Alice Walker Heritage

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Everyday Use by Alice Walker is set in the late 1960 and early 1970s, a time when many African Americans were fighting to control of their social, cultural, and political identity in American society. Alice Walker was a novelist, short story writer, activist, and feminist. Walker tried to portray all this event that was occurring in that moment in the personality of Dee.
Dee is portrayed as a hypocrite to his heritage by not understand what their true heritage is. The author shows that Dee does not really have any interest in his family heritage and has little knowledge of the important aspects of their family history. She does not realize that her mind blocked from her true heritage and fills her with new beliefs. In " Everyday Use " by Alice …show more content…
When Dee arrived at his house, Walker described her in a dress that she wore to the floor, with earrings that hung over her shoulders and hanging bracelets. Dee asked to be addressed by a Swahili name known as Wangero. When her mother addressed her with the name "Dee," she responded by saying that Dee was dead, and It is seen that she changes her patrimony, when Dee changes her name to "Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo" because she "could not stand ... to take the name of the people who oppress her". The author shows that Dee gets rid of the family name and throws away a part of his estate. Dee indicates that her ancestors and elders, who were called, oppress her, because she refuses to accept the culture and heritage of her family. Another example of her changed heritage is when she gets out of the car, wearing "a dress to the ground ... A dress so strong, it hurts the eyes". After going to college, the author portrays Dee in a completely different style of clothes, not leaving a piece of traditional clothing, which gives a signal that Dee is fading from his inheritance. Here, the author allows the reader to see that Dee does not understand his inheritance and that his new appearance does not accurately represent his
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