Read With a Purpose

There is a conflict between the two visions of heritage. Mama thinks that the heritage should be passed down to Maggie since Dee is no longer similar to them. Dee thinks that the heritage should be passing to both Maggie and her because they are all part of the family. Dee accused Mama of not understanding her heritage because Mama didn’t allow her to have the quilt. Even though Dee didn’t have any purpose for using the quilt, she still wanted it. She wanted to show her heritage to people surrounding her living in the city. She wanted to tell other that she is from a poor, African American family and wanted to feel proud of her heritage. She wanted to feel special and tell others that even though they all ended up living in the city; she was different than others because she had once lived in a community that’s different from where she’s living now. She really felt being separated from Mama and Maggie because of the years living in the city that made her a different person from her family. She felt she was longer part of the family even though she has some genetic heritage from the family.