Read the following excerpt from Alice Walker’s essay “In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens.” As you read the excerpt, consider the reading selection, “Everyday Use.” And so our mothers and grandmothers have, more often than not anonymously, handed on the creative spark, the seed of the flower they themselves never hoped to see: or like a sealed letter they could not plainly read. And so it is, certainly, with my own mother. Unlike "Ma" Rainey's songs, which retained their creator's name even while blasting forth from Bessie Smith's mouth, no song or poem will bear my mother's name. Yet so many of the stories that I write, that we all write, are my mother's stories . . . through years of listening to my mother's stories of her life, I have absorbed not only the stories themselves, but something of the manner in which she spoke, something of the urgency that involves the knowledge that her stories—like her life—must be recorded. It is probably for this reason that so much of what I have written is about characters whose counterparts in real life are so much older than I am. But the telling of these stories . . . was not the only way my mother showed herself as an artist. For stories, too, were subject to being distracted, to dying without conclusion. What are the central ideas of this text? How does Walker’s description of mothers in this excerpt from “In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens” relate to the reading selection, “Everyday Use”? Do you think Dee and Maggie would agree with this view? Cite evidence from each of the texts to support your response. Your response should be two to three paragraphs in length.

Alice Walker’s essay “In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens” discusses African American women’s ability to preserve their creative talents and hand them on to their children, despite being oppressed. Walker’s description of mothers in this excerpt is similar to the description of the character of Mama in her short story “Everyday Use.” In “Everyday Use,” Mama keeps the African American culture and heritage alive by using heirloom objects in everyday life. In her essay, Walker writes of keeping her mother’s stories alive through the stories that she writes today.  

In “Everyday Use,” both daughters have different personalities and views. Maggie would agree with the idea of accepting her mother and preserving her stories to retain her ancestral heritage. She learned their skills and remembers each story:

"Aunt Dee's first husband whittled the dash," said Maggie so low you almost couldn't hear her. "His name was Henry, but they called him Stash."

On the other hand, Dee, who is embarrassed by her family’s roots and chooses to shun them, going so far as to change her name and way of dress, would likely not agree with the idea that her “creative spark” was passed down from her mother and grandmothers and that their stories needed to be preserved and recorded for future generations.

Explanation:

Alice Walker’s essay “In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens” discusses African American women’s ability to preserve their creative talents and hand them on to their children, despite being oppressed. Walker’s description of mothers in this excerpt is similar to the description of the character of Mama in her short story “Everyday Use.” In “Everyday Use,” Mama keeps the African American culture and heritage alive by using heirloom objects in everyday life. In her essay, Walker writes of keeping her mother’s stories alive through the stories that she writes today.  

In “Everyday Use,” both daughters have different personalities and views. Maggie would agree with the idea of accepting her mother and preserving her stories to retain her ancestral heritage. She learned their skills and remembers each story:

"Aunt Dee's first husband whittled the dash," said Maggie so low you almost couldn't hear her. "His name was Henry, but they called him Stash."

On the other hand, Dee, who is embarrassed by her family’s roots and chooses to shun them, going so far as to change her name and way of dress, would likely not agree with the idea that her “creative spark” was passed down from her mother and grandmothers and that their stories needed to be preserved and recorded for future generations.

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