Short stories by Alice Walker - Essay Example

Every day use is a short story written by Alice Walker presenting numerous challenges faced by black women within the American society. It is first person narration by Mama, the main character, and mother to two daughters. The setting occurs in the residence of mama and her daughters where they currently live with her younger daughter. With the expected homecoming of the elder daughter, Dee, they make preparations aimed at ensuring proper reception for expected visitors. The story remains total fiction, which is effectively utilised in delivering the desired message form the author.

The author utilises fiction in depicting the meaning of culture and the power of education, while having humour and irony within the story. The story presents the difference in heritage within family members, who shared similar cultural values while residing together. The visiting daughter changes name from Dee to Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo, a name which she cannot explain its origin. She claims that Dee is dead depicting the death of cultural heritage. Through the actions and behaviours displayed by the elder daughter, heritage becomes nullified and its existence ignored by the character.

Mama explains the origins of the family name, running through many generations, and appears hurt by the daughter’s failure to understand the importance and meaning of heritage within the setting of the story. Dee desires family quilts, which she views as artefacts of dead heritage. While desiring these articles, she intends to utilise them as wall hangings, which further displays her misunderstanding of meaning of family heritage. She even tries to speak a language she cannot understand. The mother and Dee are displayed as having different meanings of heritage (Walker 64).

The power of education becomes displayed through the mothers struggle to educate her children despite her lack of education. The education received by Dee, however, does not appear to benefit the family. Education becomes portrayed as having a divisive power upon the family. Dee, for example, utilises the intellectual gains from years of education to intimidate other family members. She greets Mama in an unknown African dialect, which intimidates Mama as she cannot answer. Through education Dee continues to force strange ideas upon the family members; consequently unsettling their domestic contentment with their lifestyle.

Education has further separated Dee from understanding herself to adopting obscure cultural practices. While Dee lacks respect for cultural heritage in a result of education, the lack of education makes Maggie accept her condition, hence becoming contented with her present lifestyle. The author effectively utilises humour in covering some observable difficulties within the context of the story. While Mama remains illiterate, which could be termed unfortunate for her, the author utilises her illiteracy in creating humour within the narration.

The pronunciation of Hakim’s name presents difficulties to the uneducated mother. She, however, creates humorous instances through creating her own pronunciation of the name. After continuously trying to pronounce the name correctly in vain, she resorts to addressing Hakim as what she thinks he is. She addresses him as a barber because she cannot comprehend the pronunciation for being uneducated. Through creating humour from regrettable situations, the author eliminates the sorry feeling of readers upon the characters (Walker 61).

Irony becomes presented through numerous occurrences within the context of the story. While Mama and Maggie pursue tiring preparations for the visit of Dee, the visit becomes relatively brief presenting irony on the preparations. While Dee views herself as educated and having superior capabilities over Maggie, the mother displays Maggie having better abilities. Dee seeks to take the quilts and protect them from harm, which could be inflicted by Maggie, the mother, however, appears contented with giving these family artefacts to Maggie.

Dee claims preservation of quilts remains paramount to family history though the does not understand what entails preservation of family history and heritage. For the mother, however, preservation of the quilts resides in risking destruction under the “permanent” care of Maggie. Narrations could be utilised by authors in passing messages to readers through the use of fiction. Application of fiction commonly enables writers to sufficiently enhance their ideas through writing. The utilisation of fiction remains easy because actual events cannot become sufficient in presenting desired ideas.

Through fiction, authors can create characters having the required characteristics to portray desired images. Through the utilisation of fiction, authors could represent desired characteristics of individuals within the story to pass certain messages to readers. Literary ideas of irony, humour, and diction among others could become presented within stories through fictions characters and information. The author of everyday use utilises fiction in delivering desired information to readers. The author uses fictious characters in presenting heritage power of education and ultimately involving humour and irony, within the story.

Reference Walker, Alice. “Everyday Use.” In Love & Trouble: Stories of Black Women. Ed. Alice. Walker. San Diego: Harcourt, Inc., 1973. 56-66. Print.