Alice Walker "Use"

     Alice Walker's "Use" took a few readings from me to remember that I had read this a very long time ago, in 8th grade. Reflecting on roots has always fascinated me since I was a kid, when I saw a special on the human genome project that traced the human genetic line from the first African tribes all the way to Queens, one of the most diversified districts on earth. I couldn't imagine having a workable concept of America without understanding it in the context of the Civil War or slavery and the African American experience. Writers such as Harriet Jacobs, Frederick Douglass, Malcolm X, Gwendolyn Brooks, Toni Morrison, W.E.B. DuBois, and Alice Walker give life to our complex heritage for current Americans. 

    In Alice Walker's essay “In Search of our Mother’s Gardens,” she writes on the Smithsonian's anonymous quilt, “If we could locate this ‘anonymous’ woman from Alabama, she would turn out to be one of our grandmothers.” There is a note of the human family in Alice Walker's "Use." Her build to her defense of Maggie is gradual. There is a rejoicing in their heritage in the first scene that is so perfect--you can feel the "swept" fine sand, and the "breezes that never" enter the house.  Underpinning the entire conflict is the Church--it seems like the whole story takes place under the elm of a churchyard. The monetary collection is the economic drive for Dee's education. It's also some current of power that Mrs. Johnston taps into when she takes back the quilt to give to Maggie. 

    Cultural space is an important topic for anyone trying to understand their own heritage. Instead of just living in textbooks or in an easily defined genre, I relate to the story's acknowledgement that our cultural space is born of the objects and customs we use in everyday life. For me the story ignites a montage of my own cultural spaces--tables during childhood, the park with my friends, town bond fires, summers in Finland. The tone of the story ends on a conversational note, as if we can have this conversation about heritage with empathy. For all the violence of the African American experience that sits represented by the scars, by the fire and burning in the "Use," it's most important that the voice is clear, strong, gentle and most importantly, healing. 

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