Heritage and Identity in Alice Walker's Everyday Use
This paper examines the theme of cultural heritage in Alice Walker's short story "Everyday Use," focusing on the contrasting perspectives held by Mama, Dee (Wangero), and Maggie. Drawing on scholars such as David Lowenthal, Blake, and Eunice Ribeiro Durham, as well as empirical research on enculturation and heritage identity, the paper argues that genuine heritage is rooted in lived experience, sentimental memory, and daily practice rather than aesthetic display. It further situates Walker's narrative within broader theoretical discussions about cultural heritage's definition, re-description, and social function, concluding that Maggie and Mama embody a more authentic relationship with their family's cultural legacy than Dee's performative embrace of African identity.
- Introduction: What Heritage Means: Defines heritage and introduces enculturation in immigrant families
- Heritage and Cultural Identity in Everyday Use: Contrasts Mama, Dee, and Maggie's views on heritage
- Cultural Heritage as Symbolic Practice: Frames heritage as symbolic cultural construction and social differentiation
- Competing Definitions of Cultural Heritage: Reviews Lowenthal, Blake, and Samuels on heritage's meaning
- Heritage, Change, and Community Cohesion: Argues heritage promotes community values and social cohesion
- Conclusion: Reflects on heritage's role in shaping family and cultural life
✍️ How to write this paper — guide, tools & examples ▾
What makes this paper effective
- The paper successfully integrates literary analysis with theoretical scholarship, weaving academic sources on cultural heritage (Durham, Lowenthal, Blake, Samuels & Rico) alongside close reading of Walker's text to support its central argument.
- It uses concrete textual examples — the quilts, the butterchurn, and Dee's name change — to ground abstract claims about heritage and identity in specific narrative moments.
- The paper maintains a consistent argumentative thread: that authentic heritage is expressed through daily use and emotional memory rather than display, which mirrors Walker's own thematic intent in the story.
Key academic technique demonstrated
This paper demonstrates the technique of contextualizing a literary text within a broader theoretical framework. Rather than treating Walker's story in isolation, the writer mobilizes scholarly definitions of cultural heritage to evaluate the characters' behaviors, turning a short story analysis into a vehicle for exploring larger sociological and anthropological questions about identity, preservation, and cultural change.
Structure breakdown
The paper opens with a general definition of heritage and the concept of enculturation, then introduces the specific conflict in "Everyday Use." It moves through symbolic and theoretical frameworks for understanding cultural heritage before returning to the text to assess Dee's and Mama's competing claims. The paper closes with broader reflections on heritage's role in community cohesion, giving the argument a wider social dimension beyond the story itself.
Introduction: What Heritage Means
Heritage means different things to different people. By definition, heritage refers to an individual's perception of their unique family identity, including the artifacts, culture, traditions, and values passed down through generations. We all absorb our heritage from childhood through experience and through observation. Even though not everything passed down through generations is positive, heritage is widely considered a positive force — positive in the sense that the elements being transmitted are meaningful, that they identify our families and our cultures, and that we are expected to pass them on in turn.
In many cases, what families hold close to their hearts as heritage is their cultural or ethnic identity. Other families hold values such as religiosity, a strong work ethic, a social way of life, and the pursuit of education as their heritage. For some individuals, a love of certain sports, music, or adventure is part and parcel of what they consider heritage (Zhang, Rui et al. 2).
There is a dual concern about cultural maintenance and cultural change when individuals interact with other cultures. For immigrants, adopting new values and practices common in the society or culture they have settled in is considered cultural change. When a culture does not change, it is referred to as cultural maintenance, and the aspects or elements that are maintained are considered heritage or heritage culture. The passing down of heritage culture in immigrant families within their new society is called enculturation. It usually occurs over many years and decades. Even though a significant number of studies show that many immigrants and their families maintain their culture, there is very little knowledge about how long enculturation continues and how it helps develop a heritage ethnic identity (Zhang, Rui et al. 2).
Works Cited
Durham, Eunice Ribeiro. "Reflections on culture, heritage, and preservation." Vibrant: Virtual Brazilian Anthropology v10n1 (2013): 77–97.
Holtorf, Cornelius. "The changing contribution of cultural heritage to society." Museum International 63.1–2 (2011): 8–16.
Samuels, Kathryn Lafrenz, and Trinidad Rico, eds. Heritage Keywords: Rhetoric and Re-description in Cultural Heritage. University Press of Colorado, 2015.
Walker, Alice. Everyday Use. Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic, 2004.
Zhang, Rui, et al. "Know Your Heritage: Exploring the Effects of Fit in Cultural Knowledge on Chinese Canadians' Heritage Identification." Frontiers in Psychology vol. 9, 2100. 5 Nov. 2018, doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02100.
Create your account
Always verify citation format against your institution’s current style guide requirements.