"Everyday Use": Understanding heritage
With the short story, "Everyday Use", Alice Walker shows two very different concepts of remembering heritage. She does this by using the two daughters in the story as foils. They are extremely different characters in just about every way imaginable, from their appearance to the way that they behave, and they each have very opposing ways in which they celebrate their heritage. This story shows how a mother rejects her older and seemingly successful daughters surface values and comes to agree with her younger daughters more practical view of her heritage. Walker is also able to give us this view of conflict between the sisters by telling the story through the mother's perspective. This way we are able to look at the two daughters and their faults through the eyes of the loving mother. Being able to show the two daughters in a non-judgmental way allows us to see that although Dee is confused with her opinions, she is not completely wrong and she does mean well. This story tells us that these quilts are a very valid art form that should be honored and respected in that matter, but also that they also should not just be put up on a shelf to be admired from a distance, but kept close and continued on with tradition and remembrance i
This concept of remembering heritage centers on quilts that were made by their grandmother. Each daughter has two very different ideas on how these quilts should be treated. Walker has a very distinct viewpoint on objects of this nature. Alice Walker tells us with this story that we need to keep our family ties close to us. She also tells us that we need to carry on the traditions that have been passed down through the generations of our families. She believes that an African-American woman's everyday work should be viewed and respected as a valued art form, yet it must be kept close to the heart and to the family that it came from. Not kept at a distance as the character Dee would have done. Although through this story she is speaking to African-American women, I believe that this ideal is something that is important to everyone and something that we all could learn from. But she also believes that you need to have a close relationship to your family's history and not separate yourself from it the way that the character Dee does. Dee believes that the quilts should be hung up on a wall to be looked at and admired but not dealt with on a personal level. Dee's character seems to send out conflicting messages throughout the story, for and against the history of her family.While Dee believes that she is becoming closer to her ancestors by changing her name, she is actually rejecting the name of the people that are directly related to her. Her mother gave this name to her, and she was named
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1014
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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