How "Everyday Use" by Alice Walker reflects the importance of Heritage and Culture
             Alice Walker, the author of Everyday Use was born on February 9, 1944. Her parents were sharecroppers, Willie Lee and Minnie Tallulah Grant Walker. Ms. Walker was one of eight children. When she was a young girl, her brother while playing accidentally shot her in the eye with a BB gun (Danielle par 6). This is one of the similarities to Ms. Walker and the characters in the story Everyday Use. The scar left her somewhat shy and withdrawn in the same fashion the scars from being burnt left Maggie shy and quiet. Ms. Walker and Dee have things in common as well. Dee was the outspoken one of the family and Ms. Walker sent a letter to President Clinton declining an invitation to the White House because she disagrees with his policies on Cuba. (Walker "Letter" par 1). Ms Walker reflects her heritage not in one of the characters but all of them. Mama and Maggie represented her past that had been stifled by the chains of slavery and Dee stood for the revolutions of the future in speaking out for her basic civil rights.
             The story Everyday Use represents Ms. Walker's response to the concept of heritage as reflected in the Black political movements of the 60's. The 60's, the era in which this story is written, is unique in American history in that this was one of the most open and dramatic period of social change in America. Americans were discovering themselves in many aspects of life. This search for social change was seen especially so for black people in their search for racial equality. To understand how this story reflects the culture or traditional way of life in the time it is set in you have to consider what life was actually like for the characters at that time.
             Dee, the educated, outspoken member of the family, reflects in her life the nature of the change of the social structure of her time. Every day Use, begins with an elderl...