Everyday use theme
Everyday use by Alice walker deals with a young woman who is trying to find her place in her heritage. The story begins with Mama and Maggie awaiting the arrival of Dee a college student coming home from college. The change of Dee's attitude toward her heritage ties in with the theme of the story. When Dee left for college she thought that her heritage was old and out of style but, now Dee wants a couple of artifacts of her heritage because it can make her fashionable. She tries to pick and choose the parts of her heritage that she thinks will make her fashionable, such as the quilts and the benches. She believes her heritage will make her fashionable but; her heritage is to be lived. It's not a tool to entertain her friends. Dee doesn't understand the traditions that come along with her heritage. However, Dee tells Mama and Maggie that they don't understand their "heritage" (121) because Maggie is going to put the quilts to "everyday use" (120). The quilts are an important part of Dees heritage because they where created by past members of her family. Heritage isn't something you can decide you want one day and the next day say you don't want it. Dee is being picky about what parts of her heritage she wants. When Dee
The white class oppressed them from the working world. Mama can trace the name all the way back to the civil war. Her name is a family name, but she doesn't want to recognize it. Dee picked a new name "Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo" (118) to exorcise the oppression that her old name Dee is associated with. This ties in with the message of the story. Another great example of Dee's attitude about her heritage is toward the quilts and the other objects that she wants from the house. The whole purpose of them being created was for use. We know she just wants to show her heritage off because she was offered the quilts before she went to college and she said, "they were old fashioned and out of style" (120). Dee's attitude toward her name before she went to college was of acceptance, and after college she thought that the name Dee was associated with oppression. Now that parts of her heritage are in fashion she wants them. If she really wanted to live her heritage she would accept everything that is apart of it. The benches are symbols of oppression because her ancestors couldn't get decent jobs to buy the benches. If she really wanted the things her ancestors had Dee would realize the name is one of the things they had. She only wants the benches to show them off to her friends.
Common topics in this essay:
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ties message story,
dee associated oppression,
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Acceptance Essays
