Unit One Blog Post 4

Everyday Use by Alice Walker

 For this short story, I chose to focus on one of the questions from the included after the reading.
3. As evidence of current social movements and as innovations that the mother responds to, what do the following have in common: (a) Dee's new name and costume; (b)Hakim's behavior and attitudes; (c) the "beef-cattle peoples down the road"; (d) Dee's concern for her "heritage"?

 I think the overall theme in this short story is the idea of someone's natural heritage. Dee chooses a new name, Wangeroo. I believe it is an interesting choice and actually preferred Dee. Upon being asked what happened to her old name by Mama, Wangaroo says, "She's dead...I couldn't bear it any longer, being named after the people who oppress me" (Walker 177). Dee believes that because she is black she must change her name to something more stereotypical in order to save her heritage. She chooses a more "African" costume also because I believe she is trying to outright display her heritage. Hakim seems awkward to me. The way he greets Maggie is awkward and pushes her away and makes her shy. He seems like he feels more educated and he is better than them because he can display his heritage and where he came from better. I don't quite understand the "beef-cattle people from down the road". Although I think Mama compares Hakim to them. He just seems weird. He says, "I accept some of their doctrines, but farming and raising cattle is not my style" (Walker 178). I don't know if he knows that Mama is kind of making fun of him. She also obviously does not approve of their being together and I think she hopes they aren't married. I think that, although the theme of this short story is heritage, Wangaroo does not really understand her own heritage. She seems to think she does, but she really doesn't. In trying to stand out and display where she is from, she has actually lost her own roots in where she came from.