ENG 223 Army University Literature Essay

Topic Proposal/Outline: Develop a provisional thesis and general argumentative direction. Mention at least five direct quotations from your chosen text “The Ethics of Living Jim Crow” 

For paper: Discuss issues of race, class, and gender in Richard Wright’s “The Ethics of Living Jim Crow”—how are these three societal morays framed under Jim Crow laws, and what conflicts arise because of this?

EXAMPLE PAPER:

[student name]

Professor

ENG 223

22 April 2020

A Perspective on Heritage Through Walker’s “Everyday Use”

African American heritage from different perspectives. The symbols give readers the choice to decide for themselves which aspects are “right” or “wrong.” The story describes how two “unsophisticated” characters, Momma and Maggie, interact with a “progressive,” character, Dee, who is conflicted between rejecting her unsophisticated past and embracing her racial history. Walker’s characters, names, and household objects in “Everyday Use” symbolizes the friction between progressive and unsophisticated perspectives on African American heritage, creating a timeless story that is as relevant today as it was on the day of publication.

Walker contrasts between progressive and unsophisticated perspectives on heritage when describing her characters. First, she creates a raw, unsophisticated, somewhat backward representation of African American heritage by describing Momma and Maggie. For example, Momma insults her own intelligence, saying, “Who ever knew a Johnson with a quick tongue?” (Walker 315). Later in the story, Momma thinks to herself, “I never had an education myself” (Walker 316). This gives the hint that Momma does not see the value of putting modern-day education in high priority for the life that she lives. Walker also takes a deeper look inside

Momma’s mindset as she writes, “I was always better at a man’s job,” creating the image of lower-class labor (Walker 316). Walker also uses imagery to describe Maggie: “Have you ever seen a lame animal, sidle up to someone who is ignorant enough to be kind to him?” (Walker 316). These descriptions of these characters symbolize an unsophisticated view of African American heritage.

Walker’s description of Dee is in sharp contrast to that of Momma and Maggie. To quote David Cowart in his article, “Heritage and Deracination in Walker’s ‘Everyday Use,’ Wangero has realized the dream of the oppressed: she has escaped the ghetto” (Cowart 172). Dee looks and acts in a way to show that she has progressed beyond the unsophisticated ways of her mother. Walker provides us with a more classy image as she describes Dee: “Her feet were always neat-looking, as if God himself had shaped them with a certain style” (Walker 317). Walker also describes Dee’s skin tone, saying “Dee is lighter than Maggie,” associating lighter skin with more sophistication (Walker 316). Dee’s choice of attire also creates the contrast: “A dress down to the ground… Earrings too, gold and hanging down to her shoulders. Bracelets dangling and making noises” (Walker 317). This image helps create the distinction between the characters, as Dee is more flashy and sophisticated than Momma. Walker also describes a sense of underlying friction that exists between them as Momma tells how Dee, “burnt us with a lot of knowledge we didn’t necessarily need to know” (Walker 316). This is the first big clue Walker gives to the reader that there is not only a different perspective on heritage, but that it also has some existing tension attached to it.

Walker uses naming of her characters to further symbolize just how deep this friction between progressive and unsophisticated goes, with Dee’s initial greeting to Momma and Maggie, “Wa-sa-zo-Tean-o” (Walker 317). This moment represents the progressive side of heritage announcing its arrival to the unsophisticated side. Once the conversation starts between Momma and Dee, there is a correction made that lets the reader know just how determined Dee is to prove her progressive point using her new name: “Not ‘Dee,’ Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo” (Walker 318). This sharp correction on Dee’s part is also followed up with a sharp explanation: “I couldn’t bear it any longer being named after the people who oppress me” (Walker 318). The new name represents Dee’s attempt to connect with her African past, and disconnect from her lower class slave heritage. Momma, representing the unsophisticated side, fires back, “You know as well as I do you was named after your aunt Dicie,” showing that the name “Dee” is also still a part of her heritage (Walker 318).

Dee’s interest in Momma’s household objects also symbolizes the tension between unsophisticated and progressive, through the difference between Dee and Momma’s treatment towards them. As they sit down to eat collards and pork, Dee has an epiphany about the benches, saying “I never knew how lovely these benches are. You can feel the rump prints” (Walker 319). Walker is showing that Dee now appreciates things she did not really think about before, that have been used in the family for a long period of time. Another example of this appreciation comes with the churn top: “this churn top is what I need… Didn’t uncle Buddy whittle it out of a tree you all used to have?” (Walker 319). She follows with a demand: “And I want the dasher too” (Walker 319). In this passage, Walker reveals Dee’s longing for some part of the unsophisticated side of her heritage.

This theme continues with the quilts symbolizing heritage in the following passage: “Out came Wangero with two quilts. They had been pieced together by Grandma Dee and then Big Dee and me” (Walker 320). Dee asks Momma if she could have the quilts because they had been stitched by hand by her previous family generations. Unfortunately for Dee, Momma has other plans for them, creating controversy between their two perspectives. Momma says to Dee, “I promised to give them quilts to Maggie” (Walker 320). Walker then uses Maggie’s character to explain the ways the different characters view heritage in the quilts, when Maggie says, “She can have them, Momma, I can remember Grandma Dee without the quilts” (Walker 321). Maggie does not need these objects to remember her heritage. However, Dee feels the need to hang them on the wall to be admired and remembered, and to show how far she has progressed in modern American society. In Momma’s more unsophisticated perspective, she wants to use the quilts for everyday use, by giving them to Maggie as she starts her life with her husband, even if this will eventually destroy them. This climactic event leaves the reader reflecting on which perspective is more “right” or “wrong” in terms of how to respect one’s heritage.

Although Walker offers two different perspectives on heritage, the common theme between them is that both perspectives want to respect the heritage that they come from. Heritage is an important aspect of life. It forms the foundation of our individual identity. It also helps us understand ourselves, encouraging us to understand others with different heritages. Dee makes the statement to Momma, “You just don’t understand” (Walker 321). Momma asks, “What don’t I understand” (Walker 321). Dee replies, “Your heritage” (Walker 321). Momma and Maggie’s definition of respecting their heritage comes in the form of the life that they live and how they want to use the household items that have been in their family for generations. Dee’s definition of respecting her heritage is personal progression through getting an education, sophisticated dress, and changing her name, while still celebrating her family items by having a special place for them. In her mind, she is respecting her heritage by making something of herself in modern American society, and relays this message to Maggie in the following passage: “You ought to try to make something of yourself, too, Maggie. It’s really a new day for us” (Walker 321).

I believe Dee to be “more right” in this story. There is an argument that Dee is being shallow and a phony to her heritage by turning her back on Momma’s more unsophisticated perspective. However, as Sam Whitsitt notes in his article, “In Spite of It All: A Reading of Alice Walker’s ‘Everyday Use,’” “But this turning away does not eclipse or erase a link to what one leaves behind” (Whitsitt 443). Dee has somewhat turned her back on this unsophisticated mindset, but she still revisits it and wants to hold on to part of it as she continues to progress in modern society. She even wants to help her sister progress with her. If it were not for progressive mindsets like Dee’s, her heritage would be completely lost over the course of time. That is why in this case, the means justifies the ends. 

Works Cited

Cowart, David. “Heritage and Deracination in Walker’s” Everyday Use”.” Studies in Short Fiction 33.2 (1996): 171-184.

Walker, Alice. “Everyday Use.” In love & trouble: stories of black women. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1973.

Whitsitt, Sam. “In spite of it all: a reading of Alice Walker’s” everyday use”.” African American Review 34.3 (2000): 443-459.