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 Alice Walker's short story:

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"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.