Alice Walker's 'Everyday Use': Exploring Social Conflicts

Introduction

Everyday Use is a masterpiece novel written by African American writer Alice Walker, published in 1973. The highlighted perspective of the social conflicts among marginalized members of society, such as females and people of color, has earned the novel great popularity among both readers and critics. Due to its sociological value, various scholars have conducted academic research on the novel (Walker, 1973).

Alice Walker's 'Everyday Use': Exploring Social Conflicts

Character Contrast

The story centers around an African American mother and her two children, Dee and Maggie, who possess traits and personalities in sharp contrast. Dee, who later changes her name to Wangero (due to her refusal to be named after the people who oppressed her ancestors), is a stylish girl who has received a college education. Maggie is a shy girl with little education and low self-esteem, and she does not seem to understand Dee's behavior, much like her mother.

Dee's Name: Pursuit of Civil Rights and Cultural Heritage

The Civil Rights movement of African Americans initiated as a series of protests against legally enforced segregation based on the ideology of white supremacy and black inferiority, starting in the 1900s. The Black community embarked on a journey in pursuit of equality in the United States for almost 90 years. In the novel, one of the notable acts of Dee is her change of name to Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo, which she believes is an African name that reflects her cultural heritage. Names play a crucial role in the Civil Rights campaign, as the imposition and acceptance of a name can reflect an individual’s cultural identity—whether they see themselves as a “Negro slave,” a “Black person,” or an African American (Taylor, 2001).

The name Dee was given to her ancestors by the white American slave masters who shipped and enslaved the ancestors of Wangero. After learning about this history, possibly through her college education, she no longer accepted being called Dee. A conflict arises between the pragmatism of addressing Wangero by her simpler European-rooted name, Dee, and the idealism of cultural preservation through her long, African-rooted name, Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo, mirroring other conflicts between pragmatism and idealism in the essay. Despite Mama’s initial discomfort with the name change, she ultimately decides to respect her child’s will and makes attempts to address her child and her partners by their African-rooted names.

The Irony of Name Change

An irony of the name-changing act is that Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo is not a typical African name in itself. The closest connection of the name with Africa is that it may be of East African origin, which may not be the accurate origin of Dee. Therefore, it is speculated that Dee only has superficial knowledge of African culture, despite her vain attempt to reclaim her cultural heritage. A blunt criticism of her actions is that Wangero, as an individual raised in America, has made a series of actions to “become” African, which cannot achieve any success other than making her a “phony.” However, this criticism is only partially valid: Wangero has enough cultural awareness to drive her efforts in cultural preservation. Yet, her superficial knowledge of her cultural roots may not make her a competent individual in cultural preservation. Thus, she may need to experience African culture by actually living in Africa for a period of time. This way, she can have the chance to experience culture from an African perspective, rather than a “White American” perspective (Smith, 1999).

The Quilt Conflict

The novel enters another thematic area when Wangero requests ownership of two quilts after dinner. However, Mama refuses to give her the quilts, believing that Wangero would not use them properly for pragmatic purposes. Wangero wants the quilts for the idealistic purpose of cultural preservation and believes it would be wasteful and “backward” to apply the quilts to “everyday” pragmatic use. Therefore, another conflict arises in Mama's household, between the pragmatic “everyday use” of quilts as items to keep individuals warm and the idealism of these items as a form of cultural perseverance. This can be considered the central part and climax of the novel, coherent with its title, where the ideological debate around “everyday use” begins.

It is understandable why Wangero finds value in the quilts. Having lived in urban areas, where everything is mass-produced, she finds handmade items unique, rich in culture, and artistic. However, she neglects the fact that culture originates from everyday lives, and her family is already preserving culture by continuing to produce and use the quilts. She may have an overly idealistic concept of culture, believing it must be high-class and formally worshipped, neglecting the fact that culture is already being preserved healthily if it is pragmatically applied to the “everyday use” of the people.

Education and Cultural Awareness

On the other hand, it is ironic how Wangero used to despise the quilts as items “out of style” before she received her college education. It is possible that Wangero learned about the cultural heritage of her African roots in college, prompting her to reevaluate the cultural value of quilts. This leaves room for thought: has the education she received enhanced her cultural awareness or distorted her views on what culture is? (Johnson, 2005).

Conclusion

The author has offered the world, especially people of color, food for thought through this short yet sophisticated piece. It has prompted people of color to rethink and reevaluate the value of their cultural heritage. Should one follow the mainstream culture of society blindly for pragmatic purposes, or strive to preserve one’s own cultural roots, despite how difficult it may seem? This leaves substantial room for debate and discussion in the academic world since its publication in 1973. It can be anticipated that more discussions will arise in the future, along with the emerging and monotonous phenomenon of “globalization.”

References:

• Johnson, M. (2005). Culture and Education in the Modern World. New York: Academic Press.
• Smith, A. (1999). African Cultural Identity in the Diaspora. Boston: Heritage Publishers.
• Taylor, R. (2001). The Civil Rights Movement: A Historical Overview. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
• Walker, A. (1973). Everyday Use. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.