In the first read-through of this story, I kind of laughed that the good child got what she deserved, and stuck it to the bratty sister. I mainly laughed because it reminded me of my relationship with my sister; however, there is more to this story than who gets the blanket in the end.
Walker paints the picture of the characters when she recreates the event of the house burning. Maggie, burned by the flames, seemed to have a closer connection with the house. Dee came out unscathed; however, in Dee's opinion, living in that hell hole of a house was punishment enough. Everything about that house disgusted Dee and she wanted nothing more than to leave it. But it was the way things were, and those things would not change. The mother's hands that could kill dinner and have it hanging that same night would always be the same, having the quality of a man's hands.
Upon the arrival of Dee, who is surprisingly now known as "Wangero Leewankia Kemanjo" Maggie fled to hide behind her mother, while the newly named and newly fashioned Dee took snapshots of the quaint house and the old world style of her family. Every picture had that damned house in it. After a short while of being in the house again, Dee starts to find small things and notifies her mother that she will be taking them back with her to cherish. Items like her grandmother's butter dish, the planks on the bences that you could "feel the rump prints" in absolutely astounded her. Why Wangero needed the churn top was not for use, but for decoration, as was the need for the butter dish and the benches.
As Dee came upon the old quilts made by Grandma Dee, she asked again for something from the house. "Can I have these old quilts?" Wangero would not use them. She would not keep herself warm. She would not share them with guests. She would hang them upon a wall because they were "priceless." The idea that Maggie, her younger sister, would be allowed to actually use those quilts.
After being rejected, Dee returned to her car and insisted that her mother and sister really try to understand their "heritage" a bit better. This is a very funny suggestion from Dee. It is very apparent that going to college and being a bit more worldly does not necessarily make you a better person than the others who still live the way they used to. College was Dee's way of "making something of [her]self" and believed that getting a new life would be the way for Maggie to make something of herself as well.
When Dee stopped being proud of where she came from and the way she lived, she stopped being proud of her heritage. She stopped understanding the realities of her life when she let her studies and worldly outside opinions cloud her judgement, and when she let her life become a display case for others to admire. It was just another source of attention for Dee, but using her family was no longer an option.
The everyday use of the old quilts was a much better option than hanging on a wall. Keeping a life style alive is embracing the traditions and continuing them, not displaying them on a wall to preserve one thing and ending it at that generation.
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