Knowing One's Heritage In Everyday Use By Alice Walker

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"Everyday Use" by Alice Walker Heritage is something a person inherits from one's family. A person's heritage is one's family/ethnic background or past history. Heritage can be a family's past way of life, or something they were known for. Heritage can be what customs or traditions a family followed in the past leading up to the present. One's heritage can be teachings, morals, or objects passed down from an older generation of relatives to the current generations. In the short story "Everyday Use" by Alice Walker, the theme of knowing one's heritage is conveyed through characterization, symbolism and conflict. In "Everyday Use" one of the main characters Dee, mama's oldest daughter, claims to know and understand the family's heritage. In reality, Dee …show more content…

Dee perceives her heritage as a rich African heritage, which can be noted by the bright flashy clothing she wears when visiting Mama and Maggie. Mama describes Dee's dress as "A dress so loud it hurts my eyes" and states that "There are yellows and oranges enough to throw back the light of the sun (Walker 478)." Dee's clothes have nothing to do with her heritage despite what she thinks. Furthermore, Dee treats the family heirlooms like old relics that should be put up for decoration or put in a museum, and fails to see the use in the objects. For example, Dee states "I can use the churn top as a center piece for the alcove table." Instead of putting the churner to practical use Dee wants to use it for show as if putting an artifact on display. Unlike Dee, Maggie is a lot more in touch with her family's true heritage. Maggie may not be as smart as Dee, but she knows more of the heritage passed down to them. Maggie has accepted her heritage, and has been taught a few things from her heritage. Mama has stated "It was Grandma Dee and Big Dee who taught her how to quilt herself (Walker 481)."

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