Heritage?

We see the story through the narrator's eyes: Dee and Maggie's mother. She worships Dee and fantasizes about a good relationship with her daughter. The one with the brains and willpower, Dee takes off only to leave her mother and sister still poor. Dee comes back and immediately her character has shifted. Where she once watched satisfactorily the house burn down, she comes back and takes pictures of her family with the new house included. This is the first indication of Dee's view of "heritage." She tells her mother her new name is "Waterango Leewanika Kemanjo, adapted from African roots even though the name "Dee" extends her family line and true heritage. "Waterango" irritated me: her fake actions and willingness to see the new house only benefited herself. She scurried through the house claiming items of everyday use for mother and Maggie to herself, claiming her displaying them will better support their heritage. We learn that heritage needn't be shown off and displayed, but rather kept reserved and intimately important within the family and home.