Mrs. Johnson, also known as Mama, is the story's narrator -- an African-American woman who is underprivileged and lives with her younger daughter, Maggie. She has a rough appearance and someone apparently described her as being overweight. Even with her poor financial condition and with the facts that she is middle aged and not very beautiful, Mama is a proud person and she does not hesitate to speak her mind when she has the chance to do so. Looking at matters from her perspective provides readers with the chance to understand a type of thinking that is biased and logical at the same time: Mama appears to appreciate Maggie to a greater degree than she appreciates Dee, but is also fueled by the idea that it would only be natural for her to use object normally instead of using them as decoration. Mama does not do anything that compromises her credibility. Even with the fact that she is obviously determined to provide Maggie with more attention than she provides Dee, she justifies her thinking by relating to logics and to how her older daughter fails to understand how certain things need to be used.

3. Mama seems to appreciate the fact that Maggie stays with her and is especially concerned about her young daughter's well-being. She provides her with everything she possibly can provide and feels that she needs to protect her belongings from Dee. In contrast to how she perceives Maggie, Mama appears to feel intimidated with Dee, taking into account that she appears to believe that her older daughter has lost her ability to understand her heritage and values that actually matter for her.

4. If the story were to be told from Dee's perspective, the woman would most likely describe her sister and mother as ignorant with regard to their past. The fact that she is more educated than them places her upper on the social ladder and influences her to perceive her mother and sister as being...

Mama lives by the old rules and is hesitant about trusting ideas concerning individuals who promote black pride and similar concepts. Mama seems more concerned about having her daughters experience financial progress than about having them improve their relationship with their ancestry. Mrs. Johnson is determined to influence Maggie to employ more restrained attitudes and to focus on her well-being rather than to try and address matters that seemingly have nothing to do with her.
Dee is obsessed with the idea of finding her cultural identity and cannot possibly refrain from trying to get her mother and sister to acknowledge their background. The fact that he thinks of them as being relatively inferior makes it difficult for her not to put across an arrogant attitude.

The fact that both Mama and Dee have different opinions with regard to life influences each of them to have difficulty in connecting with each-other and in accepting each-other's thinking.

6. It is difficult to determine whether or not Mama did the right thing when she decided to give the quilt to Maggie. Her failure to understand Dee's perspective influenced her to believe that her older daughter is chasing dreams and that she will never achieve anything as long as she concentrates on things like old quilts and the butter churn. It is not necessarily that Mama considers the quilts to be important solely because of their functional role, as she also appreciates the fact that they have been with the family for a long time. However, she appears to believe that by turning them into decorations she would practically act in disagreement with her past and would make it impossible for them to actually play the role they were meant to play.

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