Instilled HeritageEssay Preview: Instilled HeritageReport this essayInstilled HeritageAlice Walker usually puts herself into characters that she writes about in her stories. However, you dont understand this unless you know about her. Staring with this let us find out about who she is and where she came from. When recounting the life of Alice Walker, you find out that she was born to sharecroppers in Eatonton, Georgia in 1944 and was the baby of eight children. She lost one of her eyes when her brother shot her with a BB gun by accident. She was valedictorian of her class in high school and with that and receiving a scholarship; she went to Spelman, a college for black women, in Atlanta. She then transferred to Sarah Lawrence College in New York and during her time there went Africa as an exchange student. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Sarah Lawrence in 1965. She was active in the Civil Rights Movement of the 60s and as of the 90s she is still an involved activist. She started her own publishing company in 1984, Wild Tree Press. She is an acclaimed writer and has even received a Pulitzer Prize for the movie, The Color Purple. What is it about her that makes her works so meaningful and persuasive? What provoked her to write what she has?
One of her works, a short story called Everyday Use, is a story that she herself can be pictured in. During the opening of this story you find a woman with her two daughters. She and one of her daughters, Maggie, have just cleaned and beautified the yard of their new house. It is very comforting sitting under the Elm tree that is present and blocks the wind from going through the house. It is a place that you feel enveloped in comfort and love. Maggie and Dee, the other daughter are very different, and it is very apparent that mother, is not your everyday woman. She, the mother, is “a larger woman that can kill and clean a hog as mercilessly as a man (American Lit, p. 2470). She has no problems doing what needs to be done in order to feed and protect her family. However, the daughters are quite opposite; you have the one, Maggie that has been badly burned and is much scarred, and then Dee, the African Princess want to be. Maggie is very envious of her sister and is waiting for the day that she leaves, to further her education. Mother only made it to second grade and back then there wasnt much to say or do about it, so she settled with what she had. Through the church they raised enough money for Dee to go to Augusta to school. It is here in the story, when Dee leaves that the meaning of Everyday Use is found.
While Dee is gone Maggie and Mother are doing whatever needs to be done around the house, to survive. Dee would write every now and again, and told her Mother, no matter where she, the Mother, lived, she would always come and see her, but she wouldnt bring any friends. Upon Dees visit, she arrives with a man that greets everyone, Asalamalakim, upon exiting the vehicle. Mother confuses this with his name and is very unsuccessful in trying to pronounce it. She is told to call him Hakim-a-Barber. Her daughter Dee also tells her mother that she has changed her name and it is now, Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo. This name, Wangero, has a personal meaning to Alice Walker in the fact that while on her trip as an exchange student in Africa, the name Wangero is the name that was given to her while she was there.
Prophecy
Wangero and her two siblings are still in school when they encounter the Prophet of Allah (PBUH) to help them understand their lives. As they are trying to survive, a mysterious man enters and they have to cross back from the other side at various hours. With the help of Wangero’s best friend, he becomes a hero and helps them on their journey across the desert and their first mission is to find and rescue Pheem Pheem, whose brother is killed in an accident. After completing the mission with all of them, she and her brothers decide to go to the capital of Nairobi to help Nairobi Mayor Jami Tooku Nairobi. Upon arriving at the city, they are greeted by the Prophet (PBUH) in the form of a tall white man with a red, white and blue striped coat, who greets them on their way.
In “Mara Haj Ibrahim” they are welcomed by a number of beautiful, beautiful people, including Zabihullah, the man they meet on their way to her village to help them find her family. Later they get along with the Nairobi government and the Nairobi Police Department when they meet the young man they befriend back at the temple. They leave the temple, where Zabihullah appears to be still living in hiding.
After making a detour through the temple, they make their way up a steep ridge and on their descent they encounter a man in white clothing, who is hiding behind a bush. The Nairobi police, however, are surprised to find out that the Nairobi City Police have kidnapped and murdered Zabihullah, and their police chief, who seems to be a former soldier, is their nephew. As Zabihullah and his family pass by the people there, they discover that his brother’s family were killed by a terrorist group when he was a child—this would have given them the motivation to kill Zabihullah and his family.[4]
During their journey back to Nairobi the couple are kidnapped by several gunmen and murdered.[5]
Wangero and her friends go on an adventure. The main attraction of this story is that the Prophet (PBUH) has been able to save his wife from a terrorist group that had brought them into captivity. It may also be that the Prophet (PBUH) had a great understanding with both of the women, though many of the details are completely unclear. It is unknown whether this was a coincidence or the decision of Jami Tooku’s actions. However, although it is uncertain, what may have been is known to Alice Walker and Kemanjo.
Wangero and her brother Alice are also on their way back to Cairo when they encounter this powerful man. He is a young doctor with a deep history of battling poverty. Alice is concerned about this situation to Zabihullah, who wants to make sure they can get the men out of
Moving to the trivial meaning of the short story, we later find Dee along with her mother,sister and Hakim, at the dinner table, having, none the less, pork. Hakim had stated that he did not eat pork and collards, yet Dee is more than happy to help herself to everything that is available. While sitting at dinner, she sees the churn that is in the corner and states that she wants to take the top home and make it a center piece as well as she wants the dasher as well, the wooden rod used to make butter. She can do something fancy with it as well. She continues after dinner going through the house searching through some old belongings, and she finds some quilts. She tells her mother that she wants these and that she will hang them to show everyone. The quilts were hand crafted through the years by many family members. She said she is searching for her heritage and that she knows what to do with them. Mother explains that she has already told Maggie that she could have them, and Dee is very infuriated and tells her that if Dee gets them she will probably “be backward enough to put them to everyday use” (Literature Book, p. 2474). Her mother hopes that would be the case because they