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¶ … Alice Walker is one of the most profound of her writings. The challenges between the three women in the work mirror challenges that are universal to community, and especially a community in transition. In the work the estranged daughter of the south Dee, returns for a visit to her childhood home, a poor rundown house with a dirt yard a rugged Mama and a sister who hides her shame from scars she received in a house fire, as a child. There is a sense form the beginning of the work, that Maggie, has always received the short end of the stick, while Dee has been invested in and given unheard of opportunity to rise above the history of her family. Mama's description of Maggie is telling of a life in the shadows:

Have you ever seen a lame animal, perhaps a dog run over by some careless person rich enough to own a car, sidle up to someone who is ignorant enough to be kind to him? That is the way my Maggie walks. She has been like this, chin on chest, eyes on ground, feet in shuffle, ever since the fire that burned the other house to the ground. (Walker)

Dee on the other hand is described, as follows:

A dress down to the ground, in this hot weather. A dress so loud it hurts my eyes. There are yellows and oranges enough to throw back the light of the sun. I feel my whole face warming from the heat waves it throws out. Earrings gold, too, and hanging down to her shoulders. Bracelets dangling and making noises when she moves her arm up to shake the folds of the dress out of her armpits. (Walker)

Dee dramatically storms into the life she once knew, like a tourist, looking about the home as if there are items there that she might like to take with her, not for the sake of memory but for the sake of display. Dee gives the impression through the narration of her Mama that she has moved on from this life and that her sister and her Mama should do the same. Mamma has always given Dee anything she wanted, and allowed Maggie to step back into the shadows.

Maggie has the knowledge of a promised and very scant dowry. Mama has promised her the quilts that have been handed down in the family and those which they had themselves made. The promise was genuine and meaningful as quilts are important to a new bride as they can protect and keep one warm. Yet, Dee assumes that whatever she asks for will be granted, so she requests the quilts from Mama, who refuses her, request and reasserts her promise to Maggie. The whole argument is directed by the stoicism of the mother, the surrender of the Maggie and the brutish manner in which Dee assumes the right to have the quilts, as she is enlightened and Maggie is not, and she will give them their proper place, while Maggie will likely simply use them as quilts.