Analyzing word picture is the key to happen fiction’s commanding thought and cardinal insight–theme. Direct presentation–one character description technique–usually straight shows what characters are like by expounding. analysis. or another character’s description. The other manner to determine characters is to utilize the indirect presentation by depicting their actions and go forthing room for readers to develop their ain thoughts about the characters. “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker is a short narrative that expresses the struggles between people’s different attitudes and values of heritage.

This narrative is a dramatic narrative. but one that uses first-person point of position to narrate the narrative. which gives readers a fresh reading experience. In the narrative. Dee. a black lady who has been educated. comes to see her Mama and her younger sister. Maggie. Dee involvements in many of the daily-used heritages in the household and wants to take something back for art grasp. Mama does non decline any of Dee’s petitions until Dee wants to hold the inherited comforter. which she plans to give to Maggie as a dowery.

Dee does non understand the behavior of Maggie and Mama of seting the hoarded wealths into mundane usage. and she blames that they do non cognize the value of those comforters. This work of fiction uses both direct and indirect presentation of Dee. Maggie. and Mama to show the cardinal subject as that the differences between people’s thoughts toward heritage widely exist in society. from objective-oriented to subjective-oriented and the struggles in between. “Everyday Use” uses both indirect and direct presentations to demo that Dee’s position of heritage is objective-oriented.

Readers can judge from Dee’s behaviours and Mama’s ideas of Dee to recognize that she tries to abstract heritage from the existent life and emotions and wants to appreciate and go through the civilization by exposing and demoing the cultural symbols objectively ; meanwhile. she completes the thought of the kernel of heritage. When Dee tries to explicate the value of the comforter. she says that “‘These old comforters. . are all pieces of frocks Grandma used to wear… sewing by hand… Maggie can’t appreciate these comforters. She’d likely be rearward plenty to set them to everyday use…

Maggie would set them on the bed and in five old ages they’d be in shred. I’ll bent them’” ( 114 ) . This narrative should be regarded as indirect presentation because readers need to develop Dee’s ideas by judging her speech production. This indirect presentation leads readers to understand Dee’s position of heritage. Dee tries to seek for the cultural features. like sewing by manus. in the quilt alternatively of concentrating on the existent utilizations and emotional nutriment of it in the existent life. therefore she abstracts the comforter to be one cultural symbol of her grandmother’s epoch.

Dee considers that merely this cultural symbol be displayed and showed objectively can it show its greatest value ; nevertheless. if people really put the comforter into mundane usage like Maggie. when the comforter turns to torment. this cultural symbol will vanish ; hence. the whole heritage will be broken and have spreads. The procedure of abstracting cultural features from existent life and subjective emotions is a sort of procedure of nonsubjective thought. Therefore. Dee’s behaviour is a contemplation of her objective-oriented position of heritage. Dee’s objective-oriented thought besides leads her to seek for the kernel of heritage.

When Mama and Maggie are both afraid of the smart and powerful white people. “Dee. though. She will ever look anyone in the oculus. Hesitation is no portion of her nature” ( 109 ) . This narrative has direct presentation in it. because readers can straight cognize Dee’s character by Mama’s depicting at the latter portion. This direct presentation leads readers to understand Dee’s thought. Dee’s character and behaviour reflect her understanding of the equality of heritages. in which she does non hold to be afraid to anyone from other civilizations that seems more powerful.

However. if Dee wants to acquire to cognize the thought of the equality of heritages. she foremost has to sum up and contrast the kernels between different civilizations. This procedure is about abstracting the heritage objectively. Merely with this procedure can Dee understand that the kernels of all the heritages are all about the liquors and behaviours of specific group in a certain epoch. without attaching any differences between high and low. Therefore. Dee’s character and behaviour besides reflect that her thought of heritage is objective- oriented.

Maggie’s position of heritage. on the contrary. can be known as subjective-oriented in this narrative by both indirect and direct presentations. Readers can analyse Maggie’s behaviours and Mama’s descriptions about her to understand that she attempts to see heritage as emotional nutriment and value. and can be passed on by seting it into mundane usage with self-experiencing. When Maggie tries to give the comforter to Dee. she says that “‘I can retrieve Grandma Dee without the quilts’” ( 115 ) .

This narrative of Maggie should be regarded as an indirect presentation because readers need to judge her by thought of her action of speech production. This indirect presentation clearly shows Maggie’s position of heritage. As the position of Maggie. the map of the comforter is to remind her about her grandma. Maggie places her missing of Grandma into the comforter specifically. and keeps it to be her emotional nutriment. Many pieces of memory will be reminded when she sees this emotional nutriment. therefore she will acquire religious consolations.

In another signifier. this comforter besides reflects some life styles of Maggie. and those things make Maggie experience relax and comfy. The seeking for the liquors and emotions must take Maggie to take to value and go through the heritage by seting them into mundane usage with self-experiencing. When Dee wants to indicate out that Maggie does non cognize the value of the comforter. she claims that “‘Maggie would set them on the bed’” ( 115 ) . This sentence uses direct presentation to narrate Maggie because readers will straight cognize Maggie’s connotation described by Dee.

This direct presentation clearly shows Maggie’s position of heritage. Maggie will take to value and go through the heritage by utilizing it. In Maggie’s point of position. the heritage carries her emotions toward her life. and merely if she experiences the day-to-day life under the heritage by herself can she show her emotions out. Meanwhile. she will besides add her ain emotions into the heritage and base on balls it. Above all. Maggie’s position of heritage is about based on the ground of self-emotions.

There is no uncertainty that this sort of think is a sort of subjective-oriented. Mama. as the storyteller of the fiction. is frequently presented indirectly and showed that she has struggles between the objective-oriented and subjective-oriented thoughts toward heritage. Readers can analyse her behaviours to acknowledge that though she does non reject the thought of objective-oriented. yet when there are struggles and combats between the objective-oriented and subjective-oriented thought. she will stand at the side of the latter one.

When Dee wants to take the dasher with her for her art grasp. Mama merely “take it for a minute in her hands” without declining to give it to Dee. However. when Dee wants to take the comforter out of the same ground. Mama “snatches the comforters out of Miss Wangero’s hands” and asks her to “‘take one or two of the others’” ( 115 ) . These two quotation marks should be classified into indirect presentations because readers can merely judge Mama by her actions. These indirect presentations clearly show Mama’s point of position.

Mama does non wholly reject Dee’s objective-oriented thought of heritage. Mama will non blockade Dee’s behaviour of abstracting a heritage into a cultural symbol until the rule has non been broken. Under that rule. Mama may even seek her best to assist Dee to accomplish her end through Dee’s manner. However. one time Dee’s objective-oriented thought threats the being and the involvements of Maggie’s subjective-oriented thought. Mama will stand at Maggie’s side to protect her for run intoing her demands of emotional nutriment.

This sort of pick. which has principle-adjustments in it. shows that Mama has the struggles between objective-oriented and subjective-oriented thoughts toward the heritage. In short. “Everyday Use” uses both direct presentation and indirect presentation of Dee. Maggie. and Mama to show the subject that the differences between people’s thoughts toward heritage widely exist in society. from objective-oriented to subjective-oriented and the struggles in between.

Heritage is the collection of the ideas and behaviors of a group of people in an certain epoch. Merely if people understand the value of heritage and go through the heritage good can people’s experiences be extended. It is utile for people to understand the advantages and restrictions in different thoughts toward heritage in society. By understanding that. people so can value and go through the heritages of human existences utmostly by assorted ways.