Shaping Self Identity

From the fashionable and expensive clothing that the character Dee in Alice Walker’s "Everyday Use" wears, Dee seems to come off as a person of great value and understanding. It may seem that at first glance, Dee’s mother and sister, in their tin-roof house and shabby clothing, are of little or no worth in "Everyday Use.” However, Walker creates these two sides of polar opposite characters, whose personalities and understanding of heritage show the many differences on material value and culture. Walker clearly identifies that there are outside social forces that shape the identity of a person, and actually can cause a change in someone that might never have occurred if they weren’t afflicted by these forces. The desire to fit in and represent African American pride has Dee following these forces and ignoring her own family’s heritage.

Sociologists believe that there are four social aspects that shape peoples identity; they are friends, family, media, and schools. (Andersen 69) Each of these aspects appears in Walkers short story changing the way Dee sees the world. The media and school are not as heavily portrayed in the text as the other two social aspects are; however,