Everyday Use

In many cases, the dedication that precedes a work is simply an opportunity for the author to express love or gratitude to someone close to them. However, the dedication in “Everyday Use” is unconventional in that it functions more like an epigraph (a brief quotation intended to communicate something about the themes of the work that follows). By dedicating the story to “your grandmama,” Walker lays the groundwork for several of the work’s central ideas. For one, by addressing the reader directly and tying the story to the reader’s own family, Walker encourages them to understand the work not as a standalone piece but as a part of the reader’s own life. This is in keeping with Walker’s broader depiction of art as something that is (or should be) embedded in everyday existence. In addition, by dedicating the story to a “grandmama” who likely resembles Mrs. Johnson, Walker underscores the value of these women and the knowledge they bring to bear on discussions of black identity and heritage.

Walker uses dialect—the distinctive grammar, syntax, pronunciation, etc. of a regional, ethnic, or socioeconomic group—as a means of characterization. Although Mrs.