Why does dee come to visit

Dee wants the dasher too, a device with blades used to make butter. The quilts contain small pieces of garments worn by relatives all the way back to the Civil War. Dee asks her mother for the quilts. Mama hears Maggie drop something in the kitchen and then slam the door. Mama suggests that Dee take other quilts, but Dee insists, wanting the ones hand-stitched by her grandmother.

Mama gets up and tries to tell Dee more about the garments used to make the quilts, but Dee steps out of reach. Mama reveals that she had promised Maggie the quilts. But Mama hopes that Maggie does, indeed, designate the quilts for everyday use. Dee says that the priceless quilts will be destroyed. Mama says that Maggie knows how to quilt and can make more. Maggie shuffles in and, trying to make peace, offers Dee the quilts.

When Mama looks at Maggie, she is struck by a strange feeling, similar to the spirit she feels sometimes in church. She tells Dee to take one or two of the other quilts. She is also better-educated than her mother. Ironically, however, it was Dee who helped contribute to the formal learning of both her mother and sister. A major reason for the conflict between Dee and Maggie is superficial in nature.

The narrator reveals that Maggie has burn scars on her arms and legs, while Dee is seemingly perfect in every way. So, the conflict between the sisters is often precipitated by the differences in their physical makeup. The most basic relationship is that they are sisters. Dee is the older sister, Maggie the younger. However, there is more to them than this.

Dee is the star: the family member who went away. To her, heritage is in the objects rather than the memories. Dee wants to be able to show her friends pictures of her family and the place where she grew up. The Polaroid camera symbolizes a superficial process, wherein Dee captures mere images of her rich legacy.

When a cow comes nibbling around the edge of the yard she snaps it and me and Maggie and the house. Dee takes pictures as a way to communicate the disconnect from her mother and sister. This is heightened with her name change. The sense of awkwardness is communicated by her taking of so many pictures upon arriving. Women like Grandma Dee used and reused whatever material they had at hand to create functional, beautiful items.

Quilts also represent the Johnson family heritage in particular. She does not care to learn about her real heritage, only African culture as a whole, and disrespects her mother and sister only furthering herself from the culture she should actually be trying to embrace. When Mama offers Dee different quilts, Dee explains she wants the old quilts because of the hand stitching and the pieces of dresses stitched in that Grandma used to wear.

Dee does not know the extensive history and significance of them. She sees them as beautiful things, and nothing beyond that. Transfixed on her successful image and confidence, Dee desires things that make her seem connected to herself, even if that connection is falsified.

Like her new name, she believes the quilts connect her to her heritage, when actually she knows nothing about either. The past is no longer and we can only see it through the things and people around us that aid in reminding. Wherever one may go in life, it is essential to look back, whether it be to parents, memories, heirlooms, or cultural history. Sibling rivalry is introduced when Mama tells Dee she promised the quilts to Maggie.