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Chapter 15
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Mighty Miss Malone, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Hope
Talent and Hard Work
Family
The Black Experience in America
The Great Depression
Summary
Analysis
Deza lies awake that night, listening to her parents arguing on the other side of the thin bedroom wall. Mr. Malone fears that he’ll never find consistent work in Gary. No matter how hard Mrs. Malone works, it isn’t enough to make ends meet, and he’s ashamed that he’s not doing a better job of providing for his family. He’s ashamed that they have to accept welfare food. He’s scared about what the future holds for Deza and Jimmie, and he’s angry that they can’t afford to take Jimmie (who stopped growing three years earlier) to a doctor or Deza to a dentist for her rotting teeth. He wants Deza to reach her fullest, brightest potential, but that requires money and stability.
Mr. Malone confessed to Jimmie that the thought of the fight—the thought of Joe Louis proving once and for all that Black men are worthy and dignified human beings, despite the racism and prejudice they face—kept him going after the boating accident. Deza treated this as hyperbole, but now it seems that she should not have done so. As her parents argue, it becomes painfully clear why a person in Mr. Malone’s position would lose hope. In fact, it seems almost miraculous that he was able to hold onto it for as long as he did. But he’s rapidly losing things to cling to and is in danger of drowning metaphorically as he almost did physically.
Themes
Mrs. Malone thinks that Mr. Malone is overreacting. He’s still upset over the boxing match and grieving the loss of his friends. He’s still recovering from a dreadful, traumatic accident. Besides, she asks, how does he know that things will be any better in Flint? At least in Gary, the family is together and surrounded by a network of caring neighbors and friends. She asks Mr. Malone to be patient for just a little bit longer. He says the family has run out of time—and that he’s run out of time. He’s leaving tonight, he tells Mrs. Malone. He’ll send money home and bring the rest of the family up to join him just as soon as he can.
Mrs. Malone tries to counteract her husband’s hopeless narrative by pointing out the advantages that the family does have, few and slim though they may be. But her words fail to move him. He feels too keenly what he perceives as his own failures to provide for his family, to give his children the kind of life they deserve and that he wants for them. And in the face of his shame, he turns his back on the one thing he still has to hold on to: his family. It’s clear that neither Mrs. Malone nor Deza believe his assurances that they’ll be reunited soon.
Themes
Deza sneaks to her bedroom door and watches Mr. Malone go into Jimmie’s room. She wonders why her second brain has gone silent. It would be helpful, she thinks, to get a little advice about whom she should hurt. Jimmie, usually so tough, follows Mr. Malone into the hallway in tears. He even allows his father to cuddle and comfort him as he weeps and begs to go along too. But Mr. Malone says he needs Jimmie to stay in Gary to look after Mrs. Malone and Deza. Jimmie promises to do so, then, still sniffling, he goes back into his own room.
Neither Deza nor her second brain know what to do in this situation because, up to this point in her life, all the threats to her sense of safety and security have come from outside of her family. Now her father’s impending departure threatens to break the foundation on which everything else rests. The only saving grace is that Mr. Malone wants Jimmie to stay—that means at least most of the family will remain intact.
Themes
Deza crawls back into her bed and hides her face beneath her pillow. She refuses to acknowledge it when Mr. Malone knocks, when he comes in, when he says goodbye, or when he kisses her pillow in lieu of her hidden face. When she hears him walking down the stairs, her second brain finally pipes up, suggesting that she push him down the stairs and break his legs to keep him from going. But she knows she can’t do this. She clenches her jaw so hard that one of her rotten teeth breaks.
Deza hopes that by denying what’s going on—by hiding her face and pretending not to be there—that she can stop it from happening. But that’s not how life works. This is yet another trial that she must face head-on if she’s going to survive it, and it will require all the strength she derives from her mother and brother and all the hope she can muster to do so.
Themes
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