Problem
Prompt:
• What is the setting of the story (and what textual cues tell us this) and how does this relate to the central conflict in the narrative? (see Christian's article if you are having a difficult time picking out the historical period and its relevance here).
• Following Showalter, can we read the quilt symbolically in the text? What does it stand for and what do the two sisters' different approaches to it say about possible orientations towards that thing it stands for?
• Many readers, like Christian interpret the story as privileging Maggie's orientation over Dee/Wangero's. But, despite her obvious character flaws, are their ways to be more sympathetic to the latter in analyzing the text? Can we see her engaging in what we might call the creative reinvention of self, or do we have to see her as hopelessly inauthentic because her imagination and intellect took her beyond the rural place and customs she was born into?
• What are the central points of Baker and Pierce-Baker's interpretation of the story?