As far as I know, there is nothing in Alice Walker's "Everyday Use" that is specifically autobiographical. At the same time, the situation itself is realistic and reveals issues current at the time of its writing.
Walker comments in the story on the issue between urban, well-educated, transformed blacks and rural, traditional blacks. At the time she wrote the story, people outside of the rural communities of blacks were urging change in the traditional black communities. People in this movement believed blacks should become urbanized and educated.
Ironically, Walker probably has more in common with Dee than she does with Maggie and the narrator, but the story seems to come down on the side of tradition, and suggests traditional families have dignity of their own.
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