Essay On Crossroads And Everyday Use

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February is Black History Month, an annual celebration created by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) that recognizes the role and importance of African-Americans in our history, such as Thurgood Marshall, the first African American appointed to the Supreme Court and Hattie McDaniel, the first African American to win an Academy Award. Crossroads and “Everyday Use” both have a major African-American influence, but are completely different. Although Crossroads and “Everyday Use” characters have a hunger for knowledge of a heritage, they differ in the theme of mythology and materialism; reading about these themes helps the reader understand how they are significant in African-American culture.
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Willie Brown wishes to break the contract that he made with the devil at the crossroads when he was younger. Willie is not hesitant to speak about his contract, but he is embarrassed. Eugene is willing to give up his soul to devil in order to find the lost song, but Willie warns him of doing so. Instead, Eugene defeats another guitarist who also sold his soul to the devil in order to break Willie’s contract. In Crossroads, speaking about the devil is no taboo. The Devil is seen as a viable means to acquire fame; as shown throughout the movie, Willie is not the only one who has sold his soul to the devil in order to be a successful musician. Voodoo, a religion sometimes popular in rural African-American culture, is subtly referenced when Willie gives Eugene his Louisiana voodoo doll named “the mojo man” for good luck before the guitar battle. It can be inferred that this voodoo doll is the reason Eugene was able to defeat the other guitarist. On the other hand, the presence of mythology in “Everyday Use” is nonexistent. If the author, Alice Walker, would like to add mythology into the story, it would be best to add mythological significance to the quilts. Since Voodoo is a religion of African descent, it would make sense if the quilts had voodoo
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