Heritage

Heritage

Heritage is very important. It forms people based on the tradition of the heritage that came long before them. Whether one chooses to carry on the tradition of their heritage or chooses to make changes is up to them. The short story, “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker explains an African family of three women that share the same heritage. In my speech, I will explain the character of Dee, a young African American woman, who wants to create an ideal heritage based on her African roots. I will also discuss the changes made by Dee to get to where she wants to be and how her family relationships have been affected by her choices. Last but not least I will explain why it is good to keep family tradition and heritage.

Dee is a very confident and independent young woman. Because of this, she is intimidating to people around her, especially her younger sister Maggie. Maggie sulks around with her head down to cover scars from a house fire, one that Dee sat and watched, almost admiringly. She hated the appearance of the house. Dee’s character cares a lot about appearance. She is seemingly embarrassed by her family and home when bringing a friend home for the first time. In the story, Dee takes pictures of the house, Mama, and Maggie. One can infer that this is because she wants to brag to others about what a sad life she came from, or a tragic heritage.

Heritage, in the eye of Dee, is something that matters. Because of that she changed her name to Wangero. She believes that this name is more cultural, even though her original name has been carried throughout her family for many years, since the civil war as Mama recalls. When Mama is confronted by the name change she asks, “What happened to Dee?” In which Wangero responds, “She’s dead, I couldn’t bear it any longer, being named after the people who oppress me.” In this way, Dee is picking and choosing which parts of her heritage that she wants to take with her. However, heritage is more of an all or nothing thing, and it varies greatly with family relations. Dee’s relationship with her mom and sister has not been a close one because of their differences. Dee is fashionable and smart. Mama and Maggie think more about working hard to take care of the home and each other. Because of this, the family feels tension whenever Dee comes around.

Like I have said before, Dee is intimidating to Maggie. Maggie, with her scarred face and arms, looks at Dee with awe. She also thinks of Dee as the favored child because Dee usually gets whatever she wants. When sitting down for supper, Dee notices her grandma’s butter churn made of wood with finger grooves indented into the wood from many years of use. Seeing something so authentic, it interests her. So Dee asks Mama if she could have the churn, and of course the answer is yes. However, when Dee asks to take the quilts her grandma made to take with her, Mama hesitates. The quilts had been saved for Maggie. When Dee is denied of her request, she complains, “Maggie can’t appreciate these quilts! She’d probably be backward enough to put them to everyday use.” Then Dee goes on to tell Mama that she does not understand heritage. This is ironic that the girl who changed her name and is embarrassed of her home tells her mother who works all day and everyday for her family that she does not understand heritage.

So as you can tell, the shared heritage of Dee, Maggie, and Mama means something different to Dee. Dee skips over generations to find things that she finds more essential. Her family accepts her for this but sees her as a little bit disrespectful for ignoring so many other family values. Dee’s character is independent and favored. Because she is favored, she creates her heritage of exactly what she wants it to be and nothing less. That would be ideal, but is it really worth changing a line of family tradition just for something you like better? A more practical idea is to follow tradition and love your family for what it is instead of changing it to what you want it to be. Heritage is something created from tradition, so tradition is good to keep.