On A Road To Heritage Essays - Everyday Use, Cultural Heritage

On A Road To Heritage On the Road to Heritage A key factor in Alice Walker's ?Everyday Use,? and Amy Tan's ?A Pair of Tickets,? is heritage. Throughout both stories the use of heritage can be seen easily. Walker's avoidance of heritage in her writings and Tan's understanding of heritage in her writing. Through this readers can see the true meaning of heritage. Understanding both sides of these two stories gives readers a chance to explore their own heritage and reflect on how they accept their past. By contrasting the family characters in ?Everyday Use,? Walker illustrates lost heritage by placing the significance of heritage solely on material objects. Walker presents Mama and Maggie, the younger daughter, as an example that heritage in both knowledge and form passing from one generation to another through a learning experience connection. However, by a broken connection, Dee the older daughter, represents a misconception of heritage as material. Dee, the ?heritage queen? portrays a rags to riches daughter who does not understand what heritage is all about. Her definition of heritage hangs on a wall to show off, not to be used. Dee's avoidance of heritage becomes clear when she is talking to Mama about changing her name, she says, ?I couldn't bear it any longer being named after the people who oppress me? (Walker 75). Thus resembling that Dee just takes another name without even understanding what her original name means. She tries to explain to Mama that her name now has meani ng, quality, and heritage; never realizing that the new name means nothing. Changing her name bothers Mama and Maggie because Dee's name is a fourth generation name, truly giving it heritage. Dee likes to gloat to her friends about how she was raised, so she tries to show off by decorating her house with useful items from her past. Her argument with Mama about taking quilts that were hand stitched as opposed to sewn by machine gives readers a chance to see Dee's outlook of heritage is short lived. Dee says to Mama, ?But they're priceless. . . Maggie would put them on the bed and in five years they'd be in rags. Less than that!? (Walker 77). Mama will not allow her daughter to take the quilts because she has been saving them for Dee's sister, Maggie, and she wants the quilts to be put into everyday use. By helping and living with Mama, Maggie uses the hand-made items in her life, experiences the life of her ancestors, and learns the history of both, exemplified by Maggie's knowledge of the hand-made items and the people who made them?a knowledge in which Dee does not possess. Dee attempts to connect with her heritage by taking ?picture after picture of me sitting there in front of the house. . . She never takes a shot without making sure the house is included? (Walker 74). Therefore showing Dee's quest for heritage is external, wishing to have these various items in order to display them in her home. She wants these items because she perceives each to have value, as shown in the argument yet again. Mama finally realizes that Dee does not understand her heritage when she says, ?This was Maggie's portion. This was the way she knew God to work? (Walker 77). She allowed Dee to run over her enough, and now she would not allow her foolish behavior to carry on, because heritage needs to be put to everyday use and not just be hung up on a wall for people to see. After Mama gives Maggie the quilts, Dee says, ?You just don't understand Your heritage? (Walker 77). Dee bel ieves heritage to be the quilt on the wall or the churn in the alcove. She knows the items are hand-made, but she does not know the knowledge and history behind the items. Yet, Mama does know the knowledge and history and she also knows that Maggie does too. Ironically, Dee criticizes Mama for not understanding heritage when, in fact, Dee fails to understand heritage herself. Throughout this story, heritage is understood by two characters and avoided by one character. Readers can understand that now there are two different meanings of heritage, one being everyday