life and tries to deny it and also change it. When she argues with her mother, Dee turns to Maggie to kiss her and says, “You ought to try to make
something of yourself, too, Maggie. It is really a new day for us. But from the way you and Mama still live, you’d never know it” p. 321. From Dee’s
dialogue, it shows that she tries to make her sister thinks like her. That is when Dee shows displacement. She knows that it is her mother who caused her
negative feelings but she takes it out on Maggie instead of her mother.
3. Maggie
Same as Mama, Maggie’s core issue is low self-esteem. As mama says, “Maggie will be nervous until after her sister goes; she will stand hopelessly
in corners, homely and ashamed of the burn scars down her arms and legs, eying her sister with a mixture of envy and awe” p.
315. Maggie’s body language here shows her feeling of inferiority and she is jealous of her sister.
She feels inferiority especially when comparing to her sister. She feels hopeless, ashamed of herself and thinks that her sister has everything good in
life which she herself does not have, and that is why she envies Dee. As Tyson psychoanalysis states Maggie shows low self-e
steem”. In comparison to her sister it seems like they come from two different worlds.
Her fears, her jealousy takes over at this point of time, which made it extremely easy to grow a low self esteem threw out time. However, the next
proof that shows Maggie has a low self esteem can be seen through Mama’s description of the way Maggie walks.
That is the way my Maggie walks. She has been like this, chin on chest, eyes on ground, feet in shuffle, ever since the
fire that burned the other house to the ground p. 316.
From Mama’s description we can see that Maggie has been like this since the fire that burned her old house. Maggie has some burn scars due to this fire
therefore when she walks she tries to hide them because she is ashamed about it. She puts her head down so people will not pay much attention on her.
People who have low self esteem do seem to walk the way Maggie that Maggie walks. Also when Maggie asks for Mama’s opinion about her look,
when she is in pink skirt and red blouse, she hides behind the door. Mama says, “Maggie is showing just enough of her thin body enveloped in pink skirt
and red blouse for me to know she is there, almost hidden by the door” p.
316. Here, we can see that Maggie is shy and lack of confidence. She does not even feel confident enough to show herself to her mother.
Maggie thinks that she is less worthy than other human beings. This is shown when Mama said that, “Sometimes Maggie reads to me. She stumbles
along good naturedly but can’t see well. She knows she is not bright. Like good look and money quickly passes her by” p. 316. It seems obvious that
Maggie does indeed feel inferior about herself. She thinks that good things do not belong to her. In other words, she thinks that she is worthless. Another
body language of her that shows her low self esteem is when she answered Hakim’s Dee’s boyfriend question, “Aunt Dee’s first husband whittled the
dash,” said Maggie so low you almost couldn’t hear her” p. 319. Maggie feels inferior about herself that she thinks her opinion will not matter to
anyone. That is why she talks so low because of her fears and her feeling of inferiority.
Other than this, Maggie thinks herself as less worthy when she said that Dee can take away the quilts that Mama r
eserved for her. Maggie says, “She can have them, Mama,” she said, like somebody used to never winning
anything or having anything reserved for her” p. 321. Here we can see that Maggie does not speak up for herself even though she really wants the quilts.
We can predict that she really wants them because she drops things in the kitchen when she hears that Dee wants to get those quilts. Mama says, “I
heard something fall in the kitchen, and a minute later the kitchen door slammed” p. 320. It is obvious that Maggie surprised when she hears that
Dee wants the quilts and that is why she drops things. To make it worse, Maggie says the following, “I can ’member Grandma Dee without the quilts”
p. 320. From this example we can see that Maggie gives up on those quilts that Mama reserved for her. She gives up easily because she thinks that she
does not deserve to have those quilts. Now let us take a look at the way she defense mechanism mechanisms
herself to help us understand more about Maggie. The defense mechanism she shows is avoidance. There are many scenes in the story that Maggie tries to
avoid people. For the first example is when Dee arrives at Mama’s house, Maggie tries to hide herself but Mama will not
let her. Mama says, “Maggie attempts to make a dash for the house, in her shuffling way, but I stay her with
my hand. „come back here,’ I say. And stops and tries to dig a well in the sand with her toe” p. 317. This shows that Maggie tries to hide herself. And even
though Mama will not let her and asks her to come back, she still tries to make a hole to hide by scratching the sands on the floor constantly. Even though it is
obvious that the hole she made is not for hiding, it still shows that she wants to find a place to hide.
The second example that shows Maggie avoids people is when Hakim tries to greet Maggie by hugging her, she avoids him by hiding. “He moves to
hug Maggie but she falls back, right up against the back of my chair. I feel her trembling there, and when I look up I see the p
erspiration falling off her chin” p. 318. It tells us that Maggie keeps herself away from people. She seems to
be very scared because she is trembling, even if it is just a greeting hug she still avoids it. It seems like she does not want to get close to people that is why
she hides herself behind her mother’s chair. Then when Hakim is going
through motions with Maggie’s hand, she tries to pull it back. Mama says, “Meanwhile Asalamalakim is going through motions with Maggie’s hand,
Maggie’s hand is as limp as a fish, and probably as cold, despite the sweat, and she keeps trying to pull it back” p. 318. It tells us again that Maggie still
scared of Hakim and tries to avoid him.
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CHAPTER V CONCLUSION
After reading the whole story and analyzing all of the character’s characteristics and self-defense mechanisms, it is worth drawing the following
conclusion. Firstly, Mrs. Johnson Mama is characterized as a tough, patient,
honest, wise, firm, and caring woman. She is also a hard worker. She does man jobs, she does not get mad easily and always think about her daughters
first, always tell the truth, deeply care about her two daughters, but at the same time she is also firm in certain condition. Overall, Mama is a nice person and
that is why she is the protagonist of the story. Even though she has many positive sides, she also has emotional problems core issues called Low Self-
Esteem and Fear of Abandonment. She thinks she is less worthy and does not deserve any life’s rewards. She knows she is uneducated, heavy, and dark,
therefore she won’t eye people when she talk to them. But she does not change her looks or appearance. She is afraid that someday her daughter, Dee, might
leave her because of the life she chooses to live. So Mama always gives Dee whatever Dee wants except the quilts that suppose to be left for Maggie. She
