Themes And Symbolism In Alice Walker's 'Everyday Use'

Everybody has heritage which often times brings most people together. Some people are more fortunate than others in the fact that they are able to know about their immediate and extended heritage. It is what makes Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use,” particularly interesting and thought provoking. In “Everyday Use,” it can be seen that heritage is not only a unifying force, but also a force that can tear two people apart if they view it differently. In “Everyday Use,” there is a lot of symbolism that ultimately points to the overlying theme, one of symbols is the quilt. Mama and her daughter, Dee, have a fight over who should get the quilt Dee or Maggie. The quilt was made by Grandma Dee, Big Dee, and Mama on the front porch. The quilt is symbolic

They immediately see sentimental value in most of their household heirlooms. When Dee infers that their Uncle Bob made a dasher Maggie answered, “Aunt Dee’s first husband whittled the dash… His name was Henry, but they called him Stash,” (Walker 466). Mama and Maggie do not look at their extended heritage or even truly understand their extended family heritage, and Dee understands that. Dee tells Maggie that she should try to become something because it is a new time, but Maggie and Mama would never understand because they only look at their immediate heritage. Mama and Maggie stayed cooped up in their little house and never really gave a thought to their nationality, which is all Dee ever thought

When Dee first arrives home from college in Augusta, Georgia she steps out of the car with, “A dress so loud it hurts my eyes… Earrings gold, too, and hanging down to her shoulders. Bracelets dangling and making noises when she moves her arms up to shake the folds of the dress out of her armpits,” (Walker 463). The loud dress and the gold jewelry shows that Dee was embracing her extended heritage. This was very popular with the Malcom X movement Back to Africa. Dee even went so far as to change her name to “Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo,” because she, “couldn’t bear it any longer being named after the people who oppress me,” (Walker 464). For Dee to change the name that was given to her shows that she is truly ashamed of her immediate heritage. She shows that she not only struggles with the external conflict with Mama, but Dee also struggle with an internal conflict. She has a relationship with a Muslim named Asalamalakim who is also part of the Back to Africa movement. While Dee and Asalamalakim are visiting Dee’s family he and Dee eat dinner with Mama and Maggie. Asalamalakim is fully devoted to his religion and culture by not eating anything because he didn’t like collards and refused to eat pork because his religion teaches that pork is unclean. Dee, on the other hand, took part of the dinner and all the components in the meal. She was embracing her immediate heritage, yet the