Mama, reflects on her daughters and the circumstances of their upbringing while awaiting Dee's return. Dee was the more difficult child, but Mama nevertheless loved her. Maggie is scarred, but loving, respectful of her family and heritage. Mama believes that family ties are indelible, even despite Dee's dismissal of her childhood and direct ancestry. Named after a long line of Dees, Wangero's rejection of her birth name is a symbol for the rejection of her family - even if that rejection is an attempt to connect to a larger history. To Mama and Maggie, however, the people you come from and who raised you matter more than a legacy you read about in books. Like any family, Mama's family is fraught with drama and history, complexity and contradiction.