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Art As Function

Art as Function
"Art is an act of or result of creation, when images and objects, sights and sounds, or drawings and carvings convey beauty or realize the imagination of the artist. Its purpose is self-expression or the shared enjoyment of its creation. Much about art is controversial, including the very definition of art." In "Everyday Use" by Alice Walker the narrator highlights the story of Dee, a woman who returns home to her African American family for a reunion. While away from home Dee adapts to the Islamic culture and changes her name to, Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo. While visiting home she asks her mother for items that her uncle made years back and for a pair of quilts that once belong to her deceased grandmother; her mother explains that she cannot give the quilts to her because she has promised the quilts the her younger sister, Maggie. Dee (Wangero) claims that her sister will ruin the quilts, "Maggie can't appreciate these quilts…..she'd probably be backward enough to put them to everyday use". Dee (Wangero) feels the quilts are too precious to be put to "everyday use", she believes that the quilts should be hung on the wall as art, and tells her mother and sister "you just don't understand…..your heritage". The fact that she even wants to hang the quilts shows just what point Alice Walker is arguing in the story. Unlike Dee (Wangero) who is a firm believer that art should be solely decorative, her mother and sister believe that is should be used for everyday purposes also. Art is created and expressed in so many ways, and should not just be decorative as Dee would like, but should be functional as well.
In "Everyday Use" when Dee (Wangero) returns home she seems to be a completely different person. She now styles and dresses herself according to the "African" way of life. She now demonstrates an American who attempts to become an African, the only thing is she fails at it, and her new self does not seem genuine. Her name, her clothes, her hair,...