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`Everyday Use` by Alice Walker

3 Everyday Use ' is a representative story of Black movement of 1960s but it does not manifest the Afro-American quest for socio-cultural identity like other Black Movement literature . It not only locates conflict that existed within the Afro-American community and also presents life in relation to modern and traditional concept of Afro-American heritage . The narration of the story is in first-person where everything is reported and understood through the lenses of Mrs Johnson . Her observation is astute as she provides minute details about the actions of her daughters . Plot is linear

and licated telling the account of a mother and her two daughters . One daughter visits from college and quarrels with the other daughter over quilts

The central conflict is symbolized by two main characters Mrs . Johnson and Dee . Dee is an epitome of shallow materialism and an adherent of prevailing concept of heritage where heritage is revered only for trendiness and aesthetic attraction whereas Mrs . Johnson admires heritage for its practical utility and personal importance Piedmont-Mortob is of the view that central conflict is between Maggie and Dee and is about whether heritage exists in things or in spirit or process ' Dee 's longing for heritage is for ostentatious reasons Contemporary periodical necessities make her cherish and celebrate her Afro-American heritage . Dee views her heritage as an artifact which she can possess and appreciate from a distance instead of as a process in which she is always intimately involved (Piedmont-Marton ) But Mrs Johnson and Maggie have learnt to live with their heritage . Dee is captivated by the beauty of churn top ' and wanted to have it to be used as centerpiece for her alcove table whereas Mrs . Johnson has used it practically for churn butter hitherto . Walker utilizes the butter churn to demonstrate Mrs . Johnson 's intrinsic understanding of heritage

When [Dee] finished wrapping the dasher the handle stuck out . I took it for a moment in my hands . You didn 't even have to look close to see where hands pushing the dasher up and down to make butter had left a kind of sink in the wood . In fact , there were a lot of small sinks you could see where thumbs and fingers had sunk into 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 , Everyday Use

The very fact that the churn was prepared from a tree , that its identity was transformed into somewhat new from an object that was naturally created i .e . American identity of African-Americans . Alice Walker has introduced various symbols and figurative language to communicate some thematic expressions . The conflict of heritage becomes more evident as well as critical as the quilts are brought in the story . Piedmont-Marton asserts that

Quilting symbolizes the process out of which the unimportant and meaningless may be transformed into the valued and useful . Walker finds this metaphor especially useful for describing African-American women 's lives , which traditional history and literature...

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