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Chapter 1
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Coming of Age in Mississippi, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
The Intersection of Racism and Poverty
Loss of Innocence
The Importance of Community
Gender and Racism
Religion and Hypocrisy
Summary
Analysis
With school out for the summer, Essie Mae, Adline, and Junior sit on their porch for most of the day, afraid of the snakes near their home. One day, the children see a huge snake, prompting Mama to have Uncle Ed come babysit every day. Uncle Ed often takes the children hunting and fishing. Sometimes he just walks around with them and teaches them about the surrounding nature.
The children’s inability to play without fear of snakes highlights their less-than-ideal living conditions. However, Uncle Ed has a positive influence on the children, encouraging a connection to nature that Essie Mae will revisit as a young adult. With Uncle Ed, rather than being at odds with their environment, the children are able to be a part of it. Uncle Ed also highlights the importance of positive family relationships and educational experiences.
Themes
One day, Uncle Ed surprises Essie Mae, Adline, and Junior by taking them to his home. Uncle Ed lives with Grandma Winnie, Mama’s mother with whom she does not get along and resents for telling her to marry Daddy. At the house, Essie Mae sees Alberta, Mama’s sister. She also sees two white boys, who she is shocked to learn are Sam and Walter, Uncle Ed’s brothers. When Essie Mae gets home, she asks Mama how the boys can be her brothers if they are white. Mama is upset by the question, and she tells Essie Mae that Uncle Ed and the boys are siblings, but they have different fathers. Though Essie Mae doesn’t ask any more questions, she remains curious.
The children’s visit to Grandma Winnie’s house highlights their lack of emotional closeness to Mama’s family despite their physical proximity. Learning that Mama is related to two white boys challenges Essie Mae’s understanding of family and skin color. The introduction of this nuance into Essie Mae’s young mind is a turning point for her, stoking her curiosity. In this section, the reader also sees Mama’s unwillingness to answer Essie Mae’s questions and have honest conversations about the complexity of the world. This dynamic recurs throughout the memoir and shapes Essie Mae’s political awakening.
Themes
Essie Mae notices Mama gaining weight again, crying nightly, and being sick every morning and realizes that Mama is about to have another baby. After having the baby, James, Mama almost immediately returns to work at the café. The baby’s father, a soldier named Raymond, and Raymond’s mother, Miss Pearl, come to see the baby. Essie Mae notices that Raymond and Miss Pearl have lighter skin—it’s the same color as Florence’s. She also notices that Mama seems scared of Miss Pearl and Raymond. At the end of their visit, Miss Pearl and Raymond take the baby home with them, telling Mama that she can visit him. Mama is devastated and cries all night.
Mama’s new relationship with Raymond is a turning point in the family’s life. Her immediate return to work after giving birth to James highlights her resilience and determination. What’s more, the relationship between Mama and Raymond and Miss Pearl further highlights the racial tensions that Essie Mae’s first encounters during Daddy’s affair with Florence. The financial necessity of separating the baby from Mama shows the emotionally devastating repercussions of poverty, which are ever-present despite Mama’s constant hard work to support her children.
Themes
At the end of the summer, the family moves into a bigger house in Centreville, closer to Mama’s workplace. They live next to a poor white family. Essie Mae and her siblings especially love the sand in front of their house. Now six years old and in the second grade, Essie Mae attends Willis High, the only school for Black students in Centreville. One day, when Essie Mae is walking home from school, she finds Junior and Adline playing naked in the sand. Meanwhile, the other children in town watch and ridicule them. Essie Mae feels embarrassed of her siblings for the first time, and she hates the sand from that point on. Shortly after this incident, the family moves again to a smaller but nicer house. Now, Mama can have help with Junior and Adline while Essie Mae is at school.
Essie Mae’s change of perspective about the sand reflects a loss of her childhood innocence. Rather than appreciating her siblings’ joy, she experiences embarrassment at her family’s circumstances for the first time. She begins to resent her family’s poverty for the way others perceive it, rather than simply for the physical and emotional difficulties that it brings to Mama and the children.
Themes
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One day, Junior accidentally sets their house on fire. Essie, Junior, and Adline watch the flames from a distance. Essie thinks about their new clothes—the first that were not hand-me-downs—and runs into the house after them. Before she can enter the house, a neighbor pulls her out and the roof crashes in. Essie mourns the new clothes.
The accidental fire further emphasizes the family’s vulnerability to chance circumstances. Essie Mae’s panic at the thought of losing the children’s new school clothes causes her to act irrationally, highlighting how psychologically important small indicators of economic status and security can be for those living in poverty.
Themes
After the fire, the family moves again. Mama quits her job at the café to do domestic work for a white family. Mama, Essie, and her siblings live in the maid’s quarters of the family’s house, where Mama can keep an eye on the younger children. Some days, Mama brings home the white family’s leftovers. The difference between their food and Essie’s family’s food awakens Essie to the fact that, in many cases, white people can eat better than her family. One day, Mama shows the children the rest of the white family’s house. Essie reflects that if Mama had a nice kitchen like the white family does, then she would be able to cook better food for her family.
Mama’s constant shifting between different domestic and food service jobs exemplifies the gendered nature of her economic opportunities. Her decision to quit the café for a job where she is able to check on her children also highlights her commitment to protecting her family. The visit to the white family’s house and the experience of eating their better food awakens Essie Mae to the unfairness of her own family’s circumstances. Still unaware of systemic racism, Essie Mae attributes this inequality to material differences like the disparity between the kitchens of the two families.
Themes
With Mama and her family now living closer to Miss Pearl and her family, Raymond starts to visit every weekend. On Sundays, Mama brings the children to Miss Pearl’s house to see the baby, James. Essie Mae notices how uncomfortable Mama is around Raymond’s family. Though Mama longs to take the baby home, she knows she is unable to care for all four of her children on her own. She begins going over every Sunday to give the baby a bath and wash his clothes. Soon, Raymond goes back to the service and Mama stops bringing her family to see the baby, afraid of being alone with Miss Pearl.
The tense relationship between Mama and Raymond’s family, despite Mama and Raymond’s close relationship, highlights the complex racial dynamics that exist within Essie Mae’s community. Mama’s acceptance of only being able to see her baby on Sundays (and only when Raymond is around) further shows the sacrifices she must make in order to support her other children. Still, her fear of Miss Pearl reflects her perceived lack of power in the situation.
Themes
