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Chapter 1
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
A few hours later, after dinner, Jimmie unexpectedly presents half of a delicious-looking, fresh-baked apple pie for dessert. Although he tries to play cool about where he got it, he quickly caves under the pressure of Mr. Malone and Mrs. Malone’s fury and admits that he took it from a lady’s windowsill. Although he says he paid for it, his parents remain angry. They’re just grateful he didn’t steal it from a White neighborhood. Mr. Malone prepares to drag Jimmie and the rest of the pie back to its rightful owner to set things right. But Deza, realizing how embarrassing it would be for Mr. Malone to drag Jimmie past his friends like a disobedient toddler, offers to supervise Jimmie’s apology instead.
Stealing the pie helps to establish Jimmie as a bit of a rule-breaker—just as Deza described him in her essay. But it also points to the family’s dire poverty. They can’t even afford an occasional, homemade dessert themselves, so Jimmie resorts to pilfering. Mr. and Mrs. Malone’s worry that he might have stolen the pie from a White household quietly but emphatically reminds readers that the book is set during an era of strict segregation and frequent racialized violence. When Deza intervenes to help her brother out, she’s showing how much she loves him. He’s always doing nice things for her, and she wants to return the favor.
Themes
Mr. Malone and Mrs. Malone agree with Deza’s plan, giving the children 45 minutes to go there and back. Sure enough, a lot of Jimmie’s friends are hanging around outside in the pleasant evening air. At first, Jimmie saunters along like nothing’s wrong. But when they get out of his friends’ sight, he becomes nervous and apologetic. He tells Deza he just wanted the family to have something nice for a change. And he tells her the whole story—after he stole the pie, he set it down for a minute and a dog tried to run off with it. That’s why there’s only half.
Although Jimmie swaggers and tries to make himself look big or imposing in front of his friends, he’s really a softie on the inside who wants to take care of the family he loves. Racism, the economic depression, and his small stature and young age make it hard for him to do so. It isn’t a fair world, but he and Deza must learn to navigate it nevertheless.
Themes
Deza doesn’t want to return a pie covered in dog slobber to anyone. Jimmie tries to talk her into splitting it with him, but she refuses that, too. She doesn’t think he should be rewarded for stealing. Instead, she decides to offer what’s left of the pie to one of the poor and unhoused families that live in cardboard shacks in the local park. She walks up to the one with the most children in front and explains the theft—and the dog slobber—to the woman sitting there. Noting that she and her kids often find themselves fighting with the dogs for scraps of food, the woman gratefully accepts the pie. She wants to share some with Deza—but not with the pilfering Jimmie. Deza accepts one apple slice, and it is the most delicious thing she can ever remember eating—even with the dog slobber.
During the Great Depression, many families who lost their homes were reduced to living in temporary shelters in encampments that sprung up around the country. These were called “Hoovervilles,” since many people held President Herbert Hoover (who was in office from 1921-1928) responsible for policies that contributed to and exacerbated the worst effects of the Depression. The Hooverville puts the Malone family’s limitations into perspective. Their lives aren’t easy, but it could be so much worse. And their willingness to share the pie shows Deza’s and Jimmie’s natural compassion toward others and not just their family members.
Themes
