African-American Heritage Is a Lengthy, Essay

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This fact and the preceding quotation proves that Maggie views heritage as an interactive process, unlike the viewpoint of her sister. The fact that Maggie's mother ultimately gives her the quilts alludes to the fact that she shares this belief as well.

The conclusion of this story in which Maggie's mother gives her the valued quilts appears to suggest that the author believes that the more interactive application of heritage, as opposed to the passive reverence of heritage as art, is more valid. Walker does not seem to pose the notion that these two views of heritage are incompatible with one another, however. Instead, she indicates that Dee is simply not able to understand the value in the form of heritage that her mother and sisters represent and practice. The following quotation which ends the story and precedes Dee's departure, alludes to this fact.

"You just don't understand," she said, as Maggie and I came out to the car.

"What don't I understand?" I wanted to know.

"Your heritage," she said, and then she turned to Maggie, kissed her, and said, "You ought to make something of yourself, too, Maggie. It's really a new day for us. But from the way you and Mama still live you'd never know it" (Walker).

The diction in this passage shows that Maggie cannot understand her mother and sister's conception of heritage. She speaks disparagingly of the way that the two "still live" as though she is blissfully unaware that heritage, the transmission and preservation of culture, is ultimately expressed through living. One's cultural heritage is how one chooses to live one's life -- the customs and habits one engages in while doing so. Even if Maggie were to sleep with the valued quilts and wear them out in a matter of years, she would still be engaging with her heritage and using the quilts for their original prupose. Dee is not able to conceive of this reality.

Yet, this does not mean that the other two cannot fathom Dee's perception of heritage, which implies that there is some validity to Dee's idea of heritage as well. Hers is not a complete disregard for the traditions of her family's history, which is readily evinced by the fact that certain objects and tokens of her family's past has value to her. She just does not incorporate that tradition into her life on a practical, everyday basis.

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She is eager to eschew the name her family gave to her for a name that is emblematic of an even more distant -- yet no less valuable -- African heritage. Her reasons for doing so are fairly understandable, and which the subsequent quotation makes abundantly clear. "I couldn't bear it any longer, being named after the people who oppress me" (Walker. The oppressor, of course, is those of European ancestry who readily enslaved Africans and African-Americans, and who gave them new names of European ancestry in the process. There is certainly nothing wrong with wanting a name that does not reflect such a heritage. If Dee could only learn to value her own family's heritage as much as she does the ancient tribe that birthed them, then she could reconcile the two and prove that such heritages are not incompatible.

However, as previously mentioned, Walker had demonstrated to the reader that Dee only understands the sentimental value, and not the everyday value, in her family's history. Yet this fact does not prevent either Maggie or her mother from being able to maintain their own adherence to the living incorporation of their history and also value Dee's sentimental approach. More importantly, Maggie and her mother could also incorporate aspects of their African heritage into their daily lives as well, such as adopting names that are not of a European ancestry. Regardless, the author makes it clear to the reader that the everyday application of heritage is more important than that of….....

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