Cultural Impacts in Everyday Use
The objective of this study is to examine the work of Alice Walker entitled "Everyday Use" and the how culture impacts values and material objects and the manner in which culture in reality impacts people and their lifestyle.
The work of Alice Walker entitled "Everyday Use" examines the connotations of culture on material objects. The story involves a woman named Dee who is disgusted with what she sees as a historical oppression in her own family. For this reason, Dee rejects her own cultural heritage and creates what she sees as a new cultural heritage in her own life. In her story it is reported that Alice Walker "takes up what is a recurrent theme in her work: the representation of the harmony as well as the conflicts and struggles within African-American culture." (Lone Star College System, 2014, p. 1) Her work, "Everyday Use" focuses on the encounter between members of the Johnson family, a rural African-American family. Dee is the only member of this family that is in receipt of a formal education. Dee and her male companion are reported to "return to visit Dee's mother and younger sister Maggie' in what is reported to be "essentially an encounter between two different interpretations of, or approaches to, African-American culture." (Lone Star College System, 2014, p. 1) It is reported that Walker, "employs characterization and symbolism to highlight the difference between these interpretations and ultimately to uphold one of them, showing that culture and heritage are parts of daily life." (Lone Star College System, 2014, p. 1)
I. The Story
The story begins with Mrs. Johnson's narrative which explains how Dee views her. Mrs. Johnson states that she is a heavy woman who wears overalls during the day and who sleeps in flannels at night. Mrs. Johnson is a woman who can handle her own as she relates that she can kill hogs just as good as any man and that she is hearty and strong and just as capable as any man. Mrs. Johnson obviously has looked life straight in the eye and come forth to handle whatever life throws at her. However, Mrs. Johnson relates that she never looks the 'white man' straight in the eye and always has her foot raised to run from him. Her daughter Dee, on the other hand, always looks everyone straight in the eye and has no fear of anyone. The language of Mrs. Johnson is reported to denote a "certain relationship between herself and her physical surroundings: she waits for Dee "in the yard that Maggie and I made so clean and wavy'. (Lone Star College System, 2014, p. 1) It is stated that Mrs. Johnson, in her emphasis on "the physical characteristics of the yard, the pleasure in it manifested by the word 'so,'" points to the attachment that she and Maggie have to their home and to the everyday practice of their lives. The yard, in fact, is "not just a yard. It is like an extended living room" which confirms that "it exists for her not only as an object of property, but also as the place of her life, as a sort of expression of herself." (Lone Star College System, 2014, p. 1) It is also reported that Mrs. Johnson's description of herself "likewise shows a familiarity and comfort with her surroundings and with herself: she is 'a large, big-boned woman with rough, man-working hands' -- in other words, she knows the reality of her body and accepts it, even finding comfort (both physical and psychological) in the way that her 'fat keeps [her] hot in zero weather'." (Lone Star College System, 2014, p. 1) This emphasizes the fact that Mrs. Johnson is very much 'at home' with herself and fully accepts who she in reality is. Seeming to be implied by Walker "where she stands in relation to her culture:" (Lone Star College System, 2014, p. 1)
II. Mrs. Johnson's Daughter Maggie
Mrs. Johnson's other daughter, Maggie is described as "rather unattractive and shy: the scars she bears on her body have likewise scarred her soul, and, as a result, she is retiring, even frightened. Mrs. Johnson admits, in a loving manner, that 'like good looks and money, quickness passed her by'." (Lone Star College System, 2014, p. 1) Mrs. Johnson additionally relates that Maggie "stumbles" as she reads, but clearly Mrs. Johnson thinks of her as a sweet person, a daughter with whom she can sing songs at church. Most importantly, however, Maggie...
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