Everyday Use by Alice Walker - Essay Example

Everyday Use by Alice Walker The story `Everyday Use` is a part of the short story collection, “In love and trouble: Stories of black women (1973)” and focuses on women`s lives, particularly those belonging to the African culture. This is the story of an African family of one mother and two daughters and how the mother tries to defend her family`s legacy. This story revolves around the return of one daughter, Dee, who is the educated one and has changed her name to Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo. When her mother asked her about her name, she said “`She`s dead.. I couldn’t bear it any longer being named after the people who oppress me`” (Everyday Use, Web). In contrast, her sister, Maggie is described by her mother as unintelligent and shy but in reality, she is quite humble and obedient. The theme signifies the real essence of relationships in this family and the different personalities of these women within a single family. The mother, Mrs. Johnson or Mama, is the narrator and tells about the conflicts that resulted over the family heirlooms between the sisters. In this story, the author portrays the importance of cultural heritage in a person`s life and how it should be passed on to the future generations. As the story emphasizes the importance of cultural heritage, the author tries to portray the differences in opinions between the family members, especially Dee. She is angered by the oppression faced by her ancestors and therefore, does not want to relate herself to the real heritage and traditional values and beliefs. She decides to construct a new heritage for herself, something which defines the values of the African heritage she beliefs in. as the author points out; these new values and heritage are based on false beliefs and are meaningless. She also changes her name to Wangero and fails to see the family legacy of her name and therefore, decides to change her name altogether. She believes that the cultural heritage that her mother and sister strongly believe in is dead and belongs to the past and does not approve of the importance given to it by her family. One can argue that she still believed in the cultural heritage as she desired to have the family heirlooms like the quilt and the carved dasher but she only wants them as artifacts of her historic culture and not because of the real importance of it. She believes that these artifacts are only meant to be displayed and not for any purpose or use. She rejects her history and despises the traditional beliefs and values and advices her sister to move away from them in order to be successful. On the other hand, the mother has totally opposite views about her heritage and relates the artifacts to their makers rather than viewing these as just objects. Her identity revolves around the cultural heritage and the family heirlooms and she has strong views about her ancestors. In contrast, Dee just cares about the objects as mere objects rather than understanding the true essence of it. Education is really important in every person`s life and encourages a person to use the gift of intellect given to him. However, in the story of “Everyday use”, the gift of education given to Dee creates a barrier between her and family and ruins her relationship with them. Both her mother and sister were denied education but with the help of her community, Mama managed to send Dee abroad for education in the hope that one day she`ll return to give something back to their community. But her hopes were destroyed with the return of her daughter and the way of lifestyle she had adopted. Instead of using her intellect to refine her relationship, Dee used it to intimidate her family and show that she was more powerful because she was educated and therefore, more knowledgeable and successful. When she arrived, she tried to boast by using the greeting, “Wa-su-zo Tean-o,” ((Everyday Use, Web). In African language which she knew her mother would not understand. Even as a child, she used to intimidate her mother and sister by forcing upon them the modernized ideas of individuality which were against the simple traditional beliefs of her family. She acted as a threat to her family as she tried to introduce some complex ideas of the new world in simple and domestic world of her family. Education did not just separate Dee from her family but also from her own self. She loses the sense of heritage which could be given to her by her family but she was unwilling to tolerate the inequality and injustice prevalent in her cultural heritage. Her education created a drift between her cultural values instead of further refining and polishing her values and beliefs. In contrast, the lack of education has stifled the strengths of Maggie and has left her isolated in this technologically advanced world. She accepted the values and beliefs enforced upon her by her family and that is the only thing left with her. The author tries to portray the contrast between the two sisters; one whose quest for education and knowledge has created a drift between her and her family and the other who was left alienated due to the lack of education. This is the factor due to which the relationship between the sisters was not strong. “Everyday Use” shows the importance of cultural values and beliefs and how these frame a person`s characteristics and personality. The story shows the importance of cultural heritage in the lives of all the family members: Mama, Dee and Maggie. Mama`s whole life is dependant on the beliefs and values of her ancestors whereas Maggie has learnt to live with the cultural values and beliefs taught to her. On the other hand, Dee starts to oppose these traditional values and tries to portray her own culture as a way to show her oppression against the cultural heritage followed by her family. At the end of the story, Dee tells Mama and Maggie that they do not understand their real heritage, what the author portrays that it is Dee, herself, who fails to understand the true essence of her cultural heritage. But the real question is whether living only with the traditional values is better or being educated and accepting a change, at the same time opposing the cultural values is better? Works Cited "Everyday Use." Alice Walker (b.1944). N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Oct. 2012. . "SparkNotes: Everyday Use: Themes, Motifs, and Symbols." SparkNotes: Today's Most Popular Study Guides. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Oct. 2012. . Read More