The Meaning of Heritage in Everyday Use, a Short Story by Alice Walker Essay Example

clothes, hair, and even her name to something that she thought would help her hold on to her heritage.

In doing this, she completely annihilated one part of her heritage: her childhood. In acquiring a new identity and becoming a new person, she destroyed who she was, and who her family knew her as. So, ironically, while living up to her heritage, she also destroyed part of her heritage. Another ironic aspect of this situation is how quick Wangero is to say that her family doesn't understand their heritage. Wangero has destroyed part of her heritage by changing herself completely, and has the nerve to tell her family that they don't understand their heritage.

She does this in a few ways; first, she insults them by implying that she could make better use of their items by using them for decoration instead of their normal use. Then, she blatantly tells them that they don't understand well enough to keep these items; Wangero says that Maggie doesn't have the right to the quilts because she doesn't understand their significance. This is ironic because they, in reality, are much more significant to Maggie than they are to Wangero because Maggie actually uses them every day. Overall, two different interpretations of heritage are shown in Alice Walker's story, “Everyday Use”.

One is shown in Wangero, who believes that saving and treasuring items increases their significance; another is shown in Mama, who believes that what makes items significant is how useful they are. In the end, Mma's point of view wins when she gives Maggie the quilts to put to good use.