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Chapter 26
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 enjoys the books from Mr. Alums so much she starts getting distracted. One day, she sneaks one of Mr. Alums’s books into her Penrod book during English class and doesn’t hear the bell. Then, while reading it on her walk home from school, she walks two blocks past the post office before she remembers to stop in and check for mail. It’s lucky that she does, because finally, after months and months of waiting, there’s a letter from Mr. Malone! It’s typed, because he’s injured his hand. In the letter, Mr. Malone says he’s working as a travelling carpenter. He has tucked two crisp five-dollar bills into the envelope, and he promises to send more every two weeks.
Deza’s and Mrs. Malone’s room is conveniently located between the library and the post office, and Deza regularly visits to check for mail from her father, even though it’s been at least eight months since the family has heard from him. Her vigilance demonstrates that her hope for the family to be reunited is still burning strong. Deza is so desperate for good news, she takes what the letter says at face value, although readers might note the odd fact that Mr. Malone allegedly can’t hold a pen but can still work as a carpenter, or might remember that Mr. Malone has no idea that the family has moved to Flint—but Jimmie does.
Themes
Deza runs home with the letter. It’s not the Malone family way to just come out and say something, and she wants to surprise Mrs. Malone with the news. In the end, though, her feelings of relief and sadness and joy and exhaustion are so mixed up that she ends up just putting the letter under the mattress and crying herself to sleep. When Mrs. Malone comes home, Deza wordlessly hands it to her. Mrs. Malone says the news is “wonderful,” but it doesn’t sound like she means it. Deza understands. After all this time, it's hard to trust that things might ever get better.
Deza’s tears attest to the wear and strain that the previous months and all the upheaval have placed on her. It’s a good moment to remember that she’s still just a girl, only 13 years old, despite the maturity her circumstances have demanded. Mrs. Malone seems less excited, and Deza chalks it up to the strain of their current circumstances. She knows how hard it is to keep hope alive in this moment. But readers might wonder if Mrs. Malone shares their suspicions about the letter’s real writer.
Themes
A few days later, none other than Mr. Zee, the harmonica man from the camp, chases Deza down as she leaves the library. He tells her that he and Jimmie traveled together for a while until Jimmie got a manager. This man changed Jimmie’s name from Malone to Jones, cut Mr. Zee loose, and found Jimmie work at a Detroit nightclub called the New Turned Leaf. Mr. Zee isn’t happy about this, but he’s not mad at Jimmie. He’s been in the business too long to take things personally.
Readers should also pay attention to the fact that, although Jimmie is allegedly much closer than Mr. Malone, he hasn’t written to his mother and sister about his apparent success. This adds weight to the book’s hints that Jimmie—not Mr. Malone—is the letter writer, especially since it seems that Jimmie is finding more than a little success as a singer. Taking a chance on Mr. Zee seems to have paid off.
Themes
Deza begins to run home to tell Mrs. Malone the news. But then she stops. She knows her mother will tell her not to trust rumors and will wonder why Jimmie hasn’t written or visited to tell them of his success himself. And then Deza’s second brain pipes up. She knows darn well, it says, that Mother won’t go running off to find Jimmie in a Detroit club. And she won’t give Deza permission to either. But if her mother doesn’t know…
Thus far, Deza has mistrusted her so-called “second brain” because it gives her advice that she knows is likely to get her into trouble. But Jimmie is a troublemaker, too, and sometimes his troublemaking pays off—it’s how Deza got to meet Dr. Bracy, how the Malones got out of Gary with Marvin Ware, and how Jimmie started to make a name for himself in the music industry. So Deza seems to be channeling her brother more than a little when she decides to head to Detroit to find him on her own.
Themes
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