In “Everyday Use,” Alice Walker explores two different approaches to the question of heritage when it comes to the formation of identity. One of these representations is in Mama, a woman whose education is in the land and work of her home. The other is in Dee, or Wangero, who got away from her home to seek a higher education and live a more urbane existence.
In a 2-3 page response, explore how these two women, the way they speak and dress, the objects around them and their relationships to those objects, and the unnamed but known history their people have in this country contribute to their understanding of their own identities.
If you would like to answer a more direct prompt, you might seek to find a “thesis” that answers the following questions: how is the African-American experience fragmented by definition or design? Can one choose their heritage? What kind of circumstances might justify a “chosen” heritage?