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Chapter 24
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
When Deza gets back to camp, the authorities are tearing apart huts and ruining people’s belongings. Mrs. Malone hands Deza a hastily packed bundle, and Deza says she wishes they could save the blue gingham curtain. Outside, authorities direct the camp’s inhabitants toward the road away from Flint. Mrs. Malone’s plan is to follow the road for a while, then circle back around and sneak into Flint so she can make it to work on Monday. But then she stops and says she must go back because she forgot her wedding ring in the hut. Deza watches, worried, as her mother talks her way past a policeman and returns to camp. Luckily, she comes back just a little while later.
Just as things seem to be looking up, everything comes crashing down around Deza’s ears once again. Although the people living in the encampment are only there because they have nowhere else to go (and although Stew runs a clean and orderly community), Flint residents and authorities don’t want homeless people in their midst. Yet again, the most vulnerable and those with the most to lose bear the brunt of the hardships and difficulties of the era.
Themes
To evade the authorities, Deza and Mrs. Malone walk through the night, all the way around the city, and enter it from another direction than the encampment. They head for the home of Mrs. Brand, one of Mrs. Malone’s coworkers. Mrs. Brand shares two rooms with her large family but still makes room for Deza and Mrs. Malone to sleep on the floor. In the morning, Deza wakes up and helps Mrs. Brand with chores before going to school. When she gets home, Mrs. Malone has a rare piece of good news: she’s found a room for them to rent, right downtown!
Despite everything that’s happened to them, Mrs. Malone refuses to give up or to bow to her difficult circumstances. No matter what happens, she finds a way to deal with things She is a model of how hard work and perseverance can bring about good things in the end. And, with this latest shift in the family’s fortune, finally there’s a glimmer of hope. Finding a room means that things are starting to look up for Deza and Mrs. Malone.
Themes
