Cultural Heritage
The short story “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker depicts what seems a recurrent theme in her work: the harmony as well as the struggles in African-American culture. In this short story, Walker argues that “an African-American is both African and American and to deny the American side one’s heritage is disrespectful to one’s ancestors and, consequently, harmful to one’s self”. (White) Walker focuses on characterization and symbolism to highlight these aspects of culture and heritage. Cultural heritage is defined as an expression of the ways of living developed by a community and passed on from generation to generation, including customs, practices, places, objects, artistic expressions and values. (What is Cultural Heritage) These ways of living typically help define who a person becomes. In this story, one character strays from the path and begins to blaze a new trail to a culture that is unfamiliar to her.
The beginning of the story is devoted to characterizing Mrs. Johnson, the story’s narrator and Dee and Maggie’s mother. Mrs. Johnson’s story-telling points to a strong relationship between her and her physical surroundings; she waits for Dee “in the yard that Maggie and I made so clean and wavy yesterday”. (Walker 426) Mama’s emphasis on the physical characteristics of the yard and the pleasure it created for her points to the attachment that she and Maggie have to their home and its surroundings. The yard “is not just a yard. It is like an extended living room” (Walker 426) and it exists for her not only as property, but as a sort of expression of herself. Mrs. Johnson describes herself as a “large, big-boned woman with rough, man-working hands” (Walker 427) whose “fat keeps [her] hot in zero weather”. (Walker 427) Mama’s self-description lends credit to her being comfortable with herself and her surroundings. Mrs. Johnson accepts these facts in her life and is at peace with who she is and thus, is also at peace with her culture and...