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Grace Esselman
ENG 305
Dr. Pennington
Feminism Paper
Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use”: Overcoming Racist Stereotypes
There is a fine line between being proud of who you are and where you come from and in
discovering one’s own identity and individuality. It is individuality that distinguishes each
individual apart from their race and culture that they were born into, though this often makes
different races outcasts of white patriarchal society. The African American race was one race
that struggled to find their place in a mainly white dominated society, but eventually some strong
African American leaders, both male and female, emerged paving the way for others to follow in
their footsteps.
Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use” shows that valuing one’s own sense of self and
individuality proves to be more fulfilling than valuing society’s expectations. One of the central
focuses of the text is the idea of minority women thriving in society and blazing a path through
the stubborn white patriarchy to give others the option to further develop their individuality. This
idea is demonstrated in the final scenes of the story when Maggie no longer compares herself to
her sister and learns to appreciate the traditions and culture she was raised in. Patricia Hill
Collins makes the argument that skin color privileges people who are white; “Everyday Use”
acknowledges that Dee is African American, and that it is her willingness to conform and who
she really is that allows her to become an active member of society. “Everyday Use” paints Dee
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to look like she abandoned her culture and she comes across as very unlikeable due to the way
she treats her family in the end of the story. Looking beyond the text to the bigger picture, one
can see that Dee is fighting for a greater cause than trying to gain possession of her family’s
household objects. Dee is challenging her mother and sister to do something with their lives and
trying to wake them to the idea that the world is a big place and that there is a place for them in it
if they are willing to fight for it. Dee fights the stereotype of her race and becomes the femme
fatale of the story by becoming an active member of society. Despite the obvious dislike that
many readers and characters within the text feel towards Dee, she is able to overcome the
obstacle of her upbringing, race, and gender. Dee thrives in a society dominated by the white
race and patriarchy, instead becoming the femme fatale of Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use.”
African American men at this time held no place in society because they were a minority
race and this fact alone made it almost impossible for women to discover their place or even their
identity in a society ruled by men. In order to become a recognized member of society Dee
chooses to conceal her cultural identity so she can leave it behind and make something of her
life. Patricia Hill Collins makes the argument that skin color privileges certain individuals in her
article “Toward A New Vision.” However, in Dee’s case this argument should be revised to say
that an African American woman can achieve whatever she would like as long as she conforms
to society’s wishes and hides her culture. White patriarchal society oppresses African American
men and women by encouraging them to conform and disregard their cultural traditions. This
could explain why Dee becomes obsessed with acquiring her family artifacts and antiques so she
is able to display her culture in a way that will not hold her back from thriving in a society that
stereotypes her entire race as “irresponsible, wallowing in welfare, food stamps, and free
housing” (Woman’s Voices and Feminist Visions). Joe Sarnowski ‘s article explains that By
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changing her name Joe Samowski claims that she eliminated one of the last pieces of her
cultural identity that displays her intentional disconnection with her culture to make way for her
new identity. One of the stereotypes of African Americans that Dee aims to overcome is that
they are outcasts and live lives of poverty. In Feminism is for Everybody bell hooks explains that
she believes poverty to be a central woman’s issue because “white supremacist capitalist
patriarchal attempts to dismantle the welfare system in our society will deprive poor and indigent
women of access to even the most basic necessities of life: shelter and food” (hooks 51). By
marrying and leaving her culture behind Dee is able to call the shots in her own life instead of
living according to society’s prescribed stereotypes of her race and is able to make an identity for
herself, not only as an African American, but as a woman of society.
“Everyday Use” eliminates men completely and focuses on finding women’s identity in
society through Dee and her mother who are two of the strongest female characters in the story.
Both Dee and her mother are strong individuals in different ways but Dee takes after her mother
in her drive and ambition. Alice Walker gives no indication or mention of Dee and Maggie’s
father; however she does make it clear that their mother provides for them and does a fair
amount of hard manual labor: “In real life I am a large, big-boned woman with rough, manworking hands. I can kill and clean a hog as mercilessly as a man” (Walker 337). White
patriarchal society fails to be accepting of non white races, however, Dee is able to mold herself
and adjust her principles to fit in. On the other hand, Dee’s mother and sister are far too stubborn
and masculine to try to fit into the mold of a white woman and the typical housewife lifestyle.
Dee’s mother works hard and takes pride in providing for the family and even took it upon
herself to ensure that her oldest daughter got the best education without the help of a husband.
Maggie and her mother are very masculine and independent women who desire no man to care
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for them thus the white patriarchal society has no place for them. Because her mother and sister
fail to understand that to overcome racist stereotypes one must sacrifice who they are. Dee
begins to see her family as irresponsible and uncivilized which creates distance between them
and tends to make Dee’s character to be less liked by audiences.
The white patriarchal society disregards African Americans and women of any ethnicity
which makes it even harder for Dee to break away from the stereotypes of the culture she was
born into. In his article “Antagonized By The Text, Or, It Takes Two To Read Alice Walker’s
“Everyday Use,” Matthew Mullins explores Dee’s character and how she comes off to be very
unlikable and grapples with how audiences should feel about her character who breaks away
from traditional African American values to pursue her own identity. According to Mullins, Dee
is becoming more of a spectator than a member of her culture which creates distance between her
and her family, making readers feel wary about the way she begins to objectify her family and
their way of life that she no longer claims to be a part of. This becomes evident when Dee arrives
home looking for souvenirs from her upbringing to decorate her house in her “new” life and
when she is denied what she wants she accuses her mother of being incapable of “understanding
her heritage” (Walker 343). It is this manner that makes her unlikable, yet, this experience is
turning her into a strong, independent, and goal oriented black woman. Dee is blazing a trail, not
just for herself, but for women of all ages with high hopes and ambitions that extend beyond
society’s prescribed racist stereotypes. Dee aims to make something of herself in a society that
expects black women to conform and she wishes this same ambition upon her sister Maggie
“You ought to try to make something of yourself, too, Maggie. It’s really a new day for us. Bu t
from the way you and Mama still live you’d never know it” (Walker 343). It is unfortunate that
the text does not highlight Dee’s ambition instead of her disregard of her heritage.
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Dee is an African American woman born into an almost typical family comprised of a mother
and sister but strangely enough no father figure is mentioned. In her text The Will to Change:
Men, Masculinity, and Love, bell hooks explains the foundations of patriarchy and how it
becomes integrated into society. She claims that “blind obedience is the foundation upon which
patriarchy stands” because most of us assume these attitudes and behaviors through the families
we were born into while also being enforced by our school and religious systems in addition to
our mothers. Bell hooks further explains that blind obedience “is the repression of all emotions
except fear; the destruction of individual willpower; and the repression of thinking whenever it
departs from the authority figure’s way of thinking” (hooks 23).
Although Dee is forced to go in a separate direction from her culture and her family, she
does so with the intention of making a better life for herself beyond what society expects of an
African American woman. Dee’s efforts will pave the way for many women after her to have the
option to fit into white patriarchal society if that is what they want. Dee claimed that she changed
her name because she was “named after the people who oppress her” (Walker 340) when in fact
it is the influence of both patriarchal and racist society that causes oppression in Dee and people
in a similar position. Dee’s independence and drive at first make her out to be the villain of
“Everyday Use” when she is the femme fatal of the story who moves against the grain of white
supremacy and gender inequality to make a future for herself and African American women to
follow her.
Works Cited
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Shaw, Susan M., and Janet Lee.Women of Color and Their Struggle for Reproductive Justice.
Ed. Jael Sillman, Marlene Gerber Fried, Loretta Ross, and Elena R. Gutierrez. 3rd ed. New York,
New York: McGraw-Hill, 2007. 354-360. Print.
Shaw, Susan M., and Janet Lee. Toward a New Vision: Race, Class, and Gender as Categories
of Analysis and Connection. Ed. Patricia Hill Collins. 3rd ed. New York, New York: McGrawHill, 2007. 76-84. Print.
Shaw, Susan M., and Janet Lee. Oppression. Ed. Marilyn Frye, 3rd ed. New York, New York:
McGraw-Hill, 2007. 84-86. Print.
Mullins, Matthew. “Antagonized By The Text, Or, It Takes Two To Read Alice Walker’s
“Everyday Use.” Comparatist 37. (2013): 37-53. Humanities International Complete. Web. 22
Oct. 2014.
Sarnowski, Joe. “Destroying To Save: Idealism And Pragmatism In Alice Walker’s “Everyday
Use..” Papers On Language & Literature 48.3 (2012): Humanities International Complete. Web.
22 Oct. 2014.
Walker, Alice “Everyday Use.” Literature: A Portable Anthology. Boston: Bedford/St.Martin’s,
2009. 336-343. Print.
hooks, bell. Feminist is for Everybody. Cambridge, MA: South End Press, 2000. Print.
hooks, bell. The Will To Change: Men, Masculinity, and Love. New York, New York:
Washington Square Press, 2004. Print.