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Alice Walker Heritage

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Alice Walker's "Everday Use" is a short story that characterizes the symbolism of heritage, and separates the difference between what heritage means, and what it is portrayed as. As the family's oldest daughter, Dee, moves out of town to further her education, she comes back a different person, idolizing an African culture that predates her family history. Maggie and Mama see heritage to be a part of everyday life, yet Dee believes it to be a form of art.
Even when Dee was young she always imagined leaving the farm, and doing something more with her life. She was gifted with style, wits, and the determination to get out. Her character is strong, independent, and never afraid. As she finally receives her wish of getting out, she goes to college, only to come back feeling superior to her family. Rather than wanting to be a part of her heritage, Dee created a new "look" for what she believed her heritage to be. Upon Dee's arrival, she informed Mama of her …show more content…
She was severely burned in the house the family previously lived in, that had caught on fire, therefore her entire body was made up of scars. In the story, Walker states "Maggie will be nervous until after her sister goes: she will stand hopelessly in corners homely and ashamed of the burn scars down her arms and legs." Maggie had always believed that her sister was favored more than she was. When Dee asked Mama for the quilts, Maggie told Mama to just give them to her, because she had never seen Mama tell Dee no. As they were arguing over the quilts, Mama noticed Maggie getting anxious. Then, Mama felt the "same feeling she feels in church" and moved towards Maggie, hugging her. Mama moved Maggie to the room, and Maggie watched Mama jerk the quilts from Dee, telling her that she needed to pick something else. Maggie was astonished by these actions, but at the end of the story, Maggie smiles a real smile, for the first time in a long

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