In the further progress of the story the two daughters, Maggie and Dee, are described, mostly being compared with each other, due to the fact that Maggie is almost the opposite to Dee and vice versa. This means that with mentioning features of one daughter simultaneously the other daughter is described being the contrary. By saying this, the reader gets the direct information concerning Dee and the indirect information about Maggie, being obviously plump and with uncomely hair.
Not only her appearance, but also the way she acts is more woman-like. Have you ever seen a lame animal, perhaps a dog run over by some careless person rich enough to own a car, sidle up to someone who is ignorant enough to be kind to him? That is the way my Maggie walks.
She has been like this, chin on chest, eyes on ground, feet in shuffle ever since the fire that burned the house to the ground. Walker Another important fact mentioned in this quotation is the fire that once burnt down the house of the family.
Maggie was obviously hurt by the fire and sustained injuries that are still visible as scars. With this appearance and way of behaving Maggie would not fit as good as Dee in the role of a representative for the Black Power movement. The black man who accompanies Dee to the meeting with her mother and sister is introduced as Hakim-a-barber and obviously Muslim.
Most of the time he is addressed as Asalamalakim, because this is the way he greets Mama and Maggie. However Mama mistakably thinks this is his name. Hakim-a-barber is, as well as Dee, a representative for the reclaimed awareness and pride of being black. The fact that he is additionally Muslim may be an allusion to Malcolm X, a radical ambassador of the Black Power movement and especially of the religious-political ideas of an organization called Nation of Islam.
Another striking fact is that, although Hakim-a-barber seems to be the partner of Dee, there is no visible affection between them and it seems that both only serve as a kind of intellectual accessory for the other. This way of behaving is a sign that Dee, as well as Hakim-a-barber, are not totally aware of their consciousness and the point of view they are representing with their outer expression. Again both work as a stereotype and representative for those black people who joined all the Black Power organisations without really knowing what this was all about and a lack of dedication where the root causes of this movement were cf.
Up to this point of the short story Mama made almost only negative depictions about Maggie. But this changes when the most important topic of the story is placed in the center: Heritage. Not the material heritage, as it could be assumed at first due to the discussion about furniture, but the cultural heritage and the awareness of maintenance.
Superficially Dee strives to do everything to reveal and maintain her cultural roots. Among other things she changed her name to Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo, because she believes this name reflects her cultural past more than the name which was given to her by her mother in order to bequeath the names within the family. Instead of maintaining her real cultural and familial heritage she is seeking and adapting a random African name, whose meaning she probably is not even aware of.
The way Dee deals with her immaterial heritage also can be transferred to the material things she asks her mother for. The first thing she wants to have is a churn dasher. She is not aware of its history and meaning, the only thing she is interested in is the ornamental and aesthetic aspect. Even if Mama and Maggie probably do not need the churn dasher anymore to make butter with it, they appreciate it for the immaterial meaning.
Mama wonders whether Hakim-a-barber and Dee are married. Sitting down to eat, Hakim-a-barber states that he does not eat collard greens or pork. Dee, however, eats heartily, delighted by the fact that the family still uses the benches her father made. Hopping up, she approaches the butter churn in the corner and asks Mama if she can have its top, which had been carved by Uncle Buddy.
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. More specifically, Mrs. Johnson is fundamentally at home with herself; she accepts who she is, and thus, Walker implies, where she stands in relation to her culture. Johnson thinks of her as a sweet person, a daughter with whom she can sing songs at church. Most importantly, however, Maggie is, like her mother, at home in her traditions, and she honors the memory of her ancestors; for example, she is the daughter in the family who has learned how to quilt from her grandmother.
She is characterized by good looks, ambition, and education Mrs. Already have an account? Sign in. From the creators of SparkNotes, something better.
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