Essential question: How do people pass on their culture?

Appreciating heritage was the main theme for the Black Power Movement, and numerous young African-Americans reverted to dressing like their ancestors from Africa without really understanding where they were from. Some started to displayed antiques in their house to keep up with societys whims. In Alice Walkers Everyday Use, two different ways of appreciating heritage, one through material items and the other through a lifestyle, are depicted. Taking place during the Black Power Movement, the short story depicts a young woman, Dee, who visits her mothers rural home. She fancies herself an appreciator of her culture, and then unsuccessfully tries to divert some antique quilts, her sisters dowry, into her own possession. Mamas daughters are used to demonstrate that understanding ones heritage is needed to truly appreciate it and teach others about ones heritage. It is not possible to appreciate ones heritage if one does not have a working understanding of it. Walker uses Dees ignorance to demonstrate her lack of appreciation for her heritage. Having rejected her family for years, Dee suddenly appears at her mothers house, demanding the household tools that are a necessity for her mother, storming out the door when her requests are refused. Your heritage, she said You ought to try to make something of yourself, too, Maggie. Its really a new day for us. But from the way you and Mama still live youd never know it (7). Dee suggests Maggie should take use of her heritage and use her heritage for personal gains. Dee describes the situation for African-Americans as one that is reborn, and that her family does not understand this situation. Ironically, it is Dee who does not understand her heritage or her culture because she views herself as an African, but, but does not see that the African culture and the American culture melded together, forming the African-American culture, which she grew up in. She describes her

African-American heritage as a commodity, as if the quilts and materials that Mama and Maggie have will elevate their social standing. You ought to make something of yourself describes Dees view on heritage. Clearly, Dee does not understand that heritage is not something to be used; rather, heritage is to be respected. Therefore, when Dee tells Maggie, But from the way you and Mama still live youd never know it, it is ironic that Dee is criticizing her mother and her sisters interpretation of their heritage when it is Dee that does not understand what heritage represents. From the way Dee is living, she will never know her heritage, nor appreciate it. If she does not understand her own heritage, then she cannot teach others about her heritage Embracing heritage and intertwining it with ones daily life is needed to understand and appreciate a culture. When Dee asks for the quilts that have been promised to Maggie, Maggie lets Dee take them. I can member Grandma Dee without the quilts (6). Maggie states that she can still envision her grandmother without the quilts. The quilts mean something deeper than just being used to keep something more. To Maggie and her mother, they keep in touch with their heritage and their culture not by flaunting it, but by continually renewing it. The objects in their house mean something much more than just doing daily chores; using the items means that Maggie and Mama are using the same items that those before them have done. They are keeping in touch with the people that have used or made the items. When Dee wants to take away the quilts, she takes away something much more than the quilts; she is also taking away the memories of those that have made the quilt. Maggie says that she can member Grandma Dee without the quilts, she states that she no longer needs to keep in touch with the quilt to remember her grandmother; the act of quilting can bring back memories of her. Quilting is what gives Maggie her memories of those who have taught her, and what gives her the power to teach others

her heritage. Quilting is taking scraps and making them into a picture, however each patch still represents its origins. Mama describes Grandma Dees quilts consisting of scraps of dresses Grandma Dee had worn fifty years ago. Bits and pieces of Grandpa Jatells Paisley shirts [One piece] that was from Great Grandpa Ezras shirt that he had worn in the Civil War. Each patch on the quilts of Grandma Dees quilts links together to from a picture, yet is also a representation of a person. Through quilting, Maggie is able to teach others about her heritage, the patches telling others about her story.. The generations after her will remember her through the quilts that she makes, as well as the ones that she pieces. Grandma Dees quilts go back three generation, leaving children like Maggie to remember them, demonstrating that quilts are like gifts to the future from the past. With her quilting, Maggie will be able to speak out through her work. Understanding ones heritage is needed to appreciate it, as is depicted with the juxtaposition between Mamas two daughters. Maggie depicts her understanding for her heritage through the use of household items that remind her of her deceased relatives. On the other hand, Dee has a superficial understanding of her heritage, believing it to be something that can be used to elevate her social status. Maggie is able to teach others about her heritage with her quilting, and Dee is unable to teach others about it because she does not appreciate her culture. To understand heritage is to keep it in daily life, and then is it possible to appreciate it and to pass it along to the next generation.