IntroductionAlice Walker’s Everyday Use conveys in simple, yet poignant narration, the value of family on the one hand, and that of art on the other. The story is especially remarkable in its success at conveying its message in modest and unpretentious language—a message that forced one, by the end, to contemplate one’s own convictions about, and perceptions of art. CharactersAlice Walker presents the story in the first person in the voice of the mother. I found the subtle contrast between the mother as the character and the mother as the narrator to be particularly remarkable. While the mother character appeared to be emotionally involved in the events, and while she had yearnings and aspirations, needs and struggles, hopes and desires; the mother narrator appeared, in addition to being emotionally involved, to be intellectually up to the circumstances within which she found herself. The narrator’s tone, a disarming admixture of stoic gravity and good-spirited humor, suggested a thorough understanding of the complexities of the issues at hand. I found Maggie to be excessively insecure, and yet acquiescent to fate. She allowed her physical disfigurement, the burn scars on her arm, to weigh her down, and subconsciously subordinated herself to the perceived physical and intellectual superiority of her sister Dee. Maggie’s was a complacent and conservative posture. She clung to the present state of affairs and remained comfortable in them, neither changing her perceptions nor modifying them. Dee on the other hand embodied liberalism. She had upon her return, acquired radically changed perspectives and philosophies—perspectives and philosophies that were grounded in black nationalism and Islamic radicalism. She’d adopted a new name to reflect her new social and ideological posture, and never failed to betray her new-found impressions of her culture, her heritage, and the physical manifestations thereof. The mother, in terms of perception of art, took neither Maggie’s passive, complacent posture nor Dee’s aggressive, radical stance. Hers was a profound appreciation that while art must be elevated to a respectable status, it must not be divorced from the people from which it derives, so much so that it is idolized. She believed that true appreciation for art rests in its fusion with everyday life. Alice Walker introduces the characters in Everyday Use in an interesting manner. She does not proffer a direct introduction of the characters, but refers to them as though they had previously been introduced to the reader. The effect is that the reader is forced to deduce the relationships between the people in the story, such that slowly, but surely, the reader is absorbed into the story’s overall scheme of things. Walker introduces the mother and the younger daughter Maggie, as both living in a comfortable house with a well-kept yard. Subsequently, we learn that they’d moved there after a fire had engulfed their previous house, and disfigured Maggie’s arm. We then learn about Dee, the one who quickly came across as a misfit, and with that Walker establishes the major relationships in the story. ConflictDee’s anticipated arrival is, in my estimation, the major signal of conflict. Maggie is nervous because of her sister’s imminent visit. She is insecure and seems certain that her sister’s visit could bring nothing desirable. The physical and intellectual contrast between the sisters also appears to signal an impending conflict in the reuniting of the two. While Dee is described as being lighter than Maggie, as having nicer hair and a fuller figure, and as being an intelligent woman; Maggie comes across as only a girl, unsophisticated, disfigured (by the fire), and untutored in the world’s ways. In addition to the discernible physical differences, the reader gets the impression that there isn’t much love lost between the two sisters. ComplicationIf Dee’s expected arrival signals conflict, her very arrival itself, her composure, her disposition, and her new-found persona all mark the complication of the conflict. And if these mark the complication of the conflict, her correction of her mum to be called Wangero Lee Wanika Kemanjo establishes the conflict. The intensity of the conflict mounts though, as one side antagonizes the other, and attempts to persuade the other to adopt its world view. While Dee (now Wangero) argues that she will not bear the name of the people who oppress her, her mother counters that Dee is named after her aunt, and that that aunt is named after Grandma Dee, and so on. Dee attempts to resolve the issue by saying, “you don’t have to call me by it [Wangero] if you do not want to,” to which the mother insists that if that is what Dee wants to be called, then so be it. ResolutionDee’s attempt at a resolution of the conflict fall short of a true resolution however, for the sweltering issue laid much deeper than that of mere names (or the change thereof). Dee’s attempted resolution merely relegated the important issue: the clash of two world views. The conflict reaches its climax when Dee expresses her desire to obtain the quilts, and is met with resistance from her mother who had been saving them for Maggie, and had in fact promised to bequeath them to Maggie when Maggie got married. It is this point that has the most significance because it is here that the three parties articulate their perspectives of art. While Dee, has acquired a new perspective of art, one that made her see her heritage as something to be elevated and celebrated, her mother remains comfortable with seeing art as products of the people, products whose value lay in the everyday use of them. While Dee sees the elevation of art (and, invariably, its detachment from people) as the means of appreciating art, her mother sees the involvement of (and an immersion of the people’s lives in) art as a more reasonable means of appreciating art. Maggie’s perception is one of sheer complacence. One might say that she held the view that it does not matter either way. We might agree that she achieved the mean between her oppositely extreme mother and sister. The true resolution of the conflict comes in the mother’s retrieval of the quilts from Dee and in giving them to Maggie instead. In doing so, the mother asserted the need for unity between a people and its art, inasmuch as art ought to be inseparable from the people in everyday life. While Dee intended to idolize the quilts, Maggie would probably have put them to their intended use. ThemeThe theme of Everyday Use is one of profound significance. One would observe that Walker uses the various literary elements to build up to the major crises—the one of who gets the quilts, and much more importantly, whose perception of art prevails. For me, Alice Walker’s theme is two-faceted. Firstly, Everyday Use stresses the importance of one’s heritage, one’s family, one’s customs, traditions, and the need for the propagation thereof. More importantly though, the thematic thread runs through three different perspectives of arts and crafts (the mother’s, Dee’s and Maggie’s) and by allowing the conservative perspective to prevail in the end, Walker underscores the importance of the fusion of art with everyday living. The significance of the title, Everyday Use, is that it accentuates the mother sentiment: it is, indeed, the everyday use of art, that asserts our transcendence over art on the one hand, and that ensures a fuller appreciation on the other. Originally written for an Assignment in Dr. Paul Urbanick’s Humanities 201. 18 April 2002 |
