In the story "Everyday Use," Alice Walker tells a tale of how a daughter's idea of heritage is distorted by society, and how her true heritage lies within her family. Walker conveys this theme by narrating the story from what is apparent to be the mother's point of view of how Dee, the oldest of the two daughters, does not have a grasp of her true heritage. Dee's idea of her heritage is clouded by her experiences away at school and her new friend Hakim-a-barber. .
The real Johnson family heritage is evident in Ms. Johnson's detailed description of daily activities around the house. It is easy to picture Ms. Johnson in her day-to-day activities with descriptions of events being this graphic, "One winter I knocked a bull calf straight in the brain between the eyes with a sledge hammer and had the meat hung up to chill before nightfall" (131). The reader almost needs to reread her descriptions to make sure she is talking about herself and not some large male farm hand. Her description of herself further adds credibility to her being a real women of rural Georgia in the late 60's, "In real life I am a large, big-boned women with rough, man-working hands" (131). Ms. Johnson is obviously a woman of her time, and her youngest daughter Maggie is sure to follow in her footsteps. .
While Maggie may be a shadow of her mother, Dee on the other hand is not. Dee would, however, like to appear to others as having this hard life background. Early on .
Ms. Johnson knows Dee is going to be different. She explains some of Dee's traits in an almost envious manner, "She would always look anyone in the eye. Hesitation was no part of her nature" (132). At times, Ms. Johnson seems proud of Dee's differences, but also troubled at some of the things she does. From the time Dee steps out of the car and begins snapping photos of the house and animals, to the end of the story where she asks to take items from the house, Dee is looking for ways to give off the appearance of the heritage that she thinks she has.
