“Everyday Use” is in some ways a deceptively simple story. The family drama it depicts is likely familiar to readers; the contrast Walker establishes between Dee and Maggie, and in particular Dee’s ingratitude towards the family that has sacrificed for her, is reminiscent of Biblical stories like the parable of the Prodigal Son. What Walker does in “Everyday Use” is use this basic plotline to explore issues related to art, education, and in particular, African-American identity and heritage.

Walker wrote “Everyday Use” in the aftermath of the Civil Rights Era and during a period when the Black Power movement was gaining traction. Like any broad-based social movement, Black Power did not espouse a single set of beliefs or goals. One common thread, however, was the notion that black Americans needed to cultivate a sense of racial and ethnic identity separate from the norms and values of Western culture. In many cases, this meant looking to traditional African cultures, and it is this idea that Walker examines through figures like Dee and Hakim-a-barber. Although Walker is sympathetic to the desire to recover a distinctly black cultural heritage, she suggests that, in practice, that desire can be elitist; as Walker depicts them, Dee and Hakim-a-barber represent a strand of black intellectualism that actually looks down on much of traditional African-American culture.