Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use” is read worldwide, and people have concluded that the main aim of the story was to define an identity. Alice Walker argued on a number of points in which, the most prominent one being the problem for the individuals to hold onto their personal identities instead of losing them according to the standards made by society. There are a number of other things which are included in the story and explain the core importance of the family and unity. The main aim of the paper is to discuss the core values of the story, which Alice walker indirectly tried to convey to the reader with the help of narrations and examples.
In the initial phase of the story, the author explained Dee’s community deficiency towards her family, and the core values in Saint Leo University’s code of conduct are that belonging, interdependence as well as Unity which are based on mutual trust as well as respect to create some collective environment to engage others to listen, learn, serve and change respectively. Discussing this fact, the author tried to explain that Dee has lost the identity through which she was identified, which is her family (Walker, 2004). According to the perspective of the writer, it can be explained that Dee refused to be called by the name that her mother gave her when she was born. Dee’s grandmother is also mentioned, and the art she had of quilting the quits, which are amazing art pieces and could be hung on the walls. Dee had a negative remark when the discussion was about the quilt as an heirloom, and she straightforwardly answered that she didn’t even remember her grandmother, so give these things away or hang them up.
The author also expressed the overall personal development of every family member individually. The most prominent quotes explained that the family was highly affected by the house fires. Maggie, the youngest member of Dee’s family, burns his arm, and her mother says that she would never let her be beautiful as Dee. Dee used her beauty as well as intelligence for preeminence, but Dee’s mother was expressed against her (Walker, 2004). The mother was a good character, and she didn’t think too higher of herself in the story. All the characters used accurately their resources for the personnel development which is narrated by the author in an extraordinary way.
In the end, Alice Walker addressed the unity found in the family. Walker gave a lot many examples in which he tried to express his point that Dee had no integrity among the family and didn’t show equality but, most of the time, superiority. Her views towards the quilt as well as the heirlooms is just an art and nothing else, but in reality, they are the most precious items in a family and are protected from generation to generation to keep the identity. There is another point that is deficient in Dee but was seen in other family members. It was honesty and it helped the family to be united and would have integrity. Dee was presented as nether honest, not an identity keeper (Walker, 2004).
In a nutshell, it can be concluded that the core values discussed in the story presented by Alice walker are family integrity, personal development, and identity keeping. Dee didn’t show positivity towards any of the family’s positive approaches. The author presented Dee as a character who has a lack of community, lack of integrity, and overall personal development problems. The person’s heritage makes the memories alive for centuries, and the person is reminded for centuries due to these heritages.