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Chapter 4
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
An angry and sullen Deza doesn’t even hear the bell ring or notice her classmates leaving the room. She only starts to notice things when Mrs. Needham asks Clarice to wait in the hallway so she can talk to Deza privately. She wants to discuss the comments she made on Deza’s essay. Mrs. Needham invites Deza to sit in the chair at the teacher’s desk while she slides into a student desk herself. Deza has dreamed about sitting at this desk so many times, she can hardly believe her luck. She wants more than anything else to grow up and become a teacher like Mrs. Needham.
Deza is a girl of strong feelings. When things are going well, she feels as if nothing in the world can stop her. But it only takes a small upset—earning an A- instead of an A+, for example—to make her feel as if the world is ending. Mrs. Needham lets Deza sit in the teacher’s chair, indicating that she knows Deza and her dreams very well indeed, and hinting at her desire to help Deza succeed in reaching them.
Themes
But now, Mrs. Needham gently suggests that Deza could do better than that. She could become a professor or even a writer—if she’s willing to discover some real humility and allow herself to be taught. Of the thousands of students Mrs. Needham has taught during her long career, Deza is unquestionably the brightest. Mrs. Needham always wanted a student like this, and she was ready to give it up—since even the “best-laid plans” often go awry, according to the poet Robert Burns—when Deza appeared. Mrs. Needham wants to help her reach her full potential. She offers to privately tutor Deza—and Clarice—during the following school year, warning Deza that her expectations are about to get much, much higher. But she’s sure Deza can rise to the challenge.
Deza thinks her dreams are big, but she’s capable of even bigger things, with her natural talent, a lot of hard work, and a little bit of luck. The lesson Mrs. Needham intended to teach Deza with the A- is that talent alone is not enough to succeed. It must be combined with hard work, hope, and (in many cases) the investment of a community to come to fruition. Deza is incredibly lucky to have the opportunity to make good on her promise. Mrs. Needham quotes a poem by 18th-century Scottish poet Robert Burns, “To a Mouse,” demonstrating both her own erudition and expressing an important truth to Deza and readers: people can make the best plans in the world, but sometimes circumstances intervene.
Themes
Then, Mrs. Needham gives Deza a gift: a pair of shiny patent-leather shoes, brand-new socks and underwear, and a dress. Mrs. Needham claims that a visiting niece left the clothes behind a few summers earlier, but Deza sees a tag still on the dress. And she recognizes it. All spring long she’s coveted the light-blue gingham confection every time she and Clarice walked past Himelhoch’s department store. It’s so much nicer than anything else Deza owns: her socks have been darned so many times that there’s barely any sock left, the heels are falling off her worn-out shoes, and the few dresses she owns are all covered with patches. Before she leaves, Deza can’t hold back from giving Mrs. Needham a tearful hug of gratitude.
Mrs. Needham’s gift once again focuses attention on the extreme poverty of the Malone family. Even in a time of general struggle, they’re far more vulnerable than the other people in their community. On Mrs. Malone’s single and meager income, they can’t afford to replace Deza’s worn-out shoes or to fix her teeth. The gift of these lovely things means the world to Deza, however. It reignites her hope in a better future for herself.
Themes
