Abstract
The complex notion of cultural heritage can be ascribed different connotations in the context of inheritance and identity. Cultural assets can be construed as valuable gifts handed down through generations which sustain as historic souvenirs of an ever-changing ethnic identity. This paper deliberates upon the intricacies of African-American cultural inheritance and identity in Alice Walker’s Everyday Use.
Highlights
In this context, Alice Walker’s short story Everyday Use traces the integration and separation of the Black African roots among the African-Americans who witnessed a redefinition of their cultural heritage and identity during the Black Power movement
Dee who is the only member of her family to receive a formal education, returns home to visit her mother and younger sister Maggie. Her visit symbolically reveals the African-American struggle for identity and voices concerns over issues of cultural inheritance
It is apparent that her cultural inheritance is as obscure as her rationale of treating articles of ‘every-day use’ as aesthetic ornaments which serve as e-ISSN: 2582-3574 p-ISSN: 2582-4406 DOI:10.24113/ijellh.v10i1.11264
Summary
Alice Walker’s short story Everyday Use traces the integration and separation of the Black African roots among the African-Americans who witnessed a redefinition of their cultural heritage and identity during the Black Power movement. The conflict between the two sisters over a hand-made quilt becomes a symbol of the clash of new tenets of cultural inheritance and the age-old ethnic conventions. The story revolves around two sisters Dee and Maggie who perceive cultural heritage quite differently and Mama, their mother whose attitude and preferences are open to interpretation.
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