Whenever it comes to identifying themes within short
stories you are going to get a large response involving different ideas and aspects of
the story. I guess you could say that this is what makes a good piece of fiction - one
that can be interpreted in so many ways. For me, however, the theme of this story has to
do with our heritage and our family history and how we respond to it. We can see this
theme through the main symbol of the story and how it is
used.
Clearly the major symbol of this great story is to be
found in the quilts that Dee so desperately wants. Consider how they are presented in
the story:
Out came Wangero with two quilts. They had been
pieces by Grandma Dee, and then Big Dee and me had hung them on the quilt frames on the
front porch and quilted them. One was in the Lone Star pattern. The other was Walk
Around the Mountain. In both of them were scraps of dresses Grandma Dee had worn fifty
and more years ago. Bits and pieces of Grandpa Jarrell's paisley shirts. And one teeny
faded blue piece, about the size of a penny matchbox, that was from Great Grandpa Ezra's
uniform that he wore in the Civil
War.
This description shows
both how valuable they are to the narrator but also what a family history they include
and show. It is clear that the quilts and who they belong to symbolise a far bigger
issue regarding the characters of Dee and Maggie, giving the story its title. Note what
Dee says when her mother declares she had promised them to
Maggie:
"Maggie can't appreciate those quilts!" she said.
She'd probably be backward enough to put them to everyday
use."
The final decision to
give Maggie the quilts is an act of love and of upbuilding of Maggie, for the narrator
rejects Dee's rather pushy claim on the quilts and gives them to Maggie instead. Thus
the quilts can be said to symbolise the heritage of the family, but also the love and
human spirit of Ma for Maggie as she tries to build her daughter up and show her that
she is affirmed and deeply cared for. Of course, it is Maggie who, unlike her sister,
Dee, has not abandoned her family heritage, and thus will use the quilts in a way that
is honouring to the memory of the family history that they
represent.
The theme is clear: it is vital to not forget,
reject or turn our back on our family background in the way that Dee has done. For when
we do that, we endanger forgetting who we are as individuals.
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