'Tradition And Tradition In Alice Walker's Everyday Use'

In Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use”, tradition and culture play a big part in the story’s theme; tradition and culture also play a big part in Sherman Alexie’s “This Is What it Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona.” The effects that culture and tradition had in “Everyday Use” were similar to Sherman Alexie’s story but the ways that they were displayed were not the same. In many ways, “Everyday Use” showed the effect that culture had on its’ characters mainly Dee. Through the stories Thomas-Builds-the-Fire tells, tradition and culture have a similar effect on Victor. Both Dee and Victor were affected negatively by their surroundings. Whether it’s Dee becoming her own person or Victor struggling to find his identity, culture and tradition have huge roles
From the first page on, these two components made “Everyday Use” the story that it was. For example, the narrator explains that “In real life I’m a large, big-boned woman with rough, man working hands. I can kill and clean a hog as mercilessly as a man” (590). This quote explained how much of a hard working woman the narrator was and it explained the type of culture she lived in because only rural families kill and clean hogs. It showed how the narrator took pride in what she could do which was part of her own culture. Tradition in “Everyday Use” was symbolized by the family’s quilt. This quilt stood for so much because there were pieces of clothing on it from all of the family members of past generations. For example, “In both of them were scraps of dresses Grandma Dee had worn fifty and more ago. Bits and pieces of Grandpa Jarrell’s Paisley shirts” (594-595). The tradition of this quilt meant a lot to the family. The quilt was meant to be put to “everyday use” which was a portion of the quilt’s tradition. These were some of the reasons why Dee wasn’t able to have the quilt. Not only did tradition and culture play a huge role in “Everyday Use”, it also had an effect of one of the story’s main
Dee wanted to distance herself from her family’s culture; she wanted to become her own person and have her own identity. When Dee changed her name to Wangero it showed that she didn’t want to be a part of the family “tradition”:“Well”, I say. “Dee.” “No Mama,” she says. “Not ‘Dee’, Wangero Leewanika Kamanjo!” […] “I couldn’t bear it any longer being named after the people who oppress me” (593). Dee believed that her family held her back from accomplishing things in life because they were so traditional. When Dee used “oppress” it showed how she left her family as if they were “dead weight”. Even though she felt like her past oppressed her, she also missed it. For example, “Oh Mama!” she cried. […] I never knew how lovely these benches are. You can feel the rump prints” (594). “Oh Mama!” demonstrated that Dee was reminiscent over some of the things she had left behind with her new identity. Culture was a big part of Dee’s life and these were the effects that it had on her. Sherman Alexie uses tradition and culture as a mainstay in his short story as