The short story Everyday Use (1974) by Alice Walker is a representation of earlier works by the author. In fact, the story is about the hardships of African American women in everyday life. It is about the milestones of heritage and ancestry that is implied in terms of African American mothers in their sometimes hard relationships with daughters.
The story by Alice Walker is narrated through the vision of Mama or Mrs. Johnson, a mother of two daughters. She is apt to bring up her old daughter Dee and her younger one, Maggie. However, the concept of the story is in the entire question of what is right for people living in the rural area and sharing particular traditions. Mrs. Johnson examines the whole situation along with an accident happened in their house (when it was burnt). Her love for her daughters is unchangeable. She understands what is right or wrong with them. However, she makes no attempt to hurt Dee in her refusal to live in their house or to impinge Maggie in her adoring rural life. Education and illiteracy are contradicting in the story. Other implications presumed through the eyes of Mama are considered with how both daughters are interested in their ancestry. Here comes a dilemma that evaluates the role of Mama in the story. She poses her understanding and estimation that becomes distinct between characters of Dee (Wangero) and Maggie.
The thing is that some traditions are century-long and have roots going even to other continents and countries. The important thing is that Maggie values it, as the feature of her belonging. She is dedicated to such sphere of her identity sincerely. The symbolic meaning of “quilt” goes across the story. It is a sticking point for a reader to make conclusions about culture, time and trendy motives of “in-crowd” that are supposed to be normal for Dee.
The language and wording in this short story is represented in a very open manner. It fits descriptions and reasoning of Mrs. Johnson while analyzing things going around her and in terms of her daughters. On the other hand, the wording was chosen by Alice Walker to show some points on the illiteracy that characterized African Americans for a long time. Needless to say, various conversations between Mama and Dee, Dee and Maggie and Maggie with Mama are patterned by different words mainly of rural simplicity. When reading, one does not feel like it is hard to recognize the sense of the story. Walker did her best in order to illustrate moments of everyday life in one African American family so comprehensive for an ordinary reader. Although, such awkwardness of the language is imposed in some names, such as: Wangero, Asalamalakim or Hakim-a-Barber (Walker 30).
It goes without saying that an ordinary life of those who were oppressed once is blamed by some representatives due to the ancestry and identity. In other words, African American people that are described in the story are struggling for their survival in a varied society (Dee). On the other hand, some other representatives of this part of American society are going well with what they have and of how they are developing at the time (Mama and Maggie). These points make the short story by Alice Walker one that is more realistic in features worrying African Americans in everyday life. In fact, a reader should take a glance that these problems are not concerned with racial discrimination or segregation.
Works cited
Walker, Alice and Christian, Barbara. Everyday use. NY: Rutgers University Press, 1994.