I agree with the above answer concerning the three main characters in Walker's "Everyday Use," and how the characters value the house. I'll just view the issue from a slightly different angle.
For Dee, the house is now (in the present of the story) art, illusion if you will. It is what someone else's life is like. She is now sophisticated, has moved beyond it. She wants "souvenirs," pieces of art, from the house.
For Maggie and her mother, the house is reality. The things in the house are what they use to live every day. The things in the house are not antiques and art works, but tools and remembrances.
Walker is suggesting that the mother and Maggie possess a dignity of their own. They don't need to change and become sophisticated in order to have dignity. And they certainly do not need to leave their home and surroundings to make their lives worth living and valuable.
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