Character Traits and Making Inferences

Mama is a tough woman in the south. She can do whatever a man can do such as killing a cow and eating its liver, and doing farm works. Mama has to do all these things because she has to feed her daughters, Dee and Maggie. Mama is very proud that she could do what a man could do. Mama is a fat woman and she wears farm clothes such as jeans and rough clothes. She is not very elegant and it is resulted because of her economic status. Mama faced a conflict of deciding who to give their family treasure to, a quilt. She doesn't want to give it to Dee because she felt like Dee has a distance with the family and tradition because she went off to school in the city. Mama also thinks that Dee would not make the quit bigger and pass it on so it would destroy the family tradition. However, Dee wants the quilt. Not because she thinks it is valuable or warm to her but because she wants to show other people that she had earned her way up to the city from the countryside. It shows that she is from a poor family but she made it through. Dee wants to make it a decoration. Mama is angry about this fact. Although Mama is angry at Dee because Dee wants the quilt as a decoration, Mama still loves both of them. On the other hand, Maggie does not care who got the quilt. Mama decides to give the quilt to Maggie because she will honor their family tradition, make it bigger for the next generation and use it for the right purpose, warmth and a sense of family.