Answer:
The story opens with a description of the yard, which is like “an extended living room” where “anyone can come and sit and look up into the elm tree and wait for the breezes that never come inside the house.” This description shows that Mama and her daughter Maggie share a comfortable relationship with their home and their surroundings. Maggie’s reaction to her sister who “has held life always in the palm of one hand” and is not used to hearing the word no also helps readers picture Dee.
As the story ends, a dejected and frustrated Dee chides her mother and sister for not “understanding” their heritage. She also sneers at Maggie, telling her to “make something of” herself. She doesn’t seem to realize Mama and Maggie are satisfied living in their home amid their ancestors’ heirlooms and memories and so already possess the identity that she lacks. As Mama says:
After we watched the car dust settle I asked Maggie to bring me a dip of snuff. And then the two of us sat there just enjoying, until it was time to go in the house and go to bed.
In this way, Alice Walker shows the reader that Mama understands her family tradition and heritage better than Dee does.
Step-by-step explanation:
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