Preview

My Heritage In Everyday Use

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
144 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
My Heritage In Everyday Use
More precious than rubies and gold, your heritage is so priceless it can never be sold. My heritage is a combination of tradition, talent, and being the only girl in a family of all boys.

Every year on Christmas my dad takes me to an NBA game. My cousin was drafted into the NBA two years before I was born therefore I have grown up around basketball. My family and I get free tickets to all of the games, so my dad has made it a tradition that we go to a game every Christmas. In the story Everyday Use Wangero (Dee) wants the quilts that mama promised to give to Maggie. Growing up Dee never had an interest in her family let alone her family heritage. Now that she is older she is starting to take an interest and wants her grandmothers quilts.

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Maggie and Wangero (Dee) are sisters. Maggie still lives with their mother in the family home. Wangero has moved on and lives in the city. Wangero has changed her name from Dee to get more in touch with her heritage. After years of shunning her African American background, Wangero now wants to embrace it. Wangero is used to getting her way. Her mother has never not given her everything she‘s asked for. She’s educated, clothed, and has grown into an attractive young woman. Maggie on the other hand is still living on the farm. She didn’t receive the same opportunities as her sister. A fire has left her scared, more than just physically. She is more introverted then Wangero. She’s not used to getting her way but still plodding through life with the expectations of a future. She knows her life will be servitude to her future husband John Thomas. Life has just passed her by when it comes to the values that her sister Wangero holds dear.…

    • 594 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    An individual’s heritage is about his culture, history or personal experiences it is important to recognise and respect them because it is what makes him individual and unique. If we know them we provide a person centre care and focus on individual’s choices and preferences, he will then feel valued and included.…

    • 1702 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The story starts shifting when Dee tells her mother she has changed her name. Near the end, the mother realized that Dee is a fantasy child who is still frivolously careless of other peoples’ lives. (Baker, Pierce-Baker). Mama finally gains increasing emotional distance from Dee and is ultimately able to tell her “no.” (Hirsch). Mama snatches the quilts from Dee and gives them to Maggie, which makes Maggie smile sincerely. Mama knows that Maggie will truly appreciate and use the quilts instead of hanging them as a wall mounting as a symbol of a “simple upbringing”. Mama realizes that Maggie has had a better understanding of the meaning of heritage from the very…

    • 529 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The story Everyday Use tells of a girl who thinks she knows what her culture is, and a mother and sister who really know what their culture is but rarely ever stand up for themselves. One of the main conflicts Everyday Use by Alice Walker is conflict of identification with one’s own heritage. This is portrayed throughout the short story through the Mother and Wangero, who decides that in order to show her true, newly discovered ‘heritage’, she will take from her real heritage and use family-owned objects as decorations.…

    • 695 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Heritage is the past life history of each individual. If we learn more about the heritage of a person, we can identify the person’s character, likes and dislikes and habits. It helps us to find out their true identity.…

    • 4056 Words
    • 17 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Hope and Heritage

    • 696 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Throughout countless books, stories, and articles that depict Thomas Jefferson he is placed on a pedestal as a nearly perfect man. The books all tell of his great achievements, but never do these books speak of his true manner and thought process pertaining to slave trade. Gordon Wood takes a deep dive into Jefferson’s personal life, plainly showing who he truly was.…

    • 696 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Have you ever not seen eye to eye with your mother? In Alice Walker’s short story “Everyday Use”, we are shown how many of the choices we make and the things we value create our identity. This story focuses on two characters, mama and her daughter Dee (Wangero), who struggle to see the same way about their heritage. Dee wants the things made by her grandmother, to not admire it as an artifact, but rather to remake it. She wants to take them, and change them to match her lifestyle as it is today. She loves them for the way they look. Mama, on the other hand, views the things from her mother as artifacts. She loves the items more than how they look. She admires the quilts because of their everyday use. Transformations take place between these characters. Dee’s transformation is more external than it is internal. She shows her transformation in the way she speaks, the clothes she wears, and her judgement. Mama’s transformation is more internal. She begins to see Dee’s real thoughts, and she stands up against her. When she takes the quilts away from Dee, she doesn’t only stand up for herself, but Maggie, as…

    • 809 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    In the short story "Everyday Use" by Alice Walker, the author portrays opposing ideas about one's heritage. Through the eyes of two daughters, Dee and Maggie, who have chosen to live their lives in very different manners, the reader can choose which character to identify most with by judging what is really important in one's life. In Dee's case, she goes out to make all that can of herself while leaving her past behind, in comparison to Maggie, who stays back with her roots and makes the most out of the surroundings that she has been placed in. Through the use of symbolism, the tangible object of a family heirloom quilt brings out these issues relating to heritage to Mama, and she is able to reasonably decide which of her daughters has a real appreciation for the quilt, and can pass it on to her. Dee and Maggie shed a new light on the actual meaning of heritage through their personality traits, lifestyle decisions, and relationships with specific family members.…

    • 1641 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    The two themes of the story are the meaning of heritage and the power of knowledge. Dee thinks that her heritage is dead and she wants to use the material remains of it as artifacts. Her heritage has not ended and needs people to keep it going and that is why Mama rewarded Maggie with the quilts. Dee tries becoming something she is not by disowning her family values for a heritage she knows nothing about. She has forgotten where she comes from and does not truly appreciate the contribution of her relatives. Knowledge gave Dee the illusion that she is above everyone else. Dee has lost herself in education. It gave her a false view of the world and who she really…

    • 1150 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    I met you 3 years ago and since our friendship has become stronger, I now feel free to tell you about certain things that really bother me. For example, the way you behave towards your heritage and your family. That day when your mom came to visit you in Fort Lauderdale I had the chance to sit and talk to her for a while, and I was impressed by the things she told me.…

    • 1153 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In Canada, there is a lot of mixing of cultures; many people are the third or fourth generation of immigrants. They were born and grown up in a different society where they have few reminders of their own heritage. In the poem “What I have left is imagining” by heather MacLeod and “Ancestors-The Genetic Source (adapted)” by David Suzuki, Both of these authors feel that they are separated from their culture. However, heather still feels connected to her homeland, while Suzuki doesn’t feel that same connection.…

    • 505 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The short story "Everyday Use" by Alice Walker is about two sisters and a mother. Despite the family being poor, the mother works hard to provide for the both of her daughters. Dee is the eldest daughter and despises where she came from. Dee later on gains an education, attends college, and obtains a degree all because her mother and the community raised enough money to send her to school in Augusta. In the story she is going through an identity crisis and changes her name to "Wanegro." On the other hand, Maggie, the younger sister, is a shy young girl. The mother offend compares herself and Maggie to Dee, the successful daughter, which illustrates the jealousy she has towards Dee. At such a young age, Maggie is still suffering from a tragic event. Maggie is intimidated by Dee; solely since Dee carries many accomplishments and her appearance. Dee is said to be “self-conscious of her scars and burn marks and jealous of Dee’s much easier life” (Everyday use, 256). Soon after, Dee remembers the quilts made by her grandmother. She attempts to obtain the quilts and her mother decides to give the quilts to Maggie. The quilts are a symbol of customs in their family. In many different cultures there are a variety of customs that follow along with the generations. The short story exposes that the two sisters are attempting to reach the same goal, but in unlike methods. In some ways it also shows that one is trying to be better than the other.…

    • 1053 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Our Secrets

    • 1860 Words
    • 8 Pages

    The heritage I was born into is what enables me to have pride in what I am and in the history of my family. Every day I spend together with my family is yet another day we live by our "vertical heritage," our culture. We communicate in our native language of Spanish as we…

    • 1860 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Everyday Use Symbolism

    • 1187 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The story, Everyday Use, is told by the perspective of Mama. She tells the story through the differences between her two daughters, Maggie who is a shy, awkward girl, and her eldest daughter, Wangero (Dee) who is a vibrant, educated young woman. Conflict arises when both daughters wants the traditional African-American their grandmother made.…

    • 1187 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Heritage and Health

    • 1626 Words
    • 7 Pages

    With population emerging in vast quantities all over the world especially in the United States, it is even more important that individuals in the health care system take a step back and look at different heritages along with the cultures. (Edelman, M. 2010) These individuals that are arriving in our emergency rooms and clinics today have different beliefs in health care, especially in the areas of health maintenance, health protection and health restoration. Each one of these cultures has common health traditions that are based on their own heritage but also some similarities to our culture here in America. The heritage assessment tool provided by Pearson Education is one way to look a little deeper into ones heritage; however it only gives a brief view. (Spector, R.E.,2000) This tool really does not take into effect those whom are adopted, or have never known either their mother or their father. This will require one to inquire with the patient on a deeper level, in that he/she probably picked up the culture of who raised them. There are various cultures and ethnicities in the United States today, however we will take a look at the heritages of American, Muslim Asian American and African American; assessing and comparing each area of maintenance, protection and restoration of health.…

    • 1626 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays