Daviaun Jones
ENG 1102
Prof. Janet Shanteau
11/1/2016
Heritage in Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use”
A person’s heritage is a great representation of who they are and where they came from. Alice Walker’s short story is a life-like portrayal of symbolism and heritage. Walker’s “Everyday Use” tells the story of a mother and her two daughters, Maggie and Dee living in the 60’s or 70’s. Main character Dee an educated woman, struggles with understanding her family’s true heritage. Viewing her family’s true history as oppressive, Dee, in Alice Walker’s “Everyday use”, creates a more ideal heritage for herself, while refusing her actual heritage.
In the short story, main character Dee believes that her true family history is made up only of oppression. In the beginning of …show more content…
Being the only educated woman in her family, Dee has moved away to attend college in Augusta. When Dee arrives home, her family is greeted by a new persona that represents her African heritage. As Dee is exiting the car the audience is given a description of Dee’s colorful dress. The description suggest that she is wearing traditional African clothes and jewelry. Walker describes the dress by saying “A dress so loud it hurts my eyes”. (79) As Dee approaches her mother and sister she greets them with the traditional Ugandan greeting, “Wa-su-zo-Teano”. To solidify her contemporary beliefs about her heritage, Dee changes her name. She now embraces her newfound African-heritage and sees it as an important part of her. In his literary analysis titled, Destroying To Save: Idealism and Pragmatism in Alice Walker’s “Every Day Use”, Sarnowski writes, “Dee/Wangero, more than any other character in the story, identifies and pursues corrective measures against the oppression of African-American society and culture.”
ENG 1102
Prof. Janet Shanteau
11/1/2016
Heritage in Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use”
A person’s heritage is a great representation of who they are and where they came from. Alice Walker’s short story is a life-like portrayal of symbolism and heritage. Walker’s “Everyday Use” tells the story of a mother and her two daughters, Maggie and Dee living in the 60’s or 70’s. Main character Dee an educated woman, struggles with understanding her family’s true heritage. Viewing her family’s true history as oppressive, Dee, in Alice Walker’s “Everyday use”, creates a more ideal heritage for herself, while refusing her actual heritage.
In the short story, main character Dee believes that her true family history is made up only of oppression. In the beginning of …show more content…
Being the only educated woman in her family, Dee has moved away to attend college in Augusta. When Dee arrives home, her family is greeted by a new persona that represents her African heritage. As Dee is exiting the car the audience is given a description of Dee’s colorful dress. The description suggest that she is wearing traditional African clothes and jewelry. Walker describes the dress by saying “A dress so loud it hurts my eyes”. (79) As Dee approaches her mother and sister she greets them with the traditional Ugandan greeting, “Wa-su-zo-Teano”. To solidify her contemporary beliefs about her heritage, Dee changes her name. She now embraces her newfound African-heritage and sees it as an important part of her. In his literary analysis titled, Destroying To Save: Idealism and Pragmatism in Alice Walker’s “Every Day Use”, Sarnowski writes, “Dee/Wangero, more than any other character in the story, identifies and pursues corrective measures against the oppression of African-American society and culture.”