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"Maggie will be nervous until after her sister goes: she will stand hopelessly in corners, homely and ashamed of the burn scars down her arms and legs, eying her sister with a mixture of envy and awe."
At the beginning of the story, Mama offers this detail about Maggie which emphasizes the sense of inferiority she feels compared to her older sister, Dee. The burns across her skin set her apart from the seemingly perfect Dee, and this physical difference foreshadows the difference in their characters that will emerge throughout the remainder of the story.
"It was Grandma Dee and Big Dee who taught her how to quilt herself. She stood there with her scarred hands hidden in the folds of her skirt. She looked at her sister with something like fear but she wasn’t mad at her. This was Maggie’s portion. This was the way she knew God to work."
Although Maggie feels defeated at this moment in the struggle over the quilts, her sense of loss actually works to reveal why she is the daughter most deserving of the family heirlooms. Her disappointment, which her body language reflects, emphasizes that she has as a genuine emotional connection to the quilts which her sister does not. The fact that she learned to quilt from the women in her family also reinforces her authentic participation in their traditions and ability to carry them on for future generations.
