One of the impressive qualities of literature is its ability to excite imagination of readers with the help of textual medium by vivid depiction of events and by finding a way to make readers feel with the characters of the books and stories as if reliving their experiences. In this regard, in contrast to full-fledged novels that allow for a prolonged development of its personages, the genre of short stories seems to be quite constrained in its space to be able to slowly develop its plot. However, as can be seen by the example of the short story “Everyday Use” written by Alice Malsenior Walker a compelling and emotionally exciting narration can be presented even within limits of just few pages. For this to be possible, the author in her story employed several powerful literary techniques resting upon concepts of setting, symbolism, and irony, which are important for any piece of literature. In the particular case of Walker`s short story, this set of literary tools is combined to provide an examination of the role of family and women in society. In fact, Walker typically emphasizes in her works struggles of African American women who are shown in their opposition to racism and sexism, often in their violent manifestations, that are still present in the modern world. At the same time, she also often traces in her writings roles that women of color have played in history and culture (White 2005, pp.455-464). In this light, it would be even more interesting to take a closer look at how the ever urgent theme of the role of family and women in society is covered by the writer and the feminist activist Walker in this short story.
First of all, the plot of the story should be overviewed in order to understand what story line, setting, and characterization of the protagonists the author chose as the means to present and develop her ideas. The events in “Everyday Use” take place in the end of the sixties or the beginning of the seventies between members of an African-American family consisting of mother and her two daughters. In this regard, it is important to remember that this period of time was marked by widespread social debates about the need for African-Americans to redefine their personal and cultural identities. It was at that time that old terminology was being replaced by politically correct words, such as the substitution of the term `Negro` with `black`, and, correspondingly, new notions like `black nationalism` emerged. At that time many African-Americans rushed to find out about their African origin and cling to it instead of being defined solely by their past life in America that was rife with episodes of injustice and suffering (Van Deburg 1993). So, an attentive reader should from the very beginning of the story keep in mind the atmosphere that dominated in the American society during the time to which the narrative refers. The story itself is basically the account of an episode of life of the mentioned family which depicts the difficult and even strained relationship between a mother and children. The mother, named Mrs. Johnson, is living with one of her daughters Maggie, and is accepting her other daughter Dee in her house as already a guest along with her boyfriend or husband Hakim-a-barber. As Dee spends time with them, readers witness the open opposition between two sisters, and a latent opposition between Mrs. Johnson and Dee, which in the end breaks into Mrs. Johnson`s protective support of Maggie. More specifically, as the stumbling block serves the bold striving of Dee to take away with her some family artifacts that are very dear for both Mrs. Johnson and Maggie. For example, she plans to use the butter churn`s lid as a centerpiece of her table. But the most controversial is the wish of Dee to own two quilts that “had been pieced by Grandma Dee and then Big Dee and [mother] had hung them on the quilt frames on the front porch and quilted them” (Walker, 1973). Dee proclaims that she would be better able to preserve these quilts by hanging them on the wall in contrast to Maggie who, according to her sister, is “backward enough to put them to everyday use” (Walker, 1973). In the end, Mrs. Johnson forcefully forbids Dee to take quilts after which her exacting daughter leaves. This is the setting in frames of which the author presents and develops her ideas.
Now, this apparently simple narrative contains in it numerous symbolic elements that turn this story into a powerful allegory that pertains to the issues connected with the role of family and women in society as Walker explores the notion and social function of cultural and historical heritage, in this particular case on the example of African-Americans. Mrs. Johnson, who is referred to in the story as Mama, characterizes herself in the beginning as “a large . . . woman with . . . man-working hands . . . [who] . . . can kill and clean a hog as mercilessly as a man” (Walker, 1973). This self-portrait and Mama`s allusion to her second grade education produce an impression that Mrs. Johnson is proud of her practical approach to life, and that such lofty notions as heritage and the role of family might be distant for her. But as can be judged from her emotional excitement from the fact that even a simple piece of kitchen utensils is capable of serving as a symbolic connection between times, this woman is capable of appreciating the true meaning of heritage. For example, she notices that: “. . . hands pushing the dasher up and down to make butter had left a kind of sink in the wood . . . It was a beautiful light yellow wood, from a tree that grew in the yard where Big Dee and Stash had lived” (Walker, 1973). From this sentimental digression of Mrs. Johnson a metaphorical image is born that a person toughing the dasher handle is symbolically getting in tough with all the other hands that had held it before, and for Mama these other people are her loved ones. These thoughts of Mama follow the act of wrapping the dasher by Dee, which symbolizes that the vision of the dasher that means so much for Mrs. Johnson may never be adopted by her daughter, so that one of the artifacts that embodies the connection between women in the history of their family may be virtually lost. As is seen from the course of the story, the initially mentioned qualities of Mama such as a practical approach to life and the lack of education do not deprive her of a deep understanding of the value of heritage as of the combination of respect and love for one`s ancestry.
This ability of Mama to see in material things live pieces of family history becomes especially vividly seen when Dee finds two quilts made from old clothes and requires that Mrs. Johnson lets her own them. However, this request puts Mama into a dilemma as she does not want to give these precious quilts to Dee, and, moreover, as she had promised to present these quits to Maggie as a wedding gift. Now, it is necessary to give a more detailed account of the personalities of both daughters of Mrs. Johnson as they represent an important part of the symbolical meaning of the story. Mama describes Maggie as “. . . a lame animal . . . That is the way my Maggie walks. . . chin on chest, eyes on ground, feet in shuffle . . .” (Walker 1973). In addition, along with her humiliated stance, Maggie’s scars may be construed as standing for harm inflicted upon African-Americans by slavery, and it is not surprising that throughout the story Maggie tries to silently stay in the corner. This characterization of Maggie by the author suggests that this girl symbolizes the harsh part of the American history of African-American women, and the fact that pretentious Dee mostly avoids speaking to Maggie can be seen as her attempt to deny this part of the history which is equally important for this family as well. In her turn, Maggie is acutely aware of her heritage and family history as she knows such details as who whittled the dash, and what were various names of that man. Ironically, Maggie`s apparent right to own things that are almost alive for her is disputed by ignorant Dee who neither knows the history of her family, nor yet imagines what to do with the dasher that she wants to take away. In the end of the story, readers learn what it is that helps Maggie be the way she is as she permits her sister to take quilts by saying “I can ‘member Grandma Dee without the quilts” (Walker 1973). And it is in relation to quilts that the key phrase is uttered by Dee about Maggie as she accuses her in devaluation of quilts by putting them to everyday use, which for Maggie on the contrary is the only way to keep family history close to everyday life. So, one can already guess that in contrast to Maggie Dee professes the idea of heritage only superficially. Her view of the history of her family is reduced to her whim to change the name, the initiative initially supported but finally discontinued by Mama as by the story`s end she again calls Dee as Dee, to her choice of dress, and to her attempts to substitute real feelings for material objects decorating interior (Cowart 1996). Still, Mrs. Johnson positively refers to Dee as to a beautiful, bright, and self-centered girl, even though she can hardly support Dee`s behavior. In this way, Mama is as if caught between worlds of both of her daughters, and the attractive qualities that she sees in Dee are like the attraction that black movements, with their rejection of the unpleasant aspects of the past and alleged adoption, even though only a shallow one, of elements of African culture, had on people in the sixties. In this manner, the personal qualities of Dee also make her a symbol of such movements (Cowart 1996). But as during the visit Dee is always talking, takes pictures, eats the food cooked by Mama, and then picks the churn top, the dasher, and the quilts, the author ironically hints that despite dropping her American name Dee still clings to the consumer culture prevalent in America. Even her boyfriend shares the same superficial attitudes as he claims to support the black Muslims, but in contrast to them does not want to get involved in farming. Readers can also find no signs of affection between Dee and her boyfriend, and one might suspect that their relationship is also a pretension. All in all, Dee is ignorant of her African heritage as much as she is ignorant of her American roots, and therefore contrasts so much with Maggie. At the same time, she feels superior to her mother and sister. It is clear that it is the difference in ascription of the significance to material things and to the notion of family heritage that divides Mama and Dee.
On ground of this, when perceiving her daughters as heiresses of the family heritage Mama, despite the sympathy that she has to Dee, realizes that the demand of her daughter to take quilts is only grounded in her wish to bolster her social status by putting quilts on the wall, while for Mrs. Johnson and Maggie they are full of a special meaning, akin, and even more so, to the dasher. Besides, the author of the story herself mentions quilts in many of her works (Walker 1982, 1985). For Walker quilts are a metaphorical sign of a connection between women, who by making them actually create the bridge between people and times. So, quilts in “Everyday Use” have exactly this function of uniting women of several generations of Johnson`s family, and of representing past experiences whatever difficult and troubled they were. Thus, the conflict over the quilts is central not only to the plot, but as well to the theme of the short story. With its help the author advances the case that African-Americans must not ignore the unpleasant parts of their history, and the difficult position of Mama who mediates between two opposing views towards this heritage proves that this is not always an easy thing to do. Indeed, Mrs. Johnson`s confused attitude to Dee is seen from the beginning of the story as she on one hand is proud of her daughter success and personal traits, but on the other hand cannot conform to her egoism. After she finally stops calling her daughter Wangero, Mama comes close to her principal choice to support Maggie, of whom she had even been somewhat ashamed before, but who proves that she has a great amount of endurance and strength as she had survived a fire, but still retains such a dear attitude to the past. When Maggie voices her consent to let Dee take quilts, Mama apparently begins to perceive Maggie as a live embodiment of their family heritage, and sees in this girl other women of their family whose names Dee refuses to bear. And at this instant, when Mama “looked at her hard” (Walker 1973), scars of Maggie turn into something she has to be proud of, and something definitely testifying about Maggie`s right to inherit the quilts.
With all this said, it is hardly a coincidence that the main characters of the short story by Alice Walker are women. And it is not only because this narrative explores the issues of heritage in relation to the institute of family in which women traditionally play the role of keepers of the home. In fact, the main idea of the story “Everyday Use” can be thought of as pertaining to the honoring of numerous, even though often anonymous, women who have managed to create something functional and beautiful like quilts and other utensils, to make them part of everyday life, and to endow them with ability to maintain the continuity within families and the unity between generations. However, even women themselves are not immune from the influence of modern developments that may tend to undermine many things that for a long time seemed to be natural, such as a need to feel connection with one`s ancestry not in museums but in everyday life. In this regard, one can view the story by Walker as a psychological investigation of difficulties that a woman may face in modern society as Mama and her two daughters may be perceived by readers as a single person who has an internal conflict that she wants to resolve, but the community in which she is placed does not easily allow for reconciliation. This woman may be struggling to find a compromise between her natural propensity to protect the family hearth and her wish to follow trends of emancipation, feminization, rethinking of cultural belonging, and other numerous slogans that contemporary society promotes. And while change is often good, Walker shows that it can as well be harmful, when a person rejects something without understanding of what she or he wants to become. From this point of view, all three women in the story are artists – Mrs. Johnson is the narrator who creates her own meaningful story, Maggie is the maker of quilts that represent art that has to be put to “everyday use”, and Dee embodies one of the notions about modern artists who aim for self-creation (Cowart 1996). So, the narrative by Alice Walker is to a large degree a reflection on what it takes to be a modern woman, and for sure for the author this theme was very important personally.
It can be concluded that in the short story “Everyday Use” an examination of the role of family and women in society constitutes the central theme. Alice Walker highlights the role of family as an institute that preserves individual and cultural heritage, and by accentuating female characters in her story demonstrates the importance that women have as artists in the general sense of that word as through their memory and unique creativity women can recreate and maintain the history alive. And even though one could view the enclosure of writer`s deep-felt personal experiences into the textual form of a short story as an ironic removal of this written artifact from “everyday use”, whether it will be so largely depends on the number of insensitive readers, that hopefully will be close to zero.
References:
Cowart, David. “Heritage and deracination in Walker’s “Everyday Use”, 1996. 08 August,
2006 http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2455/is_n2_v33/ai_20831941
Van Deburg, William L. “New Day in Babylon: The Black Power Movement and American
Culture, 1965-1975 ”. University Of Chicago Press, 1993.
Walker, Alice. “Everyday Use”, 1973. 07 August, 2006 http://www.bownet.org/jmcdermott/
everyday_use__by_alice_walker.htm
Walker, Alice. “The Color Purple”. San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1982.
Walker, Alice. “In Search of our Mother’s Gardens”. In The Norton Anthology “Literature
by Women”. New York: W.W. Norton, 1985, pp. 2315-2316.
White, Evelyn C. “ Alice Walker: A Life ”. New York: W. W. Norton, 2005.
