Defining Heritage in Walker's "Everyday Use"
             "Everyday Use" is found in Alice Walker's collection of short stories book,
             In Love and In Trouble, which was published in 1973. Alice Walker has gone through many difficulties in life that influenced her views about herself as well as the views of everything that surrounded her. These difficulties molded her and created the writer that readers enjoy today. Walker's own struggles seem to be reflected within this novel. Not necessarily the same one's as the characters in her book but life experiences that she has encountered along the way. The central theme of the story is the way in which family members of the same, African American family cherished their heritage. Mama's family for instance, struggles to understand their present life's relationship to the traditions of their culture. Using careful descriptions and attitudes, Walker demonstrates factors, which contribute to the values of one's heritage and culture. In "Everyday Use", it is almost as if Alice Walker compels her reader to understand the importance of African American traditions and culture. Using symbolism to provoke her readers to look deeper into the story.
             To many Southerners, home is the place where the family line can be traced from memories and keepsakes. In "Everyday Use", Walker portrays the importance of home through a family of three women in South. This story is told through the eyes of Mama. Self described as "a large, big boned, woman with rough hands"(107). Mama explains the no nonsense; hit you in the face, truth about herself and her daughters. Walker uses Mama to characterize her daughters and herself in an unbiased light through the kind, compassionate, yet honest eyes of a mother. It is a family oriented story based on love and caring but at the same time, insolence and discourtesy. As Mama tells this story she of...