Summary:

Alice Walker wrote "Everday Use" (1973) during the rise of Black Power's political influence, a movement that emphasized racial pride and identity by celebrating blackness through their slogan: "Black is beautiful." This movement challenged the commonly held idea that blacks were inferior to whites through a renewed interest in African culture and heritage. The Black Arts Movement (1965-1975)  is considered to be the artistic end to Black Power and the beginning of multiculturalism where black writers showed the world that assimilation is not necessary in our society. In keeping with the goals of Black Power, Dee changes her name, sports an Afro, and wears clothes that were popular at the time in an attempt to commodify her African Heritage. Ironically, Dee accuses her family of lacking appreciation for their heritage while she is merely interested in it because it is socially "in," while her family is still living it. In creating this new image, she in fact rejects her family heritage and ties to the rural south, demonstrating the contrast between the city, her new way of life, and the country, her mother and sister's life.  This is an example of Regionalism because Alice Walker herself was from the old south and sees the old way of life disappearing as the inauthentic city penetrates the country, trying to create a certain experience. 

Toni Morrison's, the patron saint of postermodernism multiculturalism, "Recitatif" explores the ambiguities of racial identity by centering the story around race relations with racial markers blurred or removed. Because Twyla and Roberta's races are equivocal, Morrison forces readers to assign racial identities to the women based on the reader's own racial assumptions. This is Morrison's technique of highlighting social binaries by tweaking perspectives.

word count: 285 words 

Passages:

"What happend to 'Dee'?" I wanted to know.

"She's dead," Wangero said. "I couldn't bear it any longer, being named after the people who oppress me."

"You know as well as me you were named after your aunt Dicie," I said. (Walker, 3013)

• By changing her name, Dee believes to reconnect with her ancestry because she has removed an invisible symbol of white oppression. However, Dee’s mother explains that her name, Dee, connects her with Aunt Dicie, Grandma Dee, and other family members that stretching  “back beyond the Civil War” (3013). Dee's name change illustrates her misunderstanding of  her true family history, and shows her indulgence in the African "heritage." 

"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 try to make something of yourself, to, Maggie. It's really a new day for us. But from the way you and Mama still live you'd never know it." (Walker, 3016)

• While Dee accuses her mother and sister of rejecting their heritage in their way of life, it is in fact Dee who has severed ties with her family heritage.  Her mother and sister embrace their history as it is a daily part of their lives.  This is ironic because Dee scolds them for the way they "still live."  However, she is the one who does not incorporate any of her family heritage into her life, except for materialistic purposes that aid her in projecting her new image.  

 "And you were right. We didn't kick her. It was the gar girls. Only them. But, well, I wanted to. I really wanted to hurt her. I said we did it, too. You and me, but that's not true. And I don't want you to carry that around. It was just that I wanted to do it so bad that day-wanting to is doing it." (Morrison, 2698)

• This troubling anecdote from Twyla and Roberta's past illustrates Morrison's use of ambiguity, which she incorporates throughout the story to depict both racial and physical trauma.  While Twyla recalls the gar girls beating and tripping Maggie, a mute woman at the institution, Roberta remembers that Twyla and herself actually beat her and she remembers Maggie to be black. Although Roberta admits hat she was lying, her clouded memory is an example of racial ambiguity. Because the incident would be completely different if Twyla herself had beaten this black woman, Twyla experiences the effects of racial ambiguity similar to the effects felt by the reader. 
• This is another moment in a story about two main characters of different races where race is crucial,  but all indications of which race a character is are removed. 

Key Terms: 

Black Power: A political movement in the 1960s and 1970s whose goal was to emphasize racial pride and identity. Their slogan "black is beautiful" highlights the idea that blackness is not a problem or negative. The followers of this movement changed their clothing, hair (the Afro), and names to connect more closely with their African heritage.

Black Arts Movement: The artistic end to Black Power from 1965-1975 and arguably the root of  multiculturalism because of its influence on black writers who rejected assimilation into a white-dominant society.  This is a seminal movement which allowed other minorities to gain a strong presence in the arts.