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Maggie is the mute, disabled, and childlike woman who works in the kitchen at St. Bonny’s. As a character, she is a symbol for the voiceless, the oppressed, and the outcast. She exists outside the social hierarchy of St. Bonny’s, which makes her a target. The gar girls take out their frustrations and powerlessness on Maggie, who is even more powerless than they are. Similarly, Roberta and Twyla do nothing when they see Maggie being abused because they also misplace their anger and powerlessness onto her. At one point Twyla and Roberta discuss whether Maggie can cry or scream, and their glee over deciding she cannot indicates they enjoy the small amount of power this gives them. Twyla later feels guilt over yelling derogatory names at her because she thinks Maggie was hurt by their words but could do nothing about it, which reiterates the symbolism of Maggie as a stand-in for the voiceless and oppressed. 

Twyla’s shame represents the shame of all who participate in the oppression of others and later regret their actions. At the end of the story, Roberta says wanting to hurt Maggie is the same as doing it, which is an indictment of standing idly by while others are victimized and oppressed. In the context of American history, Maggie partly represents the oppression of Black people. However, whether Maggie is Black is left intentionally ambiguous and becomes a point of contention between Twyla and Roberta. In this sense, Maggie represents all who silently suffer oppression because someone else misplaces their frustration onto them.

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