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Chapter 30
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
The next morning, Jimmie takes Deza on a walk downtown. It seems like everybody in Detroit knows him and wants to say hello. As they walk, Jimmie reveals that he makes $15 a week, plus his share of the tips that his manager collects at the end of each show. Jimmie takes Deza to a tall office building. They ride an elevator up to 26th floor—an entirely novel experience for Deza, who’s never even seen an elevator, let alone been in one—to the office of Dr. Mitwally, the dentist who fixed up Jimmie’s teeth.
Jimmie made the right choice when he hopped a train for Chicago with Mr. Zee. His natural talent combined with hard work has turned him into a success. Jimmie is making the equivalent of almost $340 per week in modern currency. It’s not a lot of money by modern standards, but compared to the $1.80 a day he once earned cleaning out boxcars in the Gary railyard, it represents incredible riches. Especially because it allows him to take care of himself—and Deza—in ways their family could never afford before.
Themes
