?Alice Walker and Sherman Alexie have been written in the literary world as both as being writers who transcend their readers expectations and seek to bring the reader to a new place through their storytelling (Press). While both writers are from different ethnic backgrounds, are different genders and different ages, both seek to challenge your ideas of identity and beg of you to dig deeper and go beyond your place of comfort. In Sherman Alexie’s “This is what it Means to say Phoenix, Arizona” and Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use,” family and culture are important themes throughout each character’s lives. Both short stories display symbolic objects important for when the characters reach their moment of clarity, turning them into characters with a better understanding of their own identity. Despite the difference in each story’s setting and cultural background, the overall similarity in themes of family, culture, use of symbols, and discovery of self is the foundation that makes these two writers the transcendent writers that they are. The setting of the two stories takes place in a time when old customs conflict with new customs. Although the time frame appears chaotic, the two stories expose the clash of old and new traditions in a balancing manner by using symbols. Victor and Thomas are both Native American Indians living among other tribal members. Although they share the same culture, Victor and Thomas are opposing characters representing two opposing times, struggling to survive. Victor has no money of his own to get to Phoenix, where his father’s ashes are. He has also left a truck and a small bit of money for him. Thus, Victor assumes no one has “money on a reservation” (Alexie 170). In a past memory, Victor got drunk “and beat Thomas up for no reason at all” (172). Victor illustrates the negative impact society has on his people, feeling “the only thing he shared with anybody was a bottle and broken dreams” (177). On the other hand, Thomas Builds-the-Fire personifies the unique traditions of his Indian culture. His traditions allow “a new story come” to him once he got back home from the journey (178). The setting of “Everyday Use” takes place at Mama’s home. Mama has two daughters, Dee and Maggie. The two daughters want ownership of two quilts “pieced by Grandma Dee and then Big Dee” (317). Maggie wants the quilt to use and honor “Grandma Dee and Big Dee who taught her how to quilt” (318). Due to Maggie’s strong bond with her family members, Mama can tell how much Maggie embraces the good and bad of her culture. Dee wants the quilts as decoration. Mama recalls in the past Dee rejected the “old-fashioned, out of style” quilts (317). As a result of Dee’s superficial use for the family quilts, Mama infers Dee only will only embrace the good of her culture and not let it define who she is or will become. Even though the characters of the two short stories grow up in entirely different environments, the importance of family is a theme that runs deep within the characters’ hearts. Alexie writes about Victor, a boy growing up on a reservation. He has a connection with his father when his father passes away, “although he has not seen his father in a few years, had only talked to him on the telephone once or twice, but there was still a genetic pain which is as real as a broken bone” (Alexie). As Thomas Builds-the-Fire concludes from a dream, Indians must “take care of each other” instead of walking down a lonely path (175). Walker’s character Mama also displays her respect for her ancestors. In order to keep the connection to her family intact, Mama names her eldest daughter Dee, a name Mama coul