Alice Walker's Everyday Use. The Quilt's Symbolism for Heritage and Race - Research Paper Example

July 20, “Everyday Use The Quilt's Symbolism for Heritage and Race Alice Walker's “Everyday Use” captures the diverse viewpoints on heritage and race among African Americans themselves. Mama has two widely different daughters- shy Maggie and confident Dee. The setting is the 1960s, where political and social changes are changing American culture and history. The civil rights, women and black movements are developing and Dee finds herself as a “member” of this movement and changes her name to Wangero. Dee studies in the city, which Mama and Maggie financially support, and her homecoming represents a serious conflict between modern and traditional aspirations. Dee asks for the quilts of their family, but Mama refuses, because she has promised to give them to Maggie as her wedding present. Different authors argue on the importance of heritage and race, as represented by the quilt and the different personalities and aspirations of Mama, Dee, and Maggie. This paper presents a literature review of their arguments and focuses on the conversation on heritage and race. I agree with several authors on how they assert that the story is not only about Dee's superficial understanding of her race and heritage, but also of the different strands of awakening in African American thought that are, altogether, vital in the critical analysis of traditional heritage and race. Majority of the authors ascertain that Dee has developed no sense of heritage and culture in the way that Mama and Maggie have, because the former's idea of her race and history is skewed toward romanticism. Cowart argues that “Everyday Use” represents the struggle between two opposing viewpoints in heritage and race, where Dee, despite her education and Africanization, could never fully understand. These opposing images of heritage and race are represented by Maggie and Dee. Maggie is similar to the quilts that Dee desires: traditionally African, but quite plain and “used.” Cowart uses the theoretical perspective of “deracination” to stress that Dee is not helping her race by acting condescending toward more traditional-minded African Americans. Instead, she is only sowing disunity in her community, because she divides her race between the learned and unlearned. Butler, Shackelford, and Humphrey agree with Cowart and stress that “Everyday Use” explores “issues of identity and true cultural awareness” (4) and they criticize the “hyper-Africanism...during the 1960’s and 1970’s as false and shallow” (4). Butler and peers argue that Dee possesses a superficial understanding of both her race and heritage. They say that “Dee reveals a fundamental selfishness and lack of understanding of her culture and family” (4). They use the theoretical framework of cultural and racial analysis to underscore the differences between Mama and Dee, and how Mama trumps Dee on the issue of having the greater knowledge on their African history and culture. Ross agrees with these authors and says that Dee has not reached any “stage of self-understanding” (1). Apparently, she sees her race and heritage from one perspective only, Africanism. She uses formalistic analysis to understand the relationship among different story elements and how they contribute to the unity of the themes of African history and culture. Tuten shares the same views as Butler and peers and Cowart, but she focuses on the “destructive” use of language in the “superficiality” of understanding one's heritage (125). She values how Mama becomes enlightened of the superficial Africanness of the new Dee, and as a result, she strengthens her bonds with her daughter Maggie. The power of saying “no” to Dee is equally meaningful for African Americans who have said NO also to racial inequality and oppression. Language represents the vocal expression of African Americans against the negative experiences and perceptions against them, because of racial prejudice and discrimination. This analysis also shows how the bonds within families are crucial to African heritage. The practice of making quilts is important to narrating and transferring their stories from one generation to the next. The quilts then stand for the many interconnected lives who suffered slavery during American Antebellum times, and continue to do so, even during the 1960s because of racial inequality. Other formalistic analyses are also present, which stress the themes of heritage and race. Gruesser focuses on the imagery of animals and animal husbandry in “Everyday Use” and how these images asserts the matriarchal position of Mama. Walker uses different animals to project the personalities and motivations of her characters and for Gruesser, this means that these images are “perfectly appropriate” for a “rural setting” and the matriarch and storyteller who tells the narrative of her life with her daughters (185). Whitsitt concentrates on the quilt as the symbol for African heritage and race. He cites Showalter (215) who says that quilts are “central metaphor of American cultural identity” (qtd. in Whitsitt 443). An alternative theoretical perspective emphasizes the importance of diversity of thinking in understanding African American heritage and race. Farrell disagrees with Cowart and asserts that Dee offers a different strategy for African Americans struggling in a racist society. She hints the possibility that Mama would be wrong in assessing Dee's transformation to “Wangero.” Farrell says that the story is written from “Mama's perceptions,” which means it comes from her own opinions and may or may not be factual (181). Farrell values the “fearfulness” present in Dee and how Mama describers her daughter as: “She would always look anyone in the eye. Hesitation was no part of her nature” (Walker). It is the kind of confidence that Farrell wants African Americans to also develop, which shows that she wants the black community to shed the timidity present in people like Mama and Maggie. This paper argues that the story is not only about Dee's superficial understanding of her race and heritage, but also of the different strands of awakening in African American thought that are, altogether, vital in the critical analysis of traditional heritage and race. I tend to agree then with Farrell. She makes an insightful analysis of the importance of Dee's voice in the overall analysis of African American culture and heritage. On the one hand, Dee is a condescending human being who enjoyed when their hours burned, with “a look of concentration on her face as she watched the last dingy gray board of the house fall in toward the red-hot brick chimney” (Walker). She also reads to her mother and Maggie with scorn. For her, their ignorance reflects so negatively on her own image. On the other hand, Dee “would always look anyone in the eye. Hesitation was no part of her nature” (Walker). She has the confidence that Mama and Maggie do not possess. These are daring qualities that are also important in real life, especially for African Americans who want to mark their place in society. Butler and peers emphasize that Dee possesses a superficial understanding of both her race and heritage. They say that “Dee reveals a fundamental selfishness and lack of understanding of her culture and family” (4). Dee represents the hyperAfricanization, which does not fit the realistic aspirations of rural and traditional-minded African Americans. This paper counter-argues and says that there is also something wrong with Maggie's passivity: “Maggie will be nervous until after her sister goes: she will stand hopelessly in corners, homely and ashamed of the burn scars down her arms and legs, eying her sister with a mixture of envy and awe” (Walker). The civil rights movement would not have succeeded if its members remained passive and inactive. Walker uses different animals to project the personalities and motivations of her characters and for Gruesser, this means that these images are “perfectly appropriate” for a “rural setting” (185). But what is wrong with urban language? If this language can be used to change perceptions about African Americans, then it should also be considered in the fight for African American empowerment. In addition, the quilt of African American history is not only composed of the strands of rural lives. There are also “other” movements that should be studies and integrated into the whole quilt of history. Dee represents something extreme, but her contribution to the awakening of her race should not be severely overlooked and criticized. Dee lacks understanding of their true tradition, because if she knew tradition, she would know that Maggie deserves the quilt. Maggie is the only one capable of continuing the tradition that the quilts represent, because she will stay as she is, and continue family and African tradition that exists in everyday life. But Maggie does not represent every African American. “Everyday Use” is not only about rural African Americans, but others, as well. It will be insufficient analysis to immediately demonize what Dee represents. Dee is the other movement; that confident and arrogant strand of African American life that cannot be separated from the whole. Without her, the entire quilt of African American heritage and race will not be complete at all. Works Cited Butler, Rebecca R., Shackelford, D. Dean, and Theodore C. Humphrey. “Alice Walker.” Critical Survey of Short Fiction, Second Revised Edition (2001): 1-7. Web. 18 July 2011. Literary Reference Center. Cowart, David. “Heritage and Deracination in Walker's `Everyday Use.'” Studies in Short Fiction 33.2 (1996): 171-185. Web. 18 July 2011. Literary Reference Center. Donovan, Josephine. “Everyday Use and Moments of Being: Toward a Nondominative Aesthetic.” In Aesthetics in Feminist Perspective, eds. Hilde S. Hein and Carolyn Korsmeyer. New York: Hypatia, 1993. 53-67. Print. Farrell, Susan. “Fight vs. Flight: A Re-evaluation of Dee in Alice Walker's “Everyday Use”.” Studies in Short Fiction 35.2 (1998): 179-187. Web. 18 July 2011. Literary Reference Center. Gruesser, John. “Walker's Everyday Use.” Explicator 61.3 (2003): 183-185.Web. 18 July 2011. Literary Reference Center. Ross, Diane M. “Everyday Use.” Masterplots II: Short Story Series (January 2004): 1-2. Web. 18 July 2011. Literary Reference Center. Tuten, Nancy. “Alice Walker's Everyday Use.” Explicator 51.2 (1993): 125-128.Web. 18 July 2011. Literary Reference Center. Walker, Alice. “Everyday Use.” Web. 18 July 2011. . Whitsitt, Sam. “In Spite of It All: Reading of Alice Walker's 'Everyday Use.'” African American Review 34.3 (2000): 443-460. Web. 18 July 2011. Literary Reference Center. Wiedemann, Barbara. “Everyday Use.” Short Fiction: A Critical Companion (1997): 256-261. Web. 18 July 2011. Literary Reference Center. Read More