The family is a trio: Dee, Maggie, and their mother. Maggie and her mother live at home
and have more in common than with Dee. Mama is somewhat protective of Maggie, noting her
insecurities that seem to stem in large part from the fire that burned their former house to the
ground:
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.
Mama longs for a closer relationship with Dee. In the beginning, she dreams of being
brought together on a television show where Dee would embrace her with "tears in her
eyes."
Dee is smarter and prettier and knows it. Before moving out, she
would impart her scholarly knowledge to Mama and Maggie, "a lot of knowledge [they] didn't
necessarily need to know."
When Dee returns home, Mama learns that she
has changed her name to Wanegro Leewanika Memanjo. She says that she no longer wants a name of
"people who oppress"...
No comments:
Post a Comment