One can see this in the way she handles the situation with her daughter Dee. In the end, Dee wants to take her grandmother's quilts to "display them". She says '"these are all pieces of dresses grandma used to wear. She did all the stitching my hand. Imagine!"
"(Walker, ). And at that time, Mrs. Johnson realized that Maggie carries the tradition of quilting as well as the quilts itself. For her and Maggie quilting is more of an important tradition to pass on than to just know how “priceless” it is. And in the end of the story, the mother chose to give the quilts to Maggie, instead of Dee, because by giving them to Maggie, Mrs. Johnson knows the connection of heritage of her family will continue to exist in the future. From the explanation above we could conclude that Dee is someone that wants to preserve heritage and believes that they are objects to be observed and looked upon.
The women of the time made quilts that were put to "everyday use" that were then passed down from generation to generation. The quilts during this time were used to symbolize the love of the slave’s mothers and the things they had to go through just to make the quilts. A lot of times every square in a quilt symbolizes something of its own. One square may symbolize the love of a person and the other may symbolize the death of another. Each quilt is prepared differently which gives it a since of purpose.
Throughout the story, we can learn from Mama’s description that she plays an active role in preserving her family heritage. The churn top, dasher, and the quilts which Mama values a lot, are her family legacies. Mentioning her ancestors for quite a few times in the story, Mama’s concern for her heritage is reflected. When she reveals her disappointment in Dee for changing her name and explains to her “You know as well as me you was named after your aunt Dicie”, her concern for family heritage is again illustrated. Appointing a character with so much interest and involvement to her family heritage as a narrator of the story, Walker’s hints on the theme of the story is obvious.
By beginning with this memory, she compare the quilt to her Meema’s blanket to show she has found a quilt that she loves so much it reminds her of the blanket. In stanza three she says, “I think I’d have good dreams for a hundred years under this quilt, as Meema must have, under her blanket, dreamed she was a girl in Kentucky among her yellow sisters, their grandfather’s white family nodding at them when they met.” The structure that follows stanza two again compares the quilt to the blanket. All the things Meema must
We get our first insight into Aunt Alexandra’s character through Scout’s description of her fanaticism with the way Scout dresses, “Aunt Alexandra was fanatical on the subject of my attire. I could not possibly hope to be a lady if I wore breeches”. So we start to learn something about Aunt Alexandra’s opinions on how women should behave and their role in society. This example also hints at the theme of class which we later discover to be of the most fundamental importance to Aunt Alexandra. Following Atticus’s decision to defend Tom Robinson in Part Two, Aunt Alexandra takes it upon herself to relocate to Maycomb to help look after the children during the trial.
On one side of the argument, Dee is fighting to preserve the quilts so they may be passed down through future generations. On the other side of the argument, Maggie would like to put the quilt to everyday use. Maggie is right in believing that heritage should be used in our everyday lives, that it should be accepted and appreciated, and that your heritage is something to be proud of. It is obvious that Maggie deserves the quilts, not Dee. Maggie deserves the quilts because they were hers to begin with.
Process Paper #4 The Century Quilt serves to connect the speaker’s life to her diverse background. First of all, the quilt brings her back to her youthful days. The speaker describes her dreams of “wrapping [herself] at play with [the blanket’s] folds and [play] chieftains and princesses.” This quilt connects her to her past and thus to her family. She reminisces about her first blanket, which serves as a doorway to her past experiences and emotions. She wants a blanket to “have good dreams for a hundred years.” The speaker makes a connection with Meema, who “dreams of her yellow sisters” and “about Mama.” She recalls her father coming home from his store and the family cranking up the pianola.
In this story, the main focus is on Lily’s journey to find everything she can about her mother and her longing for motherly love. She finds her opportunity to take this journey when Rosaleen, her African American nanny, stands up to a group of racist white men. This moment gives Lily the confidence she needs to escape from her abusive father and carry on the search for her mother’s past. Without a real mother, Lily has grown up needing to be loved. This need drives Lily to Tiburon, South Carolina where there is one last possible link to her mother.
The Misfit’s quote is insinuating that if the grandmother lived her life as she did in her last few moments she would have been a good person. The grandmother displays a strong southern heritage. She is very concerned with her appearance. In the story, she gets dressed up for her trip just in case they would get in a car wreck, anyone who finds her dead on the road will know she was once a lady. Her collars and cuffs were white organdy trimmed with lace and at her neckline she had pinned a purple spray of cloth violets containing a sachet.