Lost Heritage in Alice Walker's "Everyday Use"

By contrasting the family characters in 'Everyday Use,' Walker illustrates the mistake by some of placing the significance of heritage solely in material objects. Walker presents Mama and Maggie, the younger daughter, as an example that heritage in both knowledge and form passes from one generation to another through a learning and experience connection. However, by a broken connection, Dee, the older daughter, represents a misconception of heritage as material. During Dee's visit to …

…not the knowledge and history behind the items. Yet, Mama does know the knowledge and history and knows that Maggie does too. Ironically, Dee criticizes Mama for not understanding heritage when, in fact, Dee fails to really understand heritage. Dee mistakenly places heritage wholly in what she owns, not what she knows. Works Cited Walker, Alice. 'Everyday Use.' Literature: Reading, Reacting, Writing. Ed. Laurie G. Kirszner and Stephen R. Mandell. Fort Worth: Harcourt, 1994. 288-295.