5. In Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use,” the mother clearly understands the heritage represented in the churn and the quilts. In your own words, compare and contrast what the churn and the quilts represent for Dee with what they represent for Dee’s mother and

Everyday Use ' by Alice Walker

Alice Walker in her story Everyday Use ' describes complex relations between two generation - Mama and her daughter Dee . However , when looking deeper it becomes apparent that the real conflict if the problematic attitude towards African-American cultural heritage presented in quilts and churn . Mama tends to teach her daughters that cultural heritage is essential part of their everyday life and she feels proud of her cultural roots . For Mama , to deny her roots means to deny her cultural identity and her cultural past , whereas Dee denies her

cultural roots without hesitations . As it is mentioned , both quilts and churn are the symbols of cultural heritage and family traditions and family ties

The story presents opposite views on quilts and churn - on the one hand Mama with her traditional beliefs and values , and on the other hand , Dee with progressive life views and ideas to create her own heritage instead . Quilts and churn represent strong ties between family generations , family memories and past . Mama tries to preserve quilts and churn for everyday use , whereas Dee tends to present them as the symbol of material success . Mama views quilts as useful things

At the beginning we see that Dee shows no interest in quilts and churn though later she realizes that they are priceless and , therefore , should be displayed , not used . Before college , Dee always said that quilts are are old-fashioned and out of style . Later she changes her mind and decides to possess them as the symbol of material prosperity and success . In contrast to Dee , Mama preserves quilts as the family history as they are integral Mama 's part . Only desire to be always on top drives Dee to get these quilts . I think churn and quilts are used to shows that cultural heritage remains what it means only it remains connected to original cultural roots . Heritage should be alive - literally in the case of churn and quilts

References

Walker , Alice (1998 . Everyday Use . Literature- An Introduction to Reading and Writing 5th ed . Eds . Edgar V . Roberts and Henry E . Jacobs Upper Saddle River : Prentice Hall

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