Point Of View In Tuten's This Blessed House

Tuten shows her readers that what Dee wants is superficial and that Maggie has a better understanding of heritage. Susan Farrell states in her article that in the story, Mama’s views of Maggie are not accurate. She makes the point that perhaps Mama’s views of Dee are not accurate either, because the story is told from Mama point of view and we never hear Dee’s side of the story (179). Farrell believes that Mama views Dee as a sort of goddess, she may even envy her. Susan states that, “Dee inspires in Mama a type of awe and fear more suitable to the advent of a goddess that the love one might expect a mother to feel for a returning daughter” (180). Later in the article, Farrell makes the point that what Mama’s thinks Dee wants may not actually be what she wants. This could just be a perception of what Dee wants. Farrell also points out other instances in the story that shows Dees actions contradicting Mama’s thoughts.

Many of us know people, friends even, who like to keep an image. This isn't necessarily bad, by all means everyone should have an identity, within reason. Dee takes her image to the extreme to a point where it is toxic. Rather than be true to herself Dee insists on living behind a facade that she is convinced is justified.

Dee's inability to accept who she is can be seen as a weakness. Dee has turned her back on a part of her past by taking the Muslim name of "Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo" (412). Her reason for changing her name was because she "couldn't bear it any longer being named after the people who oppress me" (412). Her mother sees the action of the name change as Dee turning her back on her immediate blood relatives. Dee's insecurity concerning her past becomes evident, and her mother sees it as a denial of where she came from. It is as though she would rather claim the name of an unknown slave to that of her aunt and grandmother. Her biggest fear seems to be that by not declaring her heritage, she might someday have to return to the simple life of her mother and sister. Dee uses the

Dee is selfish and her overly judgmental nature has deeply affected Mama and Maggie. Their need for Dee’s approval becomes apparent in Mama’s daydreams of their televised reunion. When Dee arrives at Mama’s house with her new companion, she informs them she has changed her name to Wangero. As they sit down for dinner, Wangero starts listing items of her heritage that she wants her mother to give her now that she is married; such as the dash and churn top that were whittled by her ancestors. Wangero then begins to rifle through the trunk at the foot of Mama’s bed and finds some old quilts.

In Dee’s eyes the pasture that her Mama lives in is not comparable to her fast pace high style world. This caused her to not even bring her friends over to their house (Walker 290). Her friends even put her on a pedestal, just like Mama. “They were nervous girls who never laughed. They were impressed with Dee they worshiped the well-turned phrase, the cute shape, and scalding humor that erupted like bubbles in lye” (Walker 290). This description of how Dee’s friends view her is told by Mama. This is another example of how Mama puts Dee on an unneeded pedestal. She describes her as some kind of God that her friends worship. In reality, it is Mama worshipping Dee.

When Dee returns from school with her male companion, she has changed her name to Wangero. This is the first instance of cultural confusion that is delivered to the reader. She claims it is done in an effort to reject the oppression of the taking on of American names by the struggling ‘colored' people. She states "I couldn't bear it any longer being named after the people who oppresses me" (455). However, to Dee's mother, the name is symbolic of family unity. Dee's mother traces the name back to Dee's aunt, Dicie. The name holds a symbolic value to Dee's mother because it belongs to a love one. Walker uses this strategy to show that Dee has little or no understanding of her heritage, and if she took the time to accept her people's way of life, she would have a better understanding. Dee changing her name shows how she tries to mask her true culture with bits and pieces of her knowledge of her ancestors. However, this fails because Dee's heritage does, in fact, encompass the very struggles of her people that she chooses to forget.

Dee does not truly value the heritage, and her interest in the quilts seem to reflect a cultural trend. This cultural trend becomes evident when the mother says, “I had offered Dee a quilt when she went away to college. Then she had told me they were old-fashioned, out of style”(Walker 96). We learned early in the story that Dee acquired a style at a young age, and she allowed the world around her to alter and manipulate that style.

As the story advances however, Dee does get more complex and is demonstrated to be battling with her own particular personality and heritage. Concrete subtle elements are expressed about Dee that lead you to know she is beautiful, smart and certain. Dee is described as thin with a little waste. She is a light cleaned dark individuals with a decent review hair. She is also well educated. Dee is fashion conscience, continually needing more pleasant things that were not affordable to her family. First and foremost of the story, Dee’s mother and sister, Maggie are is getting ready for Dee’s entry for a visit. Here is the place you get the first flash of Dee’s obvious identity. Maggie is portrayed by her mother as being apprehensive until after Dee goes when Dee hasn’t arrived yet. This persuades that maybe Maggie is threatened by Dee and maybe feels inferior compared to Dee. Dee’s mother discuss dreaming a fantasy about being welcomed by Dee with a grasp and tears in her eyes. All things considered Dee’s mother and sister don’t appear to feel just as they truly measures up to what Dee expects or needs them will be Dee’s mother never had much of an education and Dee’s mother raised enough cash to send Dee off to school. Maggie is specified as having poor sight and not being brilliant. Dee the again is smart.

Dee, who was always brighter, better-looking, and favored, was angry because her mother refused to give the quilts which she, Grandma Dee, and Big Dee made over the years. Her grandmother made the quilt that she wants and yet, her name is not good enough for her. When Dee kisses her mother and tells her to try to understand her "heritage," it is Mrs. Johnson and

     “ Maggie can’t appreciate these quilts!” She said “ She’d probably be back-ward enough to put them to everyday use.”(pg. 323). This I’m assuming is another give away that Dee represents change. She wouldn’t use a quilt for everyday use because she would always want to be changing things, not using them everyday. Unlike Maggie who will always have those scares and would always use the quilts.

Momma's point of view defines how she feels about her daughters and the degrees of separation that exist between the two girls. Momma describes Maggie as a partially educated child who does not look as appealing as her older sister. Maggie was burned in a house fire that left her scared all over her body. She does not wear revealing clothes, nor does she attract men as Dee does. Dee, on the other hand, is described as an educated young woman who is ready to take on any and every adventure. Momma says that Dee used to read to her and Maggie without pity (94). She describes Dee as the stylish child; she always prepared dresses out of momma's old suits and is always up on the current style. Momma likes the different qualities Dee possesses, but she is slightly threatened because they are unfamiliar to her. From the description that momma gives of her daughters the reader can feel the differences that exist in her thoughts about her daughters.

She now seems to be embracing and acknowledging her African roots and disowning her actual family heritage. Upon returning home, Mama, the protagonist, learns that she has changed her name to Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo. This is the first her Mama has heard of this and it causes her to question Dee’s motive for doing so. After all, it appears Dee was named in the family tradition and to Dee’s Mama, her name is symbolic and seems to be a way of recognizing and honoring the women in the family by naming a baby girl of a later generation after their elders. Dee was named after her Mama’s sister, Dicie, who was named after her Grandma Dee, who was named after her mother. (Kirsner and Mandell, 2012, pg. 348). However, to Dee, her name is a symbol of oppression and humiliation and denotes things that she has come to believe are beneath her and her new status in life. She is now a beautiful, educated, and sophisticated woman, who is proud of her newly made self. She now seems to have renounced her past, completely missing the fact that it is her past and her heritage that played an important part of shaping her to be the woman she has become (“Characterization and Symbolism,”

Dee is a controlling person who always wanted everything to herself only and don't want anybody to take something more than her. And that appeared when mama said that the quilts which were handmade by their grandma Dee, that she would give it to Maggie, Dee was very angry for that and she wanted to take the quilts herself not because she wanted, just because she don't like anybody to take something more than her and wants everything for herself only. Dee was well educated and didn't liked her mother's and sister's way of living so she traveled and when

Dee on the other hand, represents more of a modern, complex, materialistic way of life. She moves to the city to become educated. She is ashamed of where she comes from. In a letter mama receives, Dee writes “no matter where we ‘choose’ to live, she will manage to come see us” (Walker 281). Furthermore, when she comes home to visit she tells mama that she has changed her name to Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo because “I couldn’t bear it any longer, being named after the people who oppress me” (Walker 282).

     In this story, Dee is completely unappreciative. One can get the feeling that the mother in the story had worked long and hard rearing her daughters, and has even gotten Dee into college somehow. Dee returns with her college education and new personality trying to preach to her mother and sister about what they are doing wrong. Plenty of times Dee spoke down to her mother and little sister, Maggie.