The fact that Maggie's mother ultimately gives her the quilts alludes to the fact that she shares this belief as well.
The conclusion of this story in which Maggie's mother gives her the valued quilts appears to suggest that the author believes that the more interactive application of heritage, as opposed to the passive reverence of heritage as art, is more valid. Walker does not seem to pose the notion that these two views of heritage are incompatible with one another, however. Instead, she indicates that Dee is simply not able to understand the value in the form of heritage that her mother and sisters represent and practice. The following quotation which ends the story and precedes Dee's departure, alludes to this fact.
"You just don't understand," she said, as Maggie and I came out to the car.
"What don't I understand?" I wanted to know.
"Your heritage," she said, and then she turned to Maggie, kissed her, and said, "You ought to make something of yourself, too, Maggie. It's really a new day for us. But from the way you and Mama still live you'd never know it" (Walker).
The diction in this passage shows that Maggie cannot understand her mother and sister's conception of heritage. She speaks disparagingly of the way that the two "still live" as though she is blissfully unaware that heritage, the transmission and preservation of culture, is ultimately expressed through living. One's cultural heritage is how one chooses to live one's life -- the customs and habits one engages in while doing so. Even if Maggie were to sleep with the valued quilts and wear them out in a matter of years, she would still be engaging with her heritage and using the quilts for their original prupose. Dee is not able to conceive of this reality.
Yet, this does not mean that the other two cannot fathom Dee's perception...
African-American Literature -- Compare and Contrast The two stories selected for this first comparison, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs and the short letter from Jourdon Anderson, "To My Old Master," are both extremely touching, honest, enlightening and historically precious pieces of literature. To begin with, Anderson's letter to Colonel P.H. Anderson reveals a number of key things about the life of a male slave during
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