every day use
“Everyday Use” by Alice Walker
Introduction
“Everyday Use” is a short story written by Alice Walker and was published in 1973 as a part of her short story collection, “In Love and Trouble”. Alice walker, in her story, teaches readers the lesson on true inheritance; what actually it is and who can receive the heritage. This paper analyzes the theme of heritage around which the characters, symbol and settings of the story revolves, along with the brief summary and central idea of the story.
Summary
This is the story of a mother and her two daughters who belong to a poor black family. The mother worked hard all her life to provide living to her daughters (Walker, pp. 315). Dee, the younger daughter always hated the background where she came from. She is presented as a smart (Walker, pp. 315) and educated girl who wanted to move of the poverty. She found her ways to a different social class when she went away to another college. She also changed her name to “Wango” as her name Dee reminds her of her heritage (Walker, pp. 318). On the hand, mother and another daughter, Maggie who was an introvert and shy girl (Walker, pp. 316), were proud of the heritage they had from their ancestors and a quilt is presented as a heritage symbol in the story.
Central idea
The central idea of the story is how individuals see heritage with two varying notions. It is about the conflicts between views of heritage and conflicts. In the story Mother and Maggie observed culture as practical part of their lives while Dee’s view is based upon a sophisticated and en external idea.
Theme
The central theme of the story is cultural heritage which the mother and daughters has got from their ancestors and how each member of the family has conflicting views regarding it.
Symbolism
The theme of the story is shown in the symbolism used in it. Quilts are the major symbols and they are presented as something which ties a family. For Dee, the quilts are only something which
Introduction
“Everyday Use” is a short story written by Alice Walker and was published in 1973 as a part of her short story collection, “In Love and Trouble”. Alice walker, in her story, teaches readers the lesson on true inheritance; what actually it is and who can receive the heritage. This paper analyzes the theme of heritage around which the characters, symbol and settings of the story revolves, along with the brief summary and central idea of the story.
Summary
This is the story of a mother and her two daughters who belong to a poor black family. The mother worked hard all her life to provide living to her daughters (Walker, pp. 315). Dee, the younger daughter always hated the background where she came from. She is presented as a smart (Walker, pp. 315) and educated girl who wanted to move of the poverty. She found her ways to a different social class when she went away to another college. She also changed her name to “Wango” as her name Dee reminds her of her heritage (Walker, pp. 318). On the hand, mother and another daughter, Maggie who was an introvert and shy girl (Walker, pp. 316), were proud of the heritage they had from their ancestors and a quilt is presented as a heritage symbol in the story.
Central idea
The central idea of the story is how individuals see heritage with two varying notions. It is about the conflicts between views of heritage and conflicts. In the story Mother and Maggie observed culture as practical part of their lives while Dee’s view is based upon a sophisticated and en external idea.
Theme
The central theme of the story is cultural heritage which the mother and daughters has got from their ancestors and how each member of the family has conflicting views regarding it.
Symbolism
The theme of the story is shown in the symbolism used in it. Quilts are the major symbols and they are presented as something which ties a family. For Dee, the quilts are only something which
Cited: Walker, A. Everyday Use. Rutgers University Press (1973), pp. 314-321. Available from http://faculty.weber.edu/jyoung/English%206710/Everyday%20Use.pdf. Date Accessed February 03, 2013.