While growing up, children, teenagers, and young adults alike are always taught to remember their roots. Keeping one’s heritage in mind is an important lesson that everyone hears time and time again, almost to the point where it becomes clichéd in the mind of a young person. Dee, a character in the short story “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker, certainly keeps her heritage in mind. Dee pays close attention to remember her early roots in Africa, while, ironically, at the same time blatantly disregards her childhood, family-oriented heritage.
When Dee returns home from college, she takes careful steps to display that she is connected with the African traditions of her ancestors. The reader first notices her African “associations” when she greets her family with the broken-up African phrase “Wa-su-zo-Tean-o.” The fact that Dee’s initial embrace with her family consists of a poorly recited African phrase displays that Dee is attempting to show off her connectedness to her roots. In the story, when Dee recites this phrase, it is broken up into syllables, as if Dee had difficulty pronouncing this language. The fact that Dee had trouble with the phrase shows that her attention to African heritage is somewhat forced and somewhat fraudulent. Dee also attempts to display her connectedness to African culture when she explains that she no longer wishes to be addressed as “Dee” but rather she wants to be called “Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo.” “Wangero” explains that she hated “being named after the people who oppress me.” She suddenly despises her original name, a name that was passed down through generations of her family. The new name and the use of African language when Dee arrives display that Dee is making a strong effort to appear connected with her African heritage. However, the reader can clearly see that this newfound connectedness is not a real desire to remember her roots, but rather a forced adherence to the new trend of African culture. During this time of the civil rights campaign, name changing and other African traditions became fashionable and popular among African-American youths. These instances lead the reader to believe that Dee has no real interest in her heritage, but is changing her name and speaking Swahili in order to be a part of the new African-American trend.
Perhaps the reason Dee wishes to be a part of this new African-American trend is that she is no longer a part of her family’s life or culture. Ironically, while Dee is meticulously attempting to remember her African heritage and speaking about how important it is to remember one’s heritage, she has lost complete connection to her family heritage. Dee’s name change is a clear example that she longer wants to remember or be a part of her family’s history or customs and would rather follow a new path. She deliberately disregards the name that has been past through generations of her family, showing her disconnection with her family’s roots. Another instance in which Dee shows her disregard for her family’s heritage is when she is taking pictures of Mama and Maggie in front of the house. Dee never once takes a picture with her family or in front of the house. Instead, she takes pictures of her family in front of her house, symbolically showing that she wished to separate herself from her family and from her childhood home. The fact that Dee does not want to be in a picture with Mama or Maggie shows her separation from her family heritage. Dee not only wishes to separate herself from her family, but also disapproves of her family’s lifestyle. She blatantly expresses this view when she tells Maggie, “You ought to try to make of yourself, too, Maggie. It’s really a new day for us. But from the way you and Mama still live you’d never know that. Dee clearly disapproves of the way her family is leaving, which is she wishes to break with all connection to her family heritage. Dee also ironically tells Mama that she does not understand her heritage when in fact it is Dee who has lost connection to her true heritage.
In “Everyday Use,” Dee exchanges her true identity for a forced observance of African culture. The reader sees a clear case of irony when Dee so meticulously attempts to remember her African heritage while blatantly disregarding that of her family. The great emphasis Dee puts on heritage is ironic due to her forgetting her family heritage. One lesson that can be interpreted from this story is to have one’s priorities straight. Dee puts observance to the new trend of African culture before her family. She so avidly wishes to break with the modest lifestyle of her family that she loses all connection with them. In breaking with her family, Dee actually loses connection to her true roots. To Mama, Maggie, and the reader, this loss is clear. To Dee, it is not. (820).
When Dee returns home from college, she takes careful steps to display that she is connected with the African traditions of her ancestors. The reader first notices her African “associations” when she greets her family with the broken-up African phrase “Wa-su-zo-Tean-o.” The fact that Dee’s initial embrace with her family consists of a poorly recited African phrase displays that Dee is attempting to show off her connectedness to her roots. In the story, when Dee recites this phrase, it is broken up into syllables, as if Dee had difficulty pronouncing this language. The fact that Dee had trouble with the phrase shows that her attention to African heritage is somewhat forced and somewhat fraudulent. Dee also attempts to display her connectedness to African culture when she explains that she no longer wishes to be addressed as “Dee” but rather she wants to be called “Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo.” “Wangero” explains that she hated “being named after the people who oppress me.” She suddenly despises her original name, a name that was passed down through generations of her family. The new name and the use of African language when Dee arrives display that Dee is making a strong effort to appear connected with her African heritage. However, the reader can clearly see that this newfound connectedness is not a real desire to remember her roots, but rather a forced adherence to the new trend of African culture. During this time of the civil rights campaign, name changing and other African traditions became fashionable and popular among African-American youths. These instances lead the reader to believe that Dee has no real interest in her heritage, but is changing her name and speaking Swahili in order to be a part of the new African-American trend.
Perhaps the reason Dee wishes to be a part of this new African-American trend is that she is no longer a part of her family’s life or culture. Ironically, while Dee is meticulously attempting to remember her African heritage and speaking about how important it is to remember one’s heritage, she has lost complete connection to her family heritage. Dee’s name change is a clear example that she longer wants to remember or be a part of her family’s history or customs and would rather follow a new path. She deliberately disregards the name that has been past through generations of her family, showing her disconnection with her family’s roots. Another instance in which Dee shows her disregard for her family’s heritage is when she is taking pictures of Mama and Maggie in front of the house. Dee never once takes a picture with her family or in front of the house. Instead, she takes pictures of her family in front of her house, symbolically showing that she wished to separate herself from her family and from her childhood home. The fact that Dee does not want to be in a picture with Mama or Maggie shows her separation from her family heritage. Dee not only wishes to separate herself from her family, but also disapproves of her family’s lifestyle. She blatantly expresses this view when she tells Maggie, “You ought to try to make of yourself, too, Maggie. It’s really a new day for us. But from the way you and Mama still live you’d never know that. Dee clearly disapproves of the way her family is leaving, which is she wishes to break with all connection to her family heritage. Dee also ironically tells Mama that she does not understand her heritage when in fact it is Dee who has lost connection to her true heritage.
In “Everyday Use,” Dee exchanges her true identity for a forced observance of African culture. The reader sees a clear case of irony when Dee so meticulously attempts to remember her African heritage while blatantly disregarding that of her family. The great emphasis Dee puts on heritage is ironic due to her forgetting her family heritage. One lesson that can be interpreted from this story is to have one’s priorities straight. Dee puts observance to the new trend of African culture before her family. She so avidly wishes to break with the modest lifestyle of her family that she loses all connection with them. In breaking with her family, Dee actually loses connection to her true roots. To Mama, Maggie, and the reader, this loss is clear. To Dee, it is not. (820).
1 comment:
Gary,
You said, "However, the reader can clearly see that this newfound connectedness is not a real desire to remember her roots, but rather a forced adherence to the new trend of African culture." I think that's a good point--that Dee's interest is in an abstract or intellectual principle of Black pride, while in reality her shame over her own family's humble life has never left her.
I also like the way you end: "She so avidly wishes to break with the modest lifestyle of her family that she loses all connection with them. In breaking with her family, Dee actually loses connection to her true roots. To Mama, Maggie, and the reader, this loss is clear. To Dee, it is not."--clear ideas, clear sentences, simple words.
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