What is at stake for the protagonist in the conflict?

Mama, the narrator of the story, is big boned, stronger than most men, and mild tempered. There is a quiet sincerity about Mama that earns her the reader’s respect early in her narrative. She is loving, forgiving, independent and frank. Ultimately Mama must choose between appeasing her daughter Dee at the expense of her other daughter Maggie or losing Dee in support of Maggie and the life they live. Mama decides not to let Dee objectify her life. She defies Dee's insistence to turn their home into art objects for her (Dee's) flat in the city. There is a sense that she will be estranged from Dee at the end of the story.