Mama always seems to have had a good handle on who Dee is, but the fundamental change that she goes through during the story has to do with her perception of her other daughter, Maggie. Mama's never really stood up to Dee, but she's well aware of this daughter's "scalding humor" and recalls the way Dee "burned [them] with a lot of knowledge" they didn't need before she moved away for school. She knows Dee can be selfish and cruel.
Early on, Mama describes Maggie as "nervous," saying that Maggie "will stand hopelessly in corners, homely and ashamed of the burn scars down her arms and legs, eyeing her sister with a mixture of envy and awe." She does not seem to really see Maggie as a person, but rather as an animal, and Maggie is not someone in whose company she takes pleasure. Mama says that Maggie is like...
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"a lame animal." However, by the end of the story, when Dee has become insistent about the quilts, Mama says,
I looked at [Maggie] hard [...]. She stood there with her scarred hands hidden in the folds of her skirt. She looked at her sister with something like fear but she wasn't mad at her. This was Maggie's portion. This was the way she knew God to work. When I looked at her like that something hit me in the top of my head and ran down to the soles of my feet. Just like when I'm in church and the spirit of God touches me and I get happy and shout.
In this moment, Mama seems to understand Maggie in a brand new way. In the end, the two of them walk Dee back to the car, and Maggie smiles "a real smile" as her sister leaves. Finally, Mama says, "the two of us sat there just enjoying, until it was time to go in the house and go to bed." Mama now sees Maggie as someone whose company she can enjoy; for the first time, she appreciates this daughter's quiet and loving ways more than she cares to placate Dee. This fundamental change in her perception makes Mama a dynamic character.