em for long enough with nobody using ’em. I hope she will!” (Walker, 1973, p.4). Based on this approach, the manifestation of one’s heritage is how one chooses to apply tradition in day-to-day life and give physical meaning to the culture. On the other hand, Dee chooses to showcase the pieces, suggesting that “Maggie can’t appreciate these quilts!” (Walker, 1973, p.4). Instead, she chooses to hang them and create a visual representation of her heritage. The difference is that Mama would rather see the tradition live rather than be showcased. In one case, the culture has a deeper meaning, connecting generations and continuing to live on. In the other one, it becomes imagery, which ultimately defeats its purpose and turns it into a spectacle or a performance.
Conclusion
The central theme of heritage is exemplified through constructivism about the difference in perception and manifestation of one’s cultural background. Both Mama and Dee have deeply rooted respect and honor for where they came from yet choose to externalize this in different ways. Mama’s heritage is the traditional way of life of her ancestors, the memories they left behind, and the experiences they had, both good and bad. Dee’s heritage is a less subjective one as she views culture as an artistic experience and a way to visually and behaviorally represent her ethnicity. Thus, heritage, while remaining alive in how both the mother and daughter perceive the world around them, contrasts in how it is externalized. The contrast between the two viewpoints illustrates the significance of the theme in the short story and the ambiguity of the subject as illustrated by the author’s polar representation of the same notion.
References
Walker, A. (1973). Everyday Use. Harper’s Magazine.
ZHENG, L. S., & ZHANG, S. S. (2018). On Characterization Through Syntactic Foregrounding in Everyday Use. US-China Foreign Language, 16(9), pp. 460-46410. Web.
Elmore, R. T. R. (2019). Cultural Trauma’s Influence on Representations of African American Identity in Alice Walker’s” Everyday Use”. University of Dayton. Web.
Bell, J. Like Mother, Like Daughter: Parental Expectations in Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use”. 2019. 4 Kevin Ung, Director of McNair Scholar’s Program Introduction 5 Sara Baker, TRIO Logistics Manager & Coach Note from the Editor, Lee University 1(1), pp. 6-15. Web.
Edmondson, D. (2020). In Our Mothers’ Quilts: How Womanism Connects the Quilts of Gee’s Bend with Alice Walker’s “In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens” and “Everyday Use”. Merge, 4(1), p. 4. Web.
Yang, X. (2021). Study on Black Woman Spirituality in Alice Walker’s Everyday Use. In Proceedings of the 2020 International Conference on Language, Communication and Culture Studies (ICLCCS 2020). Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research (Vol. 537, pp. 363-368).