Why does dee want the quilts

No comments:. Newer Post Older Post Home. Subscribe to: Post Comments Atom. What is the meaning of the metaphor "love is a smoke made with the fumes of sighs? Romeo says this line in Act I, before he has met Juliet. Dee has an ulterior motive for coming home.

Not to be a part of the family again but to take things that she can show to others as actual antique, African artifacts. Dee lays claim to a couple of quilts. Because she has always gotten her way, she does not dream that her shy sister Maggie will not allow her to take them. When her mother supports the older sister by telling Dee that she cannot have them, Dee is livid.

Why did Dee change her name? Dee changes her name to Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo as a way to establish her new identity as an independent, proud African woman. In doing so, Dee rejects her traditional family heritage in favor of renouncing the former slave owners that initially named her ancestors. What is the best description of Mama in everyday use? Mama describes herself as a big-boned woman with hands that are rough from years of physical labor.

She wears overalls and has been both mother and father to her two daughters. Poor and uneducated, she was not given the opportunity to break out of her rural life. Maggie cared to learn how to quilt, while Dee never did.

Dee does not know any information about the quilts further than their physical appearance, just like she lacks understanding and knowledge about her sister, mother, history, and culture altogether. The physical appearance of her culture is African, but her and her family have no significant connections beyond that.

Instead, her family places significance on things and traditions like quilts and quilting, something Dee does not care to understand. Choosing to change her name to Wangero, an African name, Dee think she is honoring her culture, but is actually failing to look beyond the appearance of culture.

The first person narrative allows the reader to see the finalization behind how Mama now views Dee: an alone, disconnected family member, failing to live or see passed appearance, and utterly without true historical roots. By not caring to learn or care and disrespecting her family, Mama views Wangero as no longer part of the family.