LITERATURE I: SAMPLE PARAGRAPH PROVING ONE POINT ABOUT ALICE WALKER’S “EVERYDAY USE”

Ironically, Dee doesn’t really understand her heritage. This misunderstanding can be seen in how she views her mother’s material possessions. In fact, Walker seems to suggest that Dee sees these possessions as trophies, not as functional items in her mother’s life. We see this failure on Dee’s part, particularly, in the scene at the table (paragraph 46). Dee states, “I never knew how lovely these benches are. You can feel the rump prints.” Also, she demands to have the churn top and the dasher, seemingly without recognizing that the butter churn still has milk in it. Later, after dinner, Dee starts “rifling” through “the trunk at the foot of [her mama’s] bed.” Even this action of “rifling” suggests a careless and inconsiderate attitude on Dee’s part toward her mother’s possessions. For Dee, these possessions hold value because she sees them as “fashionable” representations of her heritage when, for her mother and Maggie, they are still “functional” parts of their lives, of a heritage that hasn’t been relegated to the level of “art,” or trophy.