Maud Martha has never felt beautiful. As a child, she loved dandelions because she found them both somewhat "everyday" and pretty. Like the dandelions, Maud Martha feels herself to be somewhat "everyday," especially when she is compared to her sister, Helen. The narrator says of Maud Martha, "She did not want fame. She did not want to be a star." While Maud Martha is, in the words of one boy, an "old black gal," Helen is the "ranking queen." Helen's appearance may be more attractive to society, but Maud Martha finds a way to think of herself as good and worthy, too. Her ambitions are not grand, her beauty is more subtle, and she finds a way to be happy in her life. She saves a mouse, she sticks up for her daughter, she welcomes her brother home from war, and she finds a lot for which to feel grateful in the end. From this, the story conveys the idea that even an "everyday" life lived by an "everyday" person can be beautiful and meaningful.

When she attends her Uncle Tim's funeral in her youth, Maud Martha contemplates the meaning of life in general. She is disturbed by his appearance, thinking that he looks like "a gray clay doll." She thinks,

It all came down to gray clay. Then just what was important? What had been important about this life, this Uncle Tim? Was the world any better for for his having lived? A little, perhaps. . . . But how important was this, what was the real importance of this, what would—God say?

She fears that no one will get the answers until they have already finished living their lives. Maud Martha learns that the answers to these important questions do come. She learns to protect her daughter's innocence, to appreciate the "commonest flower," and to keep hope alive so that she can bring another child into a chaotic and imperfect world. We may become like gray clay dolls in the end, but that does not make our lives less significant or reduce the positive impact we have on other people. We can find and make meaning on an everyday basis. 

Despite many challenges, Maud Martha remains hopeful. This hope of hers is what propels her forward—even when money is tight, or when Maud Martha and her family experience racist behavior, she manages to find a reason to keep going. Maud Martha comes to the realization that she does not need to do anything big to affect the world around her. She does not need to be a star, and she does not need to be her sister. She can be herself and find meaning in the small things as well as the big ones. At the end of the novel, we discover that Maud Martha is pregnant. She expresses that she is looking forward to the future, and she is optimistic about it. Her attitude of hope is symbolized through her pregnancy: just like with her growing family, there is more yet to come.