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They are simply following traditional Navajo custom, which holds that children belong to the mother and her clan. Navajo society is matrilineal in nature, and , typically, Chee would move in with his wife's family after marriage. In the story, though, both Chee and his wife are at odds with his father-in-law's ideas of "progress," so they take up residence with Chee's parents. When Chee's wife dies, her parents are entitled to claim her child(ren)--Old Man Fat does just so.

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15y ago

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