Symbolic Meanings Of Characters In Everyday Use ( Alice...

The symbolic meanings of characters in â€Å"Everyday Use† (Alice Walker) In â€Å"Everyday Use†, the author Alice Walker addresses the dilemma of African Americans who are striving to escape from prejudice and poverty, risk a terrible displacement (Cowart, 171). Also different sides of culture and heritage are described in the story through the characters of Dee, Maggie and Johnson, each with divergent personalities in life. Dee is described as a young women, who came back to her rural home after a long time period and want to become more stylish, modern. Also, she wants to adopt a new American culture instead of traditional African American culture. In the story, Dee (Wangero), fails to achieve her goal of getting quilts from her mother. The†¦show more content†¦When Johnson (Dee’s mother) call Dee with her heritage name Dee she told her mother don’t say her Dee, call her with me a new name Wangero. Her mother wanted to know that what happened to her then she said â€Å"I couldn’t bear it any longer, being named afte r the people who oppress me†(Walker 819). It signifies that she refuses African American culture and want to live with a new identity. In addition, Black arts movements influences Dee’s attitude to traditional culture. These movements change her lifestyle. She wants to be modern, stylish and fashionable. Dee’s mother says â€Å"At sixteen she had her own style and I know what that was† (Walker 818), her mother said this, when Dee decided to wear fashionable â€Å"yellow organdy† dress at her post-secondary education. It signifies that Dee wants to be look different from her mother and her sister who were living in the old traditional ways. The character Maggie symbolizes African American community who have a lot of knowledge about the history of their culture and wants to be connected with their heritage through their lives. (Farrell, 183-184). In the story, when Maggie says that she would use the quilts every day in her life. It shows that Maggie wants to be connected with her heritage and to remember loved ones. â€Å"She can have them, Mama†, she said, like somebody used to never winning anything, or having anything reserved for her. â€Å"I can ‘member Grandma Dee without the quilts†(WalkerShow MoreRelatedThe Meaning And Maintenance Of Heritage In Alice Walkers Everyday Use974 Words   |  4 PagesThe Meaning and Maintenance of Heritage in Alice Walkers Everyday Use In Alice Walker’s â€Å"Everyday Use,† Walker uses, the symbolic significance of the quilt in this story to represent the heritage of this family as their heritage signifies where they came from and their traditions and cultural values. 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