Everyday Use 2

"I use to love to milk till I was hooked in the side in '49. Cows are soothing and slow and don't bother you, unless you try to milk them the wrong way." p.175

Another symbol in this story that stood out to me quite a bit was the reference of the cow. This story has a minimal amount of seemingly insignificant back story or stories of occurrences prior to the events in the story. So, as a reader, I can infer that because the narrator mentioned a story from the past, it most likely has some relevance within the story. That was showed at the very end when Dee wants the quilts that have been promised to Maggie. Mama sees Maggie's face when she says that Dee can have the blankets and Mama is deeply upset about this. Because of this, Mama sort of unleashes something inside of her that protects Maggie's rights and denies those of Dee. She is "rubbed the wrong way", similar to the cow. The whole story she is calm and passive, but when Dee is demanding the quilts, Mama realizes that she no longer has to be soothing like a cow.