Heritage in Everyday Use: Maggie vs Wangero - Essay Sample

Introduction

Alice Walker uses traditional heritage as the central theme in her novel Everyday Use. From the book, the characters Maggie and Wangero's have contrasting views about their heritage. Wangero's idea of heritage is that it is something from the past, which is conserved by hanging it on the wall or doing something artistic with it. The idea contrast Maggie's view on heritage in that she views culture as something to be used today and can be honored by keeping it as part of our lives. Maggie knows how to quilt, a skill she learned while staying with her family. Secondly, for Maggie, who understands her African heritage very well, views the family objects as items that are infused within the presence of the persons who made and used them in their daily lives. On the flip side, Wangero, who is angered by the history of oppression her family endured, she decides to change her name in order to neglect her heritage. The contrast is that she fails to understand the family legacy by abandoning her real name and taking up a new name, which she believes symbolizes her African heritage.

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Fundamentally, Wangero believes that both her mama and Maggie do not understand their cultural heritage. Instead, she wears new clothes and jewelry to make a senseless statement. Furthermore, the wearing of clothes together with jewelry only displays her little understanding of her culture. It is ironic for Wangero to believe that Maggie does not understand her heritage while, in the end, it is she who does not appreciate their heritage.

Typically, Wangero has set her understanding of their culture, thereby rejecting her real African heritage. In contrast, Maggie has kept her own identity to associate herself deeply with the traditional folk heritage through quilting. The author uses Maggie and Dee's character names to establish contrasting views on culture. From Maggie's character name, it is evident that her name is unchanging and has secure connections to her legacy. Moreover, Maggie's name and identity can be termed as unremarkable and stable. However, Dee's act of changing her name to Wangero shows an indication of the fluid nature of identity. For this reason, it is partly clear that Wangero cannot understand and accept her heritage. Even though Dee received education and also understand her African past, she erroneously looks to this history to assert her heritage, thereby forgetting her actual origin together with her parents. These contradicts Maggie's view that she has no education to understand her culture more, and she does not forget her heritage.

The author portrays the two characters Maggie and Wangero, to have different views on how they honor their ancestors. Wangero inherently does not value the handmade items of her family heritage; instead, she is interested in the churn and the relic quilts. On the other hand, Maggie values all the items made by the ancestor. Their views differ because Wangero considers the item as decorations with historical importance. Maggie views the items as part of her family's historical legacy, which she is part of. In addition, Dee believes that her sister Maggie does not appreciate their culture because they customarily use the items as part of their daily activities. Dee's view differs from that of Maggie since she thinks that the items are not meant to be used but displayed as artifacts and preserved. Additionally, their opinions might differ from the fact that Wangero lives in a modern, multiplex, and materialistic way of life, unlike Maggie, whose life is entirely based on their family tradition, and she is not ashamed of her way of life.

Wangeros reacts to the food and objects in her mother's house with admiration and surfaced wonder. She praises the heirloom quilts, the churn top, and the dasher with extravagance. However, Dee's wish to change her name to wangero is accompanied with a new alter ego. Her feelings towards her mother's objects have changed since she considers them to be part of her family's heritage of oppression. Wangero's attitudes towards the objects in her mother's house have changed because she views them as artifacts of their past historical culture. Wangero tries to take the handmade objects that were made by their family home for generations so that she can use them as a showpiece and display them on her wall. Maggie values the objects because they remind them of her experience while she was being raised by her mother. To Dee, the items represented more gadgets that she used to claim her cultural tradition that she poorly re-created by changing her name while she was in the city. From how she looks into her culture, she has turned her heritage into an idealistic cloud where only that which is beautiful can exist.

Maggie values the quilts because she is aware that they represent people in her family whose lives and stories reflect on them. Furthermore, she has learned the art of quilting so that she can be able to preserve and continue her family's cultural heritage. Several generations have contributed to making the quilts, and Maggie felt she needed to be part of the making of the quilt. The quilts were important to her because each piece represented a specific story about a family member. To Maggie, the quilts represented the items that belonged to their ancestors during the civil war. Maggie and mama feel that they can use the quilts to honor their ancestors by using them as part of their everyday life. Dee, on the other hand, wishes to use the quilts to show off her heritage by displaying the items on her house in the city. Dee asks to have the butter churner so that she can use it to act as the centerpiece for her table. She believes that the objects should be preserved as artifacts simply because the members of her family made them. It can be argued that Dee does not necessarily see the significance of these objects. For instance, she is unaware that it was aunt Dee's husband, Henry, who made the dasher and the churner. Dee believes that these objects should be displayed instead of being used so that they can last for an extended time. Maggie and mama want objects like the dasher, churner, and quilts to be used so that they can preserve cultural heritage. Although Dee values the objects in her mother's house, she does not intend to use them for the right purpose. Maggie wishes to use the artifacts to help her with everyday activities life.

Mama, unlike Dee, values the objects in her home because of the work that they do and how they can be used. In addition, the churn top for mama is not significant for art, but it is worn from the making of butter. The butter churn, together with other objects to mama, are accompanied by special memories of her intermingling and the excitement attached to them through their continued use. When mama interrelates with the objects from her household, she is building up to her traditional heritage rather than committing to memory like her Dee. To Maggie, the quilts, butter churn, and the dasher represent her childhood experience while she was growing up with her family. Maggie values the objects because she believes that by using them, she is honoring the memory of her ancestors. In addition, she appreciates the quilts because they are warm and because they have been made by hands throughout the generations of her family. The quilts reminded her of her grandmother and aunt, who were responsible for her knowledge of quilting.