The short story we read this pod was published the year I was born. Everyday Use, from the In Love and Trouble collection, is one of several short stories published together that year. Even though the piece is forty years old (not that *I* am, of course, just this piece!), there's a timeless element to the characters. There's still quarrels in many families about who should inherit what. Everyone knows a family where one kid has decided to chuck their own identity in favor of what he/she thinks is a superior lifestyle.
I did find this little snippet that I think says a lot about the person of Alice Walker, and I love that it is in her own words...
"One with the whole organism of life." Wow. Alice Walker writes with her soul.
Here's another clip, where other people speak to those kinds of observations about Alice Walker, concluding in some thoughts about herself and her choices. (It's a trailer for a PBS special.)
Alice Walker has a daughter herself. Here is her daughter, Rebecca Walker, talking a little about being Alice Walker's daughter. However, she also seems to give credit to all the women who came before her.
Alice's daughter felt she had a "very rich life" in that clip. I think that you can see a similar expression, but in a very tragic way, in the fictional character of Dee (Wangero)...
Who really values her heritage? Dee, or her mama?
I agree with you wholeheartedly. "The Color Purple" is exceptional, and I loved reading "Everyday Use" as well. Alice Walker is among the hallowed black women writers who write novels that show the struggle of African Americans in such a human way that even those who have no concept of what it is like to inhabit the skin of African American women are able to feel deeply the emotions and struggle of the characters in the novels. I felt so strongly for Maggie in "Everyday Use," who was pushed aside by her sister in so many ways. Alice Walker is one of the most important and gifted writers in history. I wasn't aware that there was a film version of "Everyday Use." Thank you for posting that clip.
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