Connections to the Past: Dee's Sense of Heritage in "Everyday Use".
My Jewish grandfather was the only one of his family to make it out of Auschwitz, Poland alive. My very being is a constant reminder that he was lucky enough not only to survive the Holocaust, but to create an entire family. Because of our family's incredible tragedy, we value our connection to each other and the traditions and heirlooms that have been passed down through the generations. However, not all people value their heritage the same way, as the reader sees in the character of Dee in Alice Walker's "Everyday Use." While Dee attempts to embrace her roots, she does so in a superficial way. Alice Walker very cleverly sprinkles the short story with symbols and images which illustrate that Dee's interests are in displaying her heritage outside of herself rather than connecting with her roots in a very personal and meaningful way.
Right away, Walker presents the image of a yard and a house as a way to emphasize Dee's disconnection from her roots. Mama is completely comfortable being present and connected in the home she lives in, a place that is natural, with "tiny, irregular grooves" and is "like an extended living room" where she can "sit and look up into the elm tree and wait for breezes" (Walker 559). She actually lives and uses the yard as an integral part to her daily life, but Dee is only able to connect to the yard and the house through photographs. Dee "stoops down quickly and lines up picture after picture of [her mother] sitting there in front of the house with Maggie cowering behind. She never takes a shot without making sure the house is included" (Walker 562). Critic Joan S. Korenman states in her article "African-American Women Writers, Black Nationalism, and the Matrilineal Heritage" that Dee takes the pictures before greeting her mother illustrating that Dee is more interested in capturing her roots on film rather than embracing her heritage (145).
