ts to Dee or letting Maggie have them. Her decision is complicated by the fact that Maggie says that she doesn’t care about the quilts, that she “can remember Grandma Dee without the quilts” (297). Maggie isn’t worried at all. She is afraid of her sister only because of what her sister has come to represent, that is, the destruction of their heritage. However, she isn’t angry because she knows that everything is going to work out, because “this is the way she knew God to work” (297). It is this trust in God that Maggie has that finally causes the mother to come to grips with herself and with their families traditional way of life. When she embraces Maggie, she is, in essence, embracing her own heritage. At this point, Dee becomes fed up with the whole matter and leaves the two of them alone. As she is leaving, Maggie looks up at her and smiles, “a real smile, not scared” (297). She sees Dee in her sunglasses and realizes that just as the lenses hide Dee’s eyes, so too do they blind her to what is really important in life. Dee will always want more. She will never experience the pure joy that Maggie and her mother now share in the knowledge that they may not be the richest or the brightest or the best looking folks, but they are satisfied with what they have. Before she leaves, Dee makes and assertion that is at least partly accurate. She tells Maggie that “it’s really a new day for us” (297). She is correct. It is indeed a new day, but not for Dee and Maggie. They have already gone their separate ways. Instead, it is a new day for Maggie and her mother. They now share a love and understanding that they had not known prior to these events. They’ve found an everyday use for their grandmother by forming a bond of love that will hold their family and their heritage together for another generation, not unlike their grandmother was able to d...
