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"In both of them were scraps of dresses Grandma Dee had worn fifty and more years ago. Bits and pieces of Grandpa Jarrell’s paisley shirts. And one teeny faded blue piece, about the piece of a penny matchbox, that was from Great Grandpa Ezra’s uniform that he wore in the Civil War."
As Mama describes the quilts, she explains that they contain pieces from multiple generations of her family dating back to the Civil War. Putting these individual pieces together, each of which represents different family members, to create a whole quilt reflects the idea that each person contributes and belongs to a shared cultural heritage. The collective nature that the quilts symbolize make Dee’s request for them particularly ironic as she largely avoids participating in family traditions otherwise.
"'What don’t I understand?' I wanted to know. 'Your heritage,' she said."
This line, which is Dee’s last retort to Mama before she drives away, is deeply ironic and emphasizes her inability to comprehend what heritage truly means. Mama decides to give the quilts to Maggie knowing that she will put them to use and engage with her family’s history in a meaningful way. Alternatively, Dee simply wants to display them as relics of the past without actually appreciating their significance, an approach which reflects her misunderstanding of how to genuinely honor family history.
