"Everyday Use" and heritage

In response to Rose's post regarding the concept of heritage in Alice Walker's "Everyday Use," I would have to say that it is undeniable to argue that Walker goes out of her way to make a distinct difference between what heritage means to sisters Dee (later Wangero and Maggie).

However, I would have to vehemently disagree with one of Rose's points - namely, that "the longer generations stay in America, their language, culture and traditions begin to fade." I believe that this is precisely the opposite of what Walker attempted to convey in her story. Through her description of Maggie and Dee, Walker certainly seems to choose sides between the two sisters. To her, Maggie's understanding of heritage is the right and true form. This culminates in one of the final scenes when the narrator and mother of the story stands up and defends Maggie's understanding of the importance of their family history.

Thus, in this case it is not that language, culture, and traditions are fading. Walker makes a point through her story to depict that Maggie and her mother and their family have created a new culture - not a culture any worse than that which Dee chooses to look back upon. The history of the family as slaves in America is just as important as their beginnings in Africa. The whittled wood, worn bench, or old quilt do not need to be ways to look back on what used to be - they are ways to recognize what has been and what is in the present.