How does Dee react when she learns what Mama plans to do with the quilts? What does Maggie say that mama should do with them?

Mama has
"promised to give them quilts to Maggie, for when she marries John Thomas." Dee is
indeed angry in response, and her reaction is what provides the title of 's short
story:

"Maggie can't appreciate these quilts!"
she said. "She'd probably be backward enough to put them to everyday use."

Dee clearly is judgmental here, characterizing a set of actions as
"backward." She's certainly not being humble.

At the same time,
though, I wish to provide a counterview to the previous post. I believe that the story is
written in a way that biases the reader against Dee and her boyfriend. (The narrator, the very
person who feeds the reader all of the information, is clearly biased against the couple. Look
at how she mocks their names, for example.) As readers, we're encouraged to see Maggie's receipt
of the quilts as a sort of victory. As readers, of course, we can identify and attempt to resist
the narrator's bias. I try to get my students to think more about the story by exploring the
narrator's bias and by asking them what's so wrong with preserving (i.e. not putting to
"everyday use") an item of value. Many of my students have items from previous
generations -- china, jewelry, etc. -- that they certainly cherish but don't use every
day.