Beginning of Essay
By contrasting the family characters in "Everyday Use," Walker illustrates the mistake by some of placing the significance of heritage solely in material objects. Walker presents Mama and Maggie, the younger daughter, as an example that heritage in both knowledge ....

Middle of Essay
.... clean a hog as mercilessly as a man. I can work outside all day, One winter I knocked a bull calf straight in the brain with a sledge hammer and had the meat hung up to chill before nightfall. (Walker 289) And Maggie is the daughter, "homely and ashamed of the burn scars down her arms and legs," (Walker 288) who helps Mama by making "the yard so clean and wavy" (Walker 288) and washes dishes "in the kitchen over the dishpan" (Walker 293). Neither Mama nor Maggie are 'modernly' educated persons; "I [Mama] never had an education myself. Sometimes Maggie reads to me. She stumbles along good- naturedly She k ....