Alice Walker Heritage

Without our ancestors, our traditions and cultures would not be as they are today. In Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use,” she portrays the different views of heritage and tradition through the conflicts between Dee, Maggie, and her mother. Some people would consider what comes before us to have died with our ancestors, but in reality their heritage and traditions continues to live on with the living family members. Each persons’ identity is created with the help of the culture and people who came before them. In this short story, Dee changes her identity to escape the culture and the people who came before her. Though she wishes to display and remember certain items from her ancestors, she makes every effort to separate herself from it by keeping …show more content…
She showed up at her old house in a “dress so loud it hurt [her mother’s] eyes. There [were] yellows and oranges enough to throw back the light of the sun. Earrings gold, too, and hanging down to her shoulders. Bracelets dangling and making noises when she moves her arm up to shake the folds of her dress out of her armpits” (Walker 169). This new appearance is more of a costume than an outfit. Dee is trying to transform herself into a new person. Once again, this bizarre and dramatic wardrobe change would lead one to believe that Dee is searching for attention. In “Fight vs Flight: A Re-evaluation of Dee in Alice Walker’s ‘Everyday Use’,” Farrell points out that “Dee has much to learn about honoring her particular and individual family history…” (Farrell par. 11). Dee is an ignorant woman who needs to learn to appreciate her family history. Ironically, the words “much to learn” and “ignorant” arise when describing Dee, but in their family Dee is the most educated out of the three. In fact, “she would read to [her mother and sister] without pity and she “burned [them] with a lot of knowledge [they] didn’t necessarily need to know” (Walker 168). Dee’s mother even states that her education ceased after second grade (Walker 168). Maggie and her mother are the least ignorant when it comes to family history, and the importance of that, even though they were not educated. One would think that Dee, being …show more content…
Not only does she change her name and her outfit, she then does not even consider her mother may have real use for the items she wishes to take and put on display. Dee asks to take them and even goes as far as getting into an argument over them. In “Destroying to Save: Idealism and Pragmatism in Alice Walker’s ‘Everyday Use’,” Sarnowski argues Dee “expresses no appreciation for the fact that the utensils she wants – the churn top and the dasher – are functional elements in the household’s economy. She sees the intrinsic value of the items, but she overlooks their utility for the mother and Maggie, and she fails to offer some compensation or replacement for them” (Sarnowski par. 16). Dee is obviously a very selfish person who is only worried about adding new accessories to her house to better the look. In “Heritage and Deracination in Walker’s ‘Everyday Use’,” Cowart relays to the readers that Dee wants all the items “for purposes of display, reminders that she no longer has to live in such a house, care for such a cow, have daily intercourse with such a mother and sister” (Cowart par. 10). Dee does not plan on putting the items she wishes to take to “everyday use” which would keep their family tradition alive and serve as a daily reminder of her family and history. On the other hand, Maggie and her mother realize the importance of keeping their family and tradition alive by

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