Heritage includes a legacy of physical attributes of the past. Heritage may be inherited and maintained in the present for future generations. Some symbols of heritage can be meaningful to some people, while for others they are meaningless. Traditional heritage plays an important part of everyone’s life. Some people follow a traditional heritage so deeply imbedded in their everyday lives that they do not even recognize them as so. In “Everyday Use” the strenuous effort to preserve the family name begins when Dee return home for a visit. Dee changed her name, a name that was passed down from her great grand mother to “Wangero Leewankia Kemanja.” Mrs. Johnson feels that it was wrong to do so, because the name Dee symbols the unity of her ancestors. Mrs. Johnson thinks she could trace the name Dee in their family "back beyond the Civil War" (Walker 54), However, Dee thinks otherwise; her name only reminded her of all the pain, struggles and injustice. "I couldn't bear it any longer, being named after the People who oppress me" (Walker 53). Mrs. Johnson thinks the new name is too ...
Dee was named after her aunt Dicie and before that it was her grandma and her grandmother’s mother. The name was a name that stuck to their families heritage. Dee did not understand the value of having that name. when her mother approached her and said “Dee (313).” Dee quickly corrected her mother and said “No mama, not Dee, Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo (313)!” Dee told her mother “I couldn’t bear it any longer being named after the people who oppress me(313).” D...
A key factor in Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use,” and Amy Tan’s “A Pair of Tickets,” is heritage. Throughout both stories the use of heritage can be seen easily. Walker’s avoidance of heritage in her writings and Tan’s understanding of heritage in her writing. Through this readers can see the true meaning of heritage. Understanding both sides of these two stories gives readers a chance to explore their own heritage and reflect on how they accept their past.
Her name had been passed down from generation to generation before Dee received it. Obviously the name had great importance in her family. Her mother could trace the name back to the civil war and connect it with specific people in her family. Alice Walker write's "you just don't understand," she said , as Maggie and I came out to the car. "what don't I understand?" I wanted to know. "Your heritage," she said".She criticize her mother about not understanding their heritage though, she places her heritage on those quilts instead of continuing the family name that was handed down to her.
Momma asks Dee what happened to her name and she says, “She’s dead. I couldn’t bear it any longer, being named after the people who oppress me”. (27) Dee has no idea her name comes from her own heritage. Momma explains to Dee, “You know as well as me you was named after your aunt Dicie. Dicie is my sister. She named Dee. We called her ‘Big Dee’ after Dee was born” (28). Wangero is very well educated and is only trying to understand the African portion of her heritage, but she in blind to the heritage from her family she grew up with. She looks down on her momma and younger sister, not realizing they are the most important parts of her
Heritage is something that comes to or belongs to one by reason of birth. This may be the way it is defined in the dictionary, but everyone has their own beliefs and ideas of what shapes their heritage. In the story “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker, these different views are very evident by the way Dee (Wangero) and Mrs. Johnson (Mama) see the world and the discrepancy of who will inherit the family’s quilts. Symbolism such as certain objects, their front yard, and the different characters, are all used to represent the main theme that heritage is something to always be proud of.
The daughter Dee, who is coming to visit, has left this rural landscape through her education. Dee has even taken on an African name for herself: Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo. Dee "couldn't bear it any longer being named after the people who oppress me." (Walker 386)
“Everyday Use” shows readers that heritage and culture is not speaking in a foreign language, wearing different clothes, or the changing of one’s name. One’s heritage and culture is taught and learned through generations, not just picked up. Walker illustrates that a person who truly has heritage and culture makes use of it every day of their life.
In “Everyday Use”, Alice Walker is exploring the concept of heritage as it applies to African-Americans. It appears to be set in the late ‘60s or early ‘70s. This was the time when African-Americans were struggling to define their personal identities. Many blacks who had stories of pain and injustice wanted to rediscover their African roots, and they were denying their American heritage to do so. In “Everyday Use,” Alice Walker argues that an African-American is both African and American.
Although all of the character’s views on heritage are expressed, Dee’s character is given the more detailed description of ways she strays from her heritage. From the beginning, Dee despises the home that they live in. When it is destroyed in a fire, her mother wants to ask her, “Why don’t you do a dance around the ashes?,” expressing Dee’s utter aversion towards the home (Walker 409). Most people take pride in their home and cherish it for all of the memories that it holds for them, but Dee is insensitive to the family’s loss. After becoming of age, Dee decides to go to college, where she begins to hold her newly found knowledge against her family because of their lack of it. This opportunity to go out of her town and see the world gives Dee a taste of a better lifestyle that she wants to become apart of, and leaves her family behind. While Dee is away at college, she denies the quilts that her mother has offered her saying that “they were old-fashioned, and out of style” because she is still longing to separate herself from her family as much as possible (Walker 413). One of the main things that Dee does to distance herself from her family, and tarnish part of her family’s tradition is the changing of her name Dee Johnson, to Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo, because she feels that it comes from “the people that oppressed me” (Walker 411). This act comes to Mama...
Dee makes it clear, long before she asked for the quilts, that she has already taken her heritage for granted. Dee makes the bold proclamation that she is not longer going by the name Dee, “‘Not Dee,’ Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo!’” (Walker, 3013). Not only has “Wangero” shocked her mother with her new name, but goes to attack those her family history, “I could not longer bear it any longer, being named after the people who oppressed me.” The author make a substantial point by connecting Dee’s new beliefs to disowning her heritage and her ancestors. Despite the rejection of her family’s humbled life, Dee finds a desire in the quilt of her family’s past. Dee’s request for the quilts is far from nostalgic and she has little consideration for her sister when she asks for both antique quilts. Dee is in love with the idea of displaying her family as a display of her superiority over her ancestors and can not understand why her mother would not agree with her.
After all, she was never told no, so in her mind her options for success were endless. Dee grew up being taught the there was no real issue with society, but once she moved away to college, her perspective on the situation changed dramatically. Dee States “I couldn’t bear it any longer being named after the people who oppress me” (Walker, 318). This indicates a sense of remorse towards her family’s heritage and the way she was raised. Furthermore, linking the reason why she changed her name. This action is a rebellion towards her heritage and her family’s morals, as it is taking the very essence of their history and rewriting it to claim ignorance on the fact that this poverty induced lifestyle never happened. Although agreeing with Dee on certain situations, I’ve come to the conclusion that you should not step out of your heritage. This could cause you to lose your path and ultimately isolate you from your family’s history. Agreeing on the aspect of higher education, this puts Dee in a strange position in the story. She is not liked because of her ignorance towards her heritage, yet she has a way about her that is compelling to the audience. In “My Dungeon Shook” it states that “The details and symbols of your life have been deliberately constructed to make you believe what white people say about you” (Baldwin, 2). This statement supports the idea that Dee/Wangero changed her name because of what white people said about blacks and their lifestyle. Though afflicted by change, Dee wants to keep something to remember her heritage; she wants to be a part of the history without participating in the actions and lifestyle of her
So much so, that she had gone home from college to try to get some old family belongings to put on “display” to try to keep the history alive. Unlike Maggie, Dee didn’t care much of the future, she just cared about the past and taking all sentimental family heirlooms. Dee being so caught up in the past, even changes her name to Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo. When Dee first mentions the name change Mama is caught off guard. Mama was confused by this statement and asked, "What happened to ‘Dee’ "(Walker 5). Dee was trying to be polite but she came off extremely blunt by saying "She's dead, I couldn't bear it any longer, being named after the people who oppress me" (Walker 5). Dee’s Name had been passed down from generation to generation, if that doesn’t scream family heritage I don’t know what would. Maggie wasn’t the smartest but she sure knew what she had to do to keep the family tradition going. Maggie was in love and had her whole life ahead of her. Therefore, thinking about the future, she knew having kids one day, would keep the tradition alive. After Mama figured out which child really did value the family heritage, everything started to change for the
Alice Walker used symbolism to convey the importance of heritage in her short story "Everyday Use," by using the sisters' actions, family items, and tradition. Dee does not appreciate her heritage like her sister and mother. She does not see the importance of family traditions. The churn top, the bench with her ancestor's rump prints, the butter dish, and the quilts are all symbols of their heritage. Dee is only interested in the items because they make great decorations. Heritage is very important factor in a person's life. Everyone should learn to appreciate their family history.
In Alice Walker's "Everyday Use," the message about the preservation of heritage, specifically African-American heritage, is very clear. It is obvious that Walker believes that a person's heritage should be a living, dynamic part of the culture from which it arose and not a frozen timepiece only to be observed from a distance. There are two main approaches to heritage preservation depicted by the characters in this story. The narrator, a middle-aged African-American woman, and her youngest daughter Maggie, are in agreement with Walker. To them, their family heritage is everything around them that is involved in their everyday lives and everything that was involved in the lives of their ancestors. To Dee, the narrator's oldest daughter, heritage is the past - something to frame or hang on the wall, a mere artistic, aesthetic reminder of her family history. Walker depicts Dee's view of family heritage as being one of confusion and lack of understanding.
Cultural capitalism is having assets that give an individual social mobility (Szeman & Kaposy 88). Such as, with knowledge and/or education, embody speech and personality and objectified: one’s belongings and/or clothing. Through the rise of the Civil Rights Era, Dee becomes more aware of the culture she came from through her surroundings and begins to “embrace” it. She visits Mama’s house to collect some the ancestral quilts in which she denied before. Dee attempts to get more in touch with her African roots by going as far as changing her name to Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo. When arriving at her mother’s house she shared the news of the name change. When Mama quickly questions her, “what happened to Dee?”, Wangero exclaims, “she is dead” (Walker 924). Wangero (Dee) goes the extra mile to her name to make a statement to those around her and becomes noticeable becomes Afrocentric. Mama explains to Wangero the deep family meaning to her name, Dee she nullifies her mother’s answer and explains to her that the name “Dee” originates from slaves given by white slave owners. In the process of Dee Wangero’s transformation to her “deep roots”, she dating an African American Muslim named Hakim-a-barber. With Dee Wangero changing her name and reclaiming her culture she offends her mother through the process but little does she know she is hurting her