First of all, I fell in love with this essay for the beautifully and believably described characters of Maggie and Mrs. Johnson. These characters, in my opinion, are imbued with feminine energy and an aura of preservation, tenderness, and love for others. Mrs. Johnson, having her personal preferences and interests, does not express them in front of her eldest daughter, wanting to respect her choice.
The essay’s plot revolves around the small world of African women and the society in which they live. The coming revolution of nationalism and the eternal opposition of the big city, the world of diversity and consumption dominated by wealthy people, is compared with the small courtyard of the Johnson family. Dee returns from this big world to his home, where there is no such abundance and free opinions (Walker and Christian). A red line carries the theme of heritage in the plot: cultural, physical, and domestic. Dee tries to inherit her culture in the theorizing as if she puts her family under a microscope; she is a researcher. While maintaining the culture in his way, Dee distances himself from his family. The author seems to pose a question to readers: to preserve the heritage or glorify it? Is it possible to carefully preserve the heritage, praising it?
The culture of Africans and the Johnson family manifests itself in the symbol of the blanket and African clothing that Dee insistently wears. The author also develops a vital name symbol for a person looking for ways of identification in the big world. The symbol of a patchwork quilt refers the reader to an even more abstract symbol of fabric and the threads that form the material. Lines connect people, relatives, and friends who do not forget about each other. I love the depth of the quilt symbol, as it’s not just the epitome of the rich African culture and fashion that Dee has been exposed to in an item. In my opinion, it is an essential cultural conflict of the essay: the controversy between culture and fashion. Does Dee accept her past sincerely or as a tribute to the new style? These questions and many more gnawed at me after reading “Everyday Use”. I consider this work to be profound; it does not reflect cultural or social problems but feels existential, connected with the sensation of home, perception, and acceptance of the past.
Works Cited
Walker, Alice, and Barbara Christian. Everyday Use. New Brunswick, N.J: Rutgers University Press, 1994.