The butter churner, the quilt, and the butter dish represent the heritage in Mama’s life and they all mean something to her. All of these objects mean something to Mama, but when Dee comes along and takes all of her “broken things” away Dee took her heart away too. Mama, Dee, and Maggie all have different opinions on the objects. Dee wants to take the things away, and Maggie lets her because she feels as if she is underneath Dee. Mama loves and treasures her broken things and believe that they  should not be fixed because that is what makes them unique.

Dee doesn’t really care about her heritage because she takes away the broken things and even changes her name. Her real name is Dee, but she changes it to Wangero which makes Mama really sad, because the name Dee had been in their family for a long time. Dee doesn't like the name because it an American name and no longer wanted to be named “after the people who oppressed” her. The main object that (Wangero) Dee wanted to take was the quilts, but Mama wouldn't let her because those were a present for Maggie when she got married to John Thomas. Wangero takes all of the things that had been in the family for years, even though she knew how much all of those things meant to Mama.