African-American Heritage Is a Lengthy,

¶ … African-American heritage is a lengthy, diverse series of experiences that embody the lives and livelihoods of a multitude of families and individuals. In Alice Walker's story "Everyday Use," the conception of the heritage of the family depicted, which involves African-Americans, is reflected in two seemingly opposing views. There is the view of heritage of the oldest daughter, Dee (or Wangero), which is contrasted against the view of heritage of the mother and her youngest daughter, Maggie. Evidence in the story reveals that Dee does not believe her notion of heritage is congruous with the viewpoint of the other two characters. Yet a close analysis of the actions and the dialogue between the characters reveals that although there is some merit in Dee's beliefs, the more meaningful conception of heritage is that which is held by the mother and her daughter.

There are a number of different instances in this short story in which Dee makes it clear that she believes that heritage is something to admire from a distance with reverence, yet which has little practical use. The primary conflict in the story, her desiring a pair of quilts which the mother has promised to Maggie, reinforces this conception. The quilts are valuable to the women in the house because they literally represent their family's heritage -- they were sown together by relatives and incorporate pieces of their clothing. Dee wants the quilts because of what they represent in terms of their historical value and their relationship to her ancestors. She sees it as a symbol of her family's heritage. She therefore would use them as pieces of art, as symbolic representations of her family's past, which the following quotation -- in which she explains to her mother why she wants the quilts and what she would do with them -- makes clear. "Well," I said, stumped. "What would you do with them?" "Hang them," she said. As if that was the only thing you could do with quilts" (Walker).

This quotation demonstrates that Dee believes heritage is somewhat akin to nostalgia -- something that reminds one of the past that is possibly quaint in origin which one should respect, yet not engage with directly. She believes that one can preserve heritage in much the same way that a museum can preserve artifacts (which most people rarely see and never engage with fully). The author illustrates that Dee thinks that simply by revering these quilts and granting them due space among whatever other works of nostalgia she might have that remind her of her family, that she is respecting and understanding her heritage in a way that her mother and her sister are (and will) not.

However, Maggie and her mother view heritage in a much more practical, applicable way than as plaintive reminders of people and eras gone by. They consider heritage as something with which one interacts with daily, which is simply an extension of one's ancestors that plays an important role in their everyday lives. Both Maggie and her mother, who live in the same rural southern environment of the women who made the quilts, Grandma Dee and Big Dee, live lives that are similar to those women than does Dee -- who seemingly only resembles those women in name alone (although she has changed her name to Wangero). It is Maggie and her mother who regularly engage in the same sort of cultures and tradition that Grandma Dee and Big Dee did, which is what the essence of heritage really is. The following quotation, in which the mother reflects on the meaning of the quilts to Maggie's life, proves this point. "It was Grandma Dee and Big Dee who taught her how to quilt herself" (Walker). The her in passage is Maggie. It is highly significant that Maggie learned to carry on the heritage of her ancestors by learning to actually quilt and actively engage in a representation of her heritage. This fact and the preceding quotation proves that Maggie views heritage as an interactive process, unlike the viewpoint of her sister. The fact that Maggie's mother ultimately gives her the quilts alludes to the fact that she shares this belief as well.

The conclusion of this story in which Maggie's mother gives her the valued quilts appears to suggest that the author believes that the more interactive application of heritage, as opposed to the passive reverence of heritage as art, is more valid. Walker does not seem to pose the notion that these two views of heritage are incompatible with one another, however. Instead, she indicates that Dee is simply not able to understand the value in the form of heritage that her mother and sisters represent and practice. The following quotation which ends the story and precedes Dee's departure, alludes to this fact.

"You just don't understand," she said, as Maggie and I came out to the car.

"What don't I understand?" I wanted to know.

"Your heritage," she said, and then she turned to Maggie, kissed her, and said, "You ought to make something of yourself, too, Maggie. It's really a new day for us. But from the way you and Mama still live you'd never know it" (Walker).

The diction in this passage shows that Maggie cannot understand her mother and sister's conception of heritage. She speaks disparagingly of the way that the two "still live" as though she is blissfully unaware that heritage, the transmission and preservation of culture, is ultimately expressed through living. One's cultural heritage is how one chooses to live one's life -- the customs and habits one engages in while doing so. Even if Maggie were to sleep with the valued quilts and wear them out in a matter of years, she would still be engaging with her heritage and using the quilts for their original prupose. Dee is not able to conceive of this reality.