Alice Walker’s "To Hell With Dying" appears on the surface to be a story of a man who has many near-death experiences. However, I believe that the story of Mr. Sweet shows the side of depression and failure that Alice Walker might have faced had she not pushed her way to success.

Mr. Sweet grew up in a time period where the life between whites and blacks was very segregated. However, Mr. Sweet "had been ambitious as a boy, wanted to be a doctor or lawyer or sailor, only to find that black men fare better if they [were] not" (Walker 1143). When he realized this defeat "he turned to fishing as his only claim to doing anything extraordinarily well" (1143). This failure seemed to overcome Mr. Sweet as he turned to the bottle as a sort of sanctuary. Mr. Sweet "was constantly on the verge of being blind drunk" (1144); however, to the kids this made him the perfect playmate. Often when Mr. Sweet was "feeling good" (1144), he would dance about and play in the yard with the children. When he was in this state he was just as vulnerable as they were. In fact, most of the time the children won the battles.

An ironic behavior that Mr. Sweet has in this story, however, is that we read about him playing with the neighbors’ children, but we never read about him playing with his own child. Maybe this is because of the second failure that occurred in Mr. Sweet’s life. When he was younger he had to marry Miss Mary, for she was pregnant with his child; "he was not sure that Joe Lee, [Miss Mary’s] baby, was also his baby" (1144). Mr. Sweet had been in love with another woman though. He had made up a song that he played on his guitar on this unhappy part of his life. When Mr. Sweet played this song "he would cry and that was an indication that he was about to die again" (1144). This reminds me of Mary and Joseph in the Bible. Joseph in the beginning did not believe that the baby Mary was carrying was his because he had never slept with her and because of this Joseph was not going to many her. However, an angel appeared to Joseph and assured him that he should marry Mary. Both of these stories, had they not happened the way the did might have different effects. The traditional story of the Christ child saving mankind might not have happened, and Mr. Sweet would never have changed the life of Alice Walker.

By Mr. Sweet having these "near death experiences" it gave Alice Walker her first sense of the success she could obtain in life. She got the privilege of kissing and tickling Mr. Sweet, reviving him from his death-like state. At the time of Mr. Sweet’s actual death Alice Walker described herself as "grief-stricken, . . . crazed, and . . . fighting for [her] own life. [She] was twenty-one years old" (1148). This is usually the time when young people find out if their dreams are going to turn into failures or not, yet for Alice Walker this was an especially hard time since she was black and perhaps worse, . . . a woman.

From the story we know that Mr. Sweet’s life dreams had failed. Alice Walker, however, did eventually achieve success. She studied at Sarah Lawrence College and it was only then that she started to "remember the magnitude of his problems—problems [she] was just beginning to truly understand—as a black man and as an artist, growing up poor, forced to endure the racist terrorism of the American South" (1148). Walker did have her doubts about her future. Her first story was titled "The Suicide of an American Girl." I believe remembering Mr. Sweet and the fact that his alcoholism was his slow method of suicide forced her to keep striving forward. Walker said that she was "turning [her] back on the razor blade" (1148).

Walker eventually met Langston Hughes who, to her great astonishment, was another Mr. Sweet. However, this Mr. Sweet took her route of success. He expressed his pain through the poetry he wrote so that whoever wanted to could read it and feel the pain that he had to overcome.

Mr. Sweet, by showing Alice Walker what would happen to her if she surrendered to the racism of the outside world, helped her achieve success.

When reading fiction, one can begin to wonder how much of a gap there is between the story the narrator is telling and the actual events that occurred to make the author decide to write the story. In Alice Walker’s "To Hell With Dying," one could say that this story is basically auto- biographical. Although some people may have thought that "To Hell With Dying" was completely fiction, evidence from the story and other sources suggest otherwise. The love the narrator feels towards Mr. Sweet parallels with actual events that took place in Alice Walker’s life.

In the preface of Donna Haisty Winchell’s book Alice Walker, it is revealed that Alice Walker was "blinded in one eye at age eight by a careless shot from a brother’s BB gun" (ix). The shot left a scar that bothered Walker immensely. Winchell also writes that because of the BB shot wound Walker was "feeling ugly and outcast" (ix). This description of Walker’s accident creates the image of a young girl who has no feeling of self worth. In the story, however, Mr. Sweet is very fond of the narrator. He used to call her "his princess," and "he made [her feel] simply outrageously devastating at the blazing age of eight and a half" (1144). Perhaps this description of how Mr. Sweet makes the narrator feel pretty symbolizes the way Alice Walker felt about Mr. Sweet in real life. Alice Walker was eight when she got shot with the BB gun, and the narrator is eight and a half when Mr. Sweet is telling her how pretty she is. Although Alice Walker only has vague memories of the real Mr. Sweet, she does remember that he never stopped talking about the things that upset him. Mr. Sweet’s talking and singing made Walker feel good. In Walker’s interview with "The New York Times Review," Alice Walker states that Mr. Sweet’s "soulful" guitar playing and singing "seemed inevitable and right" (1148). This part of the story may be a symbol showing how Mr. Sweet made Walker feel good in real life just as he makes the narrator feel good in the story.

Walker admired the things that Mr. Sweet stood for. In the story and, most likely, in real life, Mr. Sweet had ambitions that were not possible to achieve because "black men fare better if they are not [ambitious]"(1143). This did not discourage Mr. Sweet from becoming an artist. Mr. Sweet "continued to sing," and it was through this singing that Walker realized that she wanted to become an artist 148). The memory of Mr. Sweet’s "continuous singing" also saved Walker’s life. In Alice Walker Winchell writes that Walker "credits an old artist in Georgia with turning her attention to life at a time when death was much on her mind" (12). Walker loves Mr. Sweet for saving her from death.

Although there are differences between Mr. Sweet’s death in the story and in real life, there is still a parallel between the events. In real life. Walker couldn’t make it home when Mr. Sweet died because she was too poor. In the story she races home to see Mr. Sweet for the last time. Mr., Sweet gives his guitar to the narrator to remember him. Mr. Sweet’s gift of the guitar in the story symbolizes the gift of creativity he gave Walker in real life. Winchell writes, "The seed of creativity was Mr. Sweet’s legacy to Walker. In the story the gift of creativity is passed on symbolically in the form of Mr. Sweet’s guitar" (13). Although Walker only has a vague memory of Mr. Sweet "playing his guitar while sitting in an ancient homemade, oak-bottomed chair in my grandmother’s cozy kitchen," Walker still felt a strong love for Mr. Sweet because of what he stood for. He wasn’t afraid to be an artist and this encouraged Walker to be an artist as well. Walker explains in Alice Walker. "The love happened, and that is the essence of the story" (qtd. in Winchell, 12). Walker wrote "To Hell With Dying" in order to thank Mr. Sweet for what he contributed to her life. Winchell acknowledges that "the story is her [Walker’s] wish that she could have returned the favor" (13).

From the fashionable, expensive clothing that the character Dee in Alice Walker’s "Everyday Use" wears, the girl seems almost immediately to be a person of great value and importance. It may seem, too, at first glance, that Dee’s mother and sister, Maggie, in their tin-roof house and shabby clothing, are of little or no worth in "Everyday Use." The story ironically shows, under more careful thought, that the very outer characteristics which deem Dee the more valuable character are the ones which prove that the mother and Maggie have the more powerful inner worth.

In the beginning of the story, Dee is portrayed to be more physically valuable than her mother and Maggie. Dee’s outfit reeks of a money-based society, much different from that of her heritage. Dee wears "A dress down to the ground...There are yellows and oranges enough to throw back the light of the sun. Earrings, too, gold and hanging down to her shoulders" (Walker 1151). Dee’s mother even reflects on her oldest daughter’s full figure and nice hair(1150). The mother and Maggie, on the other hand, are given an air of simplicity and unattractiveness. The mother is described as a large, big-boned man-worker whose usual attire consists of overalls and flannel nightgowns. Maggie, referred to as a "lame animal," is thin and shabbily dressed(1150). From the vivid description of Dee and rather bland ones of the mother and Maggie, it may be readily assumed that Dee is of much higher extrinsic value than her family members.

Despite the outer attractiveness of Dee and unattractiveness of her mother and Maggie, the differences in the behavior of the groups indicate a turnaround in the presumed value judgments of the characters. When Dee first comes home, for example, she takes pictures of the house, as though it was something out of the ordinary. Houston A. Baker, Jr. and Charlotte Pierce-Baker suggest that "Ultimately, the framed Polaroid photograph represents the limits of Dee’s vision" (416). With close examination, the camera, which represents Dee’s material wealth, can also be used to prove her inability to see people, places and things for what and who they really are.

By far the most striking piece of evidence supporting Dee’s lack of inner value is her desire to have the quilts. At first, Dee’s anger over being denied the quilts seems justified. Dee claims that she would preserve the quilts and "Hang them" (1154). Yet, the real purpose of possessing the quilts, as seen on a larger scope, is to use the old quilts for the simple life the mother and Maggie lead. To actually put the quilts to everyday use, as Maggie will do, is symbolically preserving the family heritage. Dee’s cry that Maggie would "probably be backward enough to put them to everyday use" (1154) portrays Dee as the materialistic, backward character.

Just as the argument over the quilts shows Dee as intrinsically immature, it directly points out that the mother and Dee have, in fact, great value within them. Dee’s mother, for instance, is at first silent to Dee’s demands to have the butter churn and wooden benches. When Dee takes the quilts, previously promised to Maggie, the mother then becomes defensive. The mother questions Dee’s intended use of the quilts in an effort to deter Dee from her insistence of owning the quilts. It is at the pivotal point where Maggie speaks up that the worth both of the mother and of Maggie is most clearly illuminated. Anne Z. Mickelson denotes the goodness of the younger sister when Maggie "is ready to give up the quilt to her more aggressive sister, assuring her mother that she needs no tangible evidence of tradition" (406). Maggie’s mature response to her sister’s obvious ignorance surprises readers with the realization that the younger sister has immense value despite her appearance. This same moment is where the mother’s worth shines through as well, as represented by her refusal to give in to any more of Dee’s demands.

Almost immediately, as if slapped in the face, the mother reacts in such a manner that highlights her realization of the value of the quilts, and ultimately, of herself. The mother recalls "When I looked at her like that something hit me in the top of my head and ran down to the soles of my feet" (1154). The mother’s concise command that Dee take different quilts represents her refusal to accept that Dee is right. By admitting that Dee is wrong, the mother creates a soul-rich image of the life both Maggie and her mother share in their simplicity.

Alice Walker’s "Everyday Use," therefore, at its depths, displays that beauty is only sometimes skin deep. The story emphasizes that what exists on the inside is more important than outward appearances. Walker’s piece also iterates that greed, pettiness and immaturity eventually give way to the patient, caring values of the most worthy people. Overall, Walker’s story can teach the reader something as well. The first glimpse of "Everyday Use" may suggest that Dee surpasses her mother and sister in value, but closer scrutiny of the work reveals that the mother and Maggie have just as much, if not more, merit than Dee.

Alice Walker’s "Everyday Use," is a story about a poor, African-American family and a conflict about the word "heritage." In this short story, the word "heritage" has two meanings. One meaning for the word "heritage" represents family items, thoughts, and traditions passed down through the years. The other meaning for the word "heritage" represents the African-American culture.

There are three women in this short story, two sisters and their mother. One of the sisters is named Maggie and the other is named Dee. Maggie and her mother believe that the word "heritage" deals with their family’s traditions. These traditions are the only ones they have ever known and/or cared about. Dee, on the other hand, believes that "heritage" is about African culture, and she wants nothing to do with her family’s heritage until it is in style.

Throughout "Everyday Use," there are examples that show Maggie and her mother have knowledge about their family’s heritage. There are also examples that show Maggie and her mother cherish their family’s heritage and Dee does not. Next, there are examples that show Dee is not concerned with her family’s heritage until it becomes stylish. Finally, there are examples that show Dee embracing her African-American heritage instead of her family’s heritage.

The narrator of "Everyday Use" is the mother, and the story opens with Maggie and her mother waiting for Dee to arrive. The mother’s description of her family’s yard, "a yard like this is more comfortable than most people know" (Walker 1149), shows that she is happy and content with her current surroundings. This land is a part of their family’s heritage, and the mother is comfortable living here.

Another example of the knowledge the mother has about her family’s heritage is shown after Dee arrives home, and she is looking through a trunk at the foot of her mother’s bed. Dee pulls out two quilts and this is what the mother has to say about them:

In order for the mother to explain the quilts and their origin in such a detailed manner, she had to know a lot about her family’s heritage. When Dee is asking about the butter dash and who made it, Maggie responds with the answer immediately. By Maggie answering so quickly and correctly, it shows Maggie’s knowledge about her family’s heritage, which Dee does not seem to have.

During Dee’s visit with her family, she asks for the two quilts, and her mother refuses. The mother had offered them to Dee before she went to college and she did not want them. Back then, Dee had called the quilts "old-fashioned, out of style" (Walker 1154). This shows that Dee was not interested in the quilts until they were considered fashionable, trendy, and "in style." This also shows that Dee is a "stylish" person who is trying to find her African-American heritage.

When Dee comes home from college, she has changed her name to Wangero Leewanika Demamjo. Her mother asks why she changed it and Dee says, "she’s dead. I couldn’t bear it any longer being named after the people who oppress me" (Walker 1152). This shows that Dee, a.k.a. Wangero, does not care about her family’s heritage, but is interested in her African- American heritage. As Houston Baker and Charlotte Pierce-Baker write, Dee "has joined the radical, black nationalists of the 1960s and 1970s, changing her name from Dee to Wangero and cultivated a sullenly fashionable, or stylish, interest in what she passionately describes as her heritage."

After Dee asks for the two quilts and her mother refuses, Dee becomes very angry. Her mother explains that Maggie is getting the quilts as a wedding present, and that she has promised them to her. Dee is still determined to have these "priceless" quilts. Finally, Maggie says, "she can have them Mama. I can [re]member Grandma Dee without the quilts" (Walker 1154). The mother is "passionately moved by Maggie’s genuine kinship with tradition, her mama declares allegiance. Maggie will get the quilts" (Callahan 403). This simple action by the mother shows that, in her eyes, Maggie knows the true meaning of heritage and Dee does not.

As the story ends, you can see that Dee’s "interest in her African-American ancestry is shallow and superficial, and she only appreciates what her heritage can do for her. She does not value the time and patience that it took to create the quilts she covets" (Allen-Polley). You can also see that the two meanings of "heritage" really represent one, because the African- American heritage is a part of this family’s heritage. So ironically, while Dee is looking for her African-American culture, and it lies right in front of her eyes. Her sister, mother, grandmother, and herself are all a part of their family’s heritage, which stems from the African-American heritage that Dee is so desperate to find.