Alice Walker’s short story Everyday Use focuses on the life of an African-American mother, Mrs. Johnson, and her two daughters, Maggie and Dee. Through the two daughters, Alice reveals the different ways people embrace their cultural heritage with time. On the other hand, Jhumpa Lahiri’s short story Interpreter of Maladies focuses on an Indian family, the Dases, born and raised in America and visiting India as tourists. In her story, Jhumpa explains how culture is important in shaping one’s perception of life (Lahiri 12). Both authors, therefore, focus on the theme of cultural heritage and how it has affected people over time. However, the characters in these two stories are somehow different in expressing the theme of cultural heritage. Most of Alice’s characters adhere to this theme, while Jhumpa’s characters seem to deviate from it, as will be elaborated on further in the essay.
The theme of cultural heritage in literature is expressed by the degree to which the characters embrace their past generations’ cultural activities. In Everyday use, Alice uses the quilt as a symbol to bring out the theme of cultural heritage among African-Americans. In the story, the quilt is of family value, as according to the mother, such clothes were worn by the girls’ great-grandmother and their great-grandfather as part of his uniform during the civil war. The act of quilting is considered a traditional activity among the African-Americans majorly engaged by women since the slavery eras (Martin 30). Therefore, having such an item around, as well as one of the daughters learning how to quilt from her grandmother, shows the preservation of the African-American heritage in the family.
Additionally, Alice uses Mrs. Johnson and Maggie’s characters to strongly bring out the theme of cultural heritage through one’s relationship with it. In Everyday Use, Mrs. Johnson and Maggie seem too involved with their culture as they consider it a treasure. The two work towards preserving their culture, mostly seen through Maggie, who learns to quilt from her grandmother and keeps on quilting during the current times. Mrs. Johnson seems to support her as she considers Maggie’s act of keeping on quilting and putting it to everyday use as a way of preserving culture. According to Mrs. Johnson, this is how the quilt should be used. Therefore, Alice elaborates on the importance of preserving one’s culture to stay connected to one’s heritage.
On the other hand, Jhumpa also brings out the theme of cultural heritage through her characters. However, the characters in Interpreter of Maladies seem to not fully embrace their cultural heritage, which the writer considers a problem. The Das family is an Indian family born and raised in America. According to (Jhumpa 12), these characters have no originality as despite being Indians, they fully embrace the American culture, thus lacking any knowledge about their Indian cultural heritage. They visit India once in a while to visit the children’s grandparents, who moved to America in search of work but have returned to India after retiring. As a result, the family does not know what Indian culture entails. During their visit to India as tourists, they seem surprised by the scenery, including monkeys hanging from trees along the road, something they have only seen at the zoo in America. Also, the idea of the steering wheels on the right-hand side seems confusing, especially to the children, as in America, the wheel is on the left-hand side. Therefore, the family seemed to have a culture clash between the Indian and the American cultural heritage.
However, Jhumpa contradicts the Dases’ traits to that of Mr. Kapasi on the theme of cultural heritage. Mr. Kapasi is Indian and recognizes some common cultural heritage that the Das family does not. He acts as the family’s tour guide during their trip to India. He seems so familiar with the place that he keeps educating the Dases on the heritage of the place, like the hanuman, the local name for monkeys. Additionally, Jhumpa portrays the preservation of cultural heritage through Mr. Kapasi’s marriage (Noor 365). According to Indian culture, people get married through arranged marriages, and that is how Mr. Kapasi met and married his wife, Mrs. Kapasi. He is also shocked by Mr. Das’ sexual behavior that he portrays during his courtship with Mrs. Das, as he has never seen his wife naked. Lastly, when Mrs. Das opens up to Mr. Kapasi about her infidelity in her marriage, this concept offends him as that is not right according to his cultural heritage. Therefore, a huge difference between the Das family and Mr. Kapasi’s cultural heritage brings out the different traits in Jhumpa’s character and Alice’s.
Despite having some similarities in the theme of cultural heritage, Alice’s and Jhumpa’s characters seem to have some differences in portraying this theme. Alice’s characters in Everyday Use appear to treasure and value their culture more than Jhumpa’s characters in Interpreter of Maladies. Mrs. Johnson, Maggie, Dee, and Hakim-a-barber all adhere to their cultures differently but with respect. Mrs. Johnson and Maggie have different views on preserving culture compared to Dee. According to the two, preserving culture helps in remembering their loved ones through using the items and making others. In contrast, according to Dee, culture preservation entails displaying the cultural heirlooms in her house for artistic value and not for use (Walker 1973). However, all these characters have the idea of cultural preservation in mind despite their different ways.
Jhumpa’s characters in Interpreter of Maladies seem to have different cultural heritages and even portray them differently. For starters, the Das family is of Indian heritage but not of India, as they have fully embraced and practiced the American culture (Noor 366). This is from their behavior, dressing, and marriage practices, which seem to differ from the Indian culture. During their visit to India as tourists, Mr. Das is seen using a tourist guidebook titled India to know their whereabouts in the country. On the other hand, despite her Indian heritage, his wife also seems to care less about her surroundings during the trip. Mr. and Mrs. Das are foreigners despite India being their parents’ home. Mr. Das even takes pride in his foreigner status as he confidently tells Mr. Kapasi about his American roots. Therefore, Jhumpa’s characters seem to be of confused heritage as they act differently than their intended cultural heritage as a result of a lack of their cultural roots.
Conclusively, Alice and Jhumpa bring out the theme of cultural heritage in their stories. Through their characters, we see how different cultures are represented, practiced, and preserved in their respective heritage. For Alice, she brings out the African-American cultural heritage and its preservation through the quilting practice. Jhumpa brings out the Indian cultural heritage of marriage through Mr. Kapasi in contrast to the Das family, who are Indian but of American culture. However, the two stories contrast the characters’ behavior concerning the abovementioned theme. Alice’s characters seem to value their culture, although with different views. On the other hand, Jhumpa’s characters lack roots in their culture, thus practicing another. All in all, they seem to be controlled by a certain culture that affects their perception of life.
Works Cited
Lahiri, Jhumpa. “Interpreter of Maladies.” Houghton Mifflin; the United States, 1999, pp. 12-29.
Martin, Jennifer. “The Quilt Threads Together Sisterhood, Empowerment and Nature in Alice Walker’s The Colour Purple and ‘Everyday Use .”Journal of Intercultural Disciplines, Vol. 14, 2017, Pp. 27-44.
Noor, Ronny. “Review: Interpreter of Maladies.” World Literature Today, Vol. 74, No. 2, (English-Language Writing from Malaysia, Singapore, and the Philippines) 2004, Pp. 365-366.
Walker, Alice. “Everyday Use.” 1973.
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