Briefly provide the context of the quote (what is happening at the time these words appear and who is speaking these words) and explore the significance of the quote in terms of the story as a whole—in relation to its theme, plot, and major characters/relationships. The quote is: “I have buried my father, and shall know how to make my grandpa up in stone."

This is the final sentence in Alice Walker's story "A Sudden Trip Home in the Spring." The words are not spoken aloud but represent the internal thoughts of the protagonist, Sarah, as she reaches a resolution within herself. She is, she tells herself at this point, "a woman in the world." She offers the quote above as if to assure herself of this point; having buried her father, the next step in justifying to herself the fact that she is a valuable person will be to learn how to "make my grandpa up in stone."
Sarah has just returned to school from a trip home to Georgia, where she has attended her father's funeral. Sarah is characterized by her difference: one of only two black girls at a school attended by the daughters of billionaires, she is out of place among her peers, thought of as exceptionally beautiful and exotic, and yet also now she is also out of place at home. At first, Sarah attempts to fit in at school by, unconsciously, presenting only half of her true self. Knowing that the white girls appreciated her beauty, she celebrated black women in her art but felt unable to portray black men—partly, it seems, because of a poor relationship with her father, who "avoided" her. When at home for the funeral, however, her grandfather occasions a breakthrough for her.
Over the course of the time with her grandfather—the only person, other than Sarah, who does not cry at the funeral—Sarah recognizes something in him that she had not seen before, a certain poise and dignity. He "stood like a rock," defined by his family, and she declares her desire to paint him, as if to immortalize him and also her own psychological breakthrough. But Sarah's grandfather says that an "old man like me" should not be painted and requests that Sarah "make [him] up in stone." Sarah's resolution to do so at the end of the story, then, represents her determination to "stare the rat down"—face her fears and difficulties, including those caused by her own disconnect with her family and provenance—and move on to become truly "a woman in the world."