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Chapter 7
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
It’s the last day of school for the year, and at the end of the day, Mrs. Needham hands out report cards, starting with Dolly Peaches’s. Clarice and Deza get theirs last, as usual. As she says goodbye, Mrs. Needham encourages the children to root for Joseph Louis in his upcoming boxing match against “that horrible German” Max Schmeling. She doesn’t usually endorse violence, but she’s making an exception for their match.
Joe Louis was a Black American heavyweight boxing champion in the 1920s and 1930s. By 1936, he was an undefeated domestic hero, and the fight Mrs. Needham refers to is the bout he fought with Max Schmeling, a German boxer, in June 1936. Many people on both sides saw it as a contest between Black dignity and White supremacy, as well as between American democracy and Nazi German fascism. The excitement points to how far Black Americans had come in some arenas, like boxing, where they could be celebrated as heroes—but also how far race relations had to go in this period, since Joe Louis’s continuing relevance depended on him beating Max Schmeling to earn the approval of White Americans.
Themes
Deza and Clarice help Mrs. Needham pack her things into boxes before leaving school. On their way to the library, they pass the vacant lot where “hooligan” students typically meet to settle arguments with their fists. Normally, the girls walk right past, but this afternoon, Clarice hears people taunting Jimmie. When she points this out to Deza, Deza pushes her way through the mayhem until she finds Dolly Peaches, triumphantly stamping on Jimmie, who’s curled in a ball on the ground. When he sees “stank-mouth” “Dee-za,” Dolly recites a “limparisk poem” describing Jimmie and Mr. Malone eating bugs.
“Hooligan” is the word Deza uses to convey her disdain for students who aren’t as hardworking or focused as she is and for those children who get into fights. She makes exceptions out of familial loyalty for her brother, Jimmie, who is more like Dolly Peaches than his sister Deza in many ways. Deza has dental problems stemming from her family’s poverty and inability to afford dental care. The fact that Dolly insults her by calling her “stank-mouth” indicates the severity of the problem, since her foul breath is apparently evident to everyone.
Themes
As Dolly stomps mercilessly on the helpless Jimmie’s back, Deza remembers what Mr. Malone said when teaching Jimmie to throw punches: swing your hips, put your full weight behind your fist, and go for the gut rather than the head. When Dolly’s back is turned, Deza shoves him. He turns, puts up his fists, and lands a quick punch on Deza’s jaw. It hurts—a lot—but it doesn’t knock her down. When he pulls his arm back to throw another, Deza meets him halfway with a fist to the gut, powered by a twist from her hips. Dolly crumples to the ground. Deza jumps onto his chest, grabs his hair, and demands that he apologize. The crowd of schoolchildren falls silent so they can listen as Dolly complies.
Deza’s fight with Dolly showcases her grit and resilience as well as her love and loyalty to her family. She gets into the fight not just to protect Jimmie but to prove that Mr. Malone’s boxing lessons meant something. This fight foreshadows how she’ll react to the trials that she will face over the course of the book. Things will hurt—at some points, they will hurt a lot—but she won’t lose her balance or let herself be overcome or knocked down. And she’ll wait for her opportunity to strike back.
Themes
Jimmie, bleeding from a cut on his forehead, scrambles to his feet, demanding to know why Deza involved herself. He runs off toward home as Clarice pulls Deza from the fray. When they’re a safe distance away, Clarice points out that Deza’s hands are shaking and she’s crying. She thinks Deza must be scared, but Deza is excited. She enjoyed beating up Dolly. Still, she feels bad about humiliating Jimmie by showing that he needs his little sister to defend him.
By defending her brother and by doing better than he did in standing up to Dolly Peaches, Deza emasculated Jimmie, making him seem smaller and weaker than he is. And she did it in front of the whole school. Deza regrets this, but not as much as she would have regretted letting Dolly hurt a member of her family. And, much to her surprise, she likes the feeling of power she got out of winning the fight.
Themes
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When Deza gets home, Jimmie is on the porch, drawing. Deza says she risked her life—Dolly will certainly be after her now—because she didn’t want him to get hurt. Jimmie says that if Dolly does go after her, he’ll have to beat Jimmie up first. Then he’ll be so tired that Deza will easily finish him off. Relieved that Jimmie isn’t holding a grudge, Deza laughs. Then, she carefully doctors the cut on Jimmie’s forehead. He hopes it might leave him with an impressive-looking scar.
Initially, Jimmie resents Deza for intervening with Dolly. But he can’t stay mad at her long. For one thing, he respects her resilience. For another, both siblings intuitively understand the importance of family. If they don’t have each other to rely on, they have very little left. That’s why he’s quick to forgive her.
Themes
