Final answer:
In Alice Walker's 'Everyday Use', Mama gives quilts to Maggie over Dee to honor the former's connection to their heritage. Dee's Polaroid use and name change signify her complex identity and approach to heritage, contrasting Maggie's practical and sentimental ties to their past.
Step-by-step explanation:
The incident where Mama takes the quilts from Dee and gives them to Maggie occurs in Alice Walker's short story "Everyday Use." This act of Mama's highlights the differing values and conflicts between her two daughters, Dee (who later names herself Wangero) and Maggie, regarding their family's heritage. Dee is depicted as someone who is more interested in showcasing the quilts as artistic and cultural artifacts, whereas Maggie understands their practical use and values the personal connection they symbolize. Maggie's desires align with her mother’s perspective on their ancestry and family legacy, hence Mama decides to give the quilts to Maggie.
Dee takes Polaroids of her family and the house to capture the aesthetic of her heritage rather than engaging with it personally. By shifting her identity through changing her name, Dee attempts to create a new self-image that she believes is more authentic to her African roots, illustrating her complex relationship with her personal and cultural identity. Meanwhile, for Maggie, the quilt represents a direct link to her ancestors, as it is made from pieces of clothing belonging to her relatives, thus encapsulating family and tradition that she lives on a daily basis. The quilt, in essence, is a metaphor for the story's central theme: the varying perceptions of heritage and how it is integrated into one's life.