In "Everyday Use", what are some of the conflicts that Mama and Dee have?

Interestingly, I think that the conflicts between Mama and
Dee are very closely linked to the theme and the major symbol of this story. I think the
theme of this story has to do with our heritage and our family history and how we
respond to it. We can see this theme through the main symbol of the story and how it is
used.

Clearly the major symbol of this great story is to be
found in the quilts that Dee so desperately wants. Consider how they are presented in
the story:

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Out came Wangero with two quilts. They had been
pieces by Grandma Dee, and then Big Dee and me had hung them on the quilt frames on the
front porch and quilted them. One was in the Lone Star pattern. The other was Walk
Around the Mountain. In both of them were scraps of dresses Grandma Dee had worn fifty
and more years ago. Bits and pieces of Grandpa Jarrell's paisley shirts. And one teeny
faded blue piece, about the size of a penny matchbox, that was from Great Grandpa Ezra's
uniform that he wore in the Civil
War.

This description shows
both how valuable they are to the narrator but also what a family history they include
and show. It is clear that the quilts and who they belong to symbolise a far bigger
issue regarding the characters of Dee and Maggie, giving the story its title. Note what
Dee says when her mother declares she had promised them to
Maggie:

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"Maggie can't appreciate those quilts!" she said.
She'd probably be backward enough to put them to everyday
use."

The final decision to
give Maggie the quilts is an act of love and of upbuilding of Maggie, for the narrator
rejects Dee's rather pushy claim on the quilts and gives them to Maggie instead. Thus
the quilts can be said to symbolise the heritage of the family, but also the love and
human spirit of Ma for Maggie as she tries to build her daughter up and show her that
she is affirmed and deeply cared for. Of course, it is Maggie who, unlike her sister,
Dee, has not abandoned her family heritage, and thus will use the quilts in a way that
is honouring to the memory of the family history that they
represent.

Thus the major conflict is between Mama, who
believes in her family heritage and holds on to it, allowing it to identify and define
her, and Dee, who has rejected her family heritage in an attempt to embrace an African
identity.