This essay argues that Alice Walker's short story "Everyday Use" deserves its place in the literary canon because of its timeless exploration of heritage, family, and personal identity. Through an analysis of the three central characters — the ambitious Dee, the humble Maggie, and their pragmatic Mama — the paper examines how Walker uses the symbol of quilts to contrast authentic cultural connection with superficial appropriation of one's roots. Drawing on criticism by Elisabeth Piedmont-Marton and Sam Whitsitt, the essay demonstrates how Dee's desire for self-reinvention alienates her from genuine family bonds, while Maggie's quiet dignity ultimately affirms the true meaning of heritage as something lived rather than displayed.
The paper demonstrates effective use of textual evidence combined with literary criticism. Rather than relying solely on plot summary, the author weaves direct quotations from Walker's text alongside scholarly interpretation to build a layered argument about character motivation and thematic meaning. This approach models how secondary sources can reinforce close reading without replacing it.
The essay opens with a broad thesis establishing the story's canonical value, then devotes individual body paragraphs to heritage, family dynamics, and Walker's literary style before closing with a thematic synthesis. Each body section advances the central argument by examining a distinct dimension of the story, making the organizational logic easy to follow. The conclusion effectively restates the thesis while offering a moral reflection on the story's universal relevance.
Alice Walker's short story "Everyday Use" deserves its place in the literary canon because it does more than tell the story of one family — it tells the story of family and heritage and how these become distorted when individuals allow themselves to be influenced by outside forces that seek to suppress individuality. In "Everyday Use," Dee is admired for leaving her home and seeking an education. However, her education only separates her from what matters in life. As Dee strives to become more connected to her African American roots, she paradoxically loses her identity. She is oblivious to the fact that she has abandoned who she is for who she wants to be. Her sense of self is replaced by a sense of performance. Her mother once had high hopes for Dee, but in a moment of clarity, realizes that her other daughter — the one society might overlook — loves her family more than Dee ever could. This story is about humanity and how it can destroy itself when distracted by worldly ideals. "Everyday Use" is relevant for any generation because it forces us to look at who we really are, despite who we wish we were.
Heritage emerges as an important aspect of this story. Walker puts forth a significant commentary about heritage through the unusual lens of quilts and beauty. Elisabeth Piedmont-Marton observes that "Dee views her heritage as an artifact which she can possess and appreciate from a distance instead of as a process in which she is always intimately involved" (Piedmont-Marton). We learn from Mama that part of one's heritage is the passing on of quilts from one generation to the next. They were not made to be considered "priceless" in the way Dee claims them to be. They are priceless, but not in the sense Dee imagines. To her, they are spectacles — reminders of a past from which she wishes to distance herself.
Whitsitt notes that Dee takes pictures of the family but is never in any of them, suggesting that "Dee wants to make sure that she has a picture of herself not being in the picture. She wants to frame that world, define its borders, give it a wholeness which then allows her to handle it without being a part of it" (Whitsitt). Heritage is a phantom for Dee; she tolerates her heritage only as long as it remains at arm's length. She attempts to tell her mother that she does not understand the meaning of heritage, and she tells Maggie it is "a new day for us. But from the way you and Mama still live you'd never know it" (Walker 1428). Here we see that Dee wants only to cling to the part of her past that lends her character in her college world. She wanted to escape her former life, but she also wants to use it in the city as something she can be proud of having overcome.
Whitsitt further states that "Dee has not returned to fill a place held for her while she was absent. What Dee doesn't want to see . . . is a link between herself and that place she came from. She is not a part of that whole" (Whitsitt). Dee does not want any genuine connection to where she came from. She wants the glory attached to overcoming an oppressive past, but she does not want to get her hands dirty with it now.
"Everyday Use" tells the story of how people can become so distracted by who they want to become that they forget who they are. Walker examines family ties that grow stretched and strained through neglect. Dee secretly despises where she came from, yet also takes pride in having overcome her oppressed beginnings. Her shame stands in stark contrast to Mama and Maggie's quiet contentment with their lives. Heritage, too, is something Dee can celebrate only from a safe distance, as demonstrated by her desire to hang the quilts on the wall rather than use them for their intended purpose.
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