Social Historical Crticism

“It’s A Family Tradition.”

Leslie Dreyfous says, “Family values are a little like family vacations-subject to changeable weather and remembered more fondly with the passage of time. Though it rained all week at the beach, it’s often the momentary rainbows that we remember.” I found this quote a great way to open on the topic of Mama and Dee’s relationship. As we grow up we are taught lessons and values true to the beliefs of our parents but as we enter the world sometimes these can change, much to our family’s dismay. Looking at Everyday Use through Social and Historical Criticism, shines a light on the theme of family traditions and the tension it holds upon Mama and Dee’s relationship.

Mama and Dee both find traditions to be very important, yet very different. For Dee’s mother and her sister Maggie, traditions are built on a foundation of inherited objects and ways of thinking while for her daughter Dee, traditions are something that no longer have everyday use and are corrupted by history. These traditions are all based in way of thinking and education that are learned by each character through life experiences.

When Dee returns, it is clear that her outside education has added tension to the family due to a change in values and traditions. She is no longer tied to the world Mama is the world of everyday usefulness but connected to the education and ethereal usefulness. Mama’s only education is grounded through her everyday work. She brags about being able to kill a hog like a man and her work in the home and on the farm. This leaves her at odds with her daughter Dee’s educational traditions. This causes tension between them as Mama speaks almost disdainfully, “She used to read to us without pity, lies, other folks’ habits, whole lives upon us two, sitting trapped and ignorant underneath her voice. She washed us in a river of make-believe, burned us with knowledge we didn’t necessarily need to know.” To her mother, Dee’s knowledge is foreign and...