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Chapter 15. The After
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Monday’s Not Coming, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Child Abuse
Family, Community, and Responsibility
Growing Up, Independence, and Friendship
Secrecy and Shame
Poverty, Social Support, and Desperation
Memory, Repression, and Trauma
Summary
Analysis
It takes two weeks, but Ma finally agrees to stop by Monday’s house after church. For some reason, Monday’s house seems colder and scarier than the others around it. Ma checks in with Daddy before they go to the door to leave “breadcrumbs,” and Claudia knows that Ma doesn’t feel safe in Monday’s neighborhood. Ma knocks on the door and Claudia looks up at a curtain flapping. Claudia says, “Monday?” as Ma calls out to Mrs. Charles. Claudia can tell someone is watching from upstairs and taps Ma’s arm. This just annoys Ma—and Ma jumps as the locks click open.
Claudia and Ma’s consistent attempts to leave “breadcrumbs” highlight the differences between their family and Monday’s. The breadcrumbs are supposed to mean that Daddy can track down Ma if she doesn’t return in a matter of hours, whereas few people seem particularly concerned that Monday has been gone for months now.
Themes
Mrs. Charles appears in the doorway and stares out with narrow eyes. Ma sighs as Mrs. Charles notes that people are starting to get eviction notices so the city can build condos here. Ma shares that the pastor wants to form a coalition to help those affected, but Mrs. Charles huffs that he probably just wants people’s money. Ma assures her the pastor would help anyone. Mrs. Charles says they’ll need help—the landlord is about to close down Jak and Co, the complex where she works. No one else will hire a Black woman and it seems like the city just wants her house.
Mrs. Charles shows here that she’s in an impossible position. She might lose her home due to rising rents and the fact that the city wants her house, and she might not be able to afford the rising rent if she can’t get another job. In this way, Mrs. Charles and her entire family are stuck. Because of racist, exclusionary policy at the city level, the Charles family and other families in similar situations may end up with nowhere to live.
Themes
Ma says that they stopped by because Claudia misses Monday. With a laugh, Mrs. Charles said that she told Claudia that Monday is with her daddy last time Claudia stopped by. Ma gives Claudia a scorching look. Mrs. Charles says Ma knows how kids are, and reminds Ma that she could only have one child. Ma sucks in her breath and asks Mrs. Charles to say hi to Monday. She drags Claudia to the car and once they’re inside, tells Claudia to be quiet.
Claudia previously acknowledged that Ma and Mrs. Charles don’t like each other, and Mrs. Charles’s comment that Ma could only have one child again speaks to this dynamic. With this comment, Mrs. Charles attempts to make Ma uncomfortable with ever coming back and talking to her again. This separates the families even further from each other, and makes it less likely that Claudia’s family will be able to help find Monday.
Themes
Ma likes to use Daddy as a threat, so instead of telling him that Claudia went to Monday’s, she forces Claudia to help her prep for Thanksgiving. Claudia cleans the house and then works in the kitchen. Daddy gets home from his last delivery, kisses Ma, and looks at Claudia. He knows if she’s in the kitchen, she’s in trouble. Ma and Daddy chat as Claudia grates cheese. Claudia thinks how strange it is that Monday is with her dad, since she never talked about him. He left after Tuesday was born. It doesn’t make sense why Monday is there without her siblings—or why they have a social worker.
Because Claudia is so logical, she’s able to see the holes in Mrs. Charles’s story. Recognizing this is a step in the right direction for Claudia, as it shows that she’s developing critical thinking skills—and, by extension, growing up and maturing.
Themes
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Nonchalantly, Ma asks Daddy if he knows Tip Charles and if they’re still in touch. Daddy frowns and asks why she cares. Ma says that Monday is supposedly with him, and she wants to check on her. Claudia realizes Ma doesn’t believe Mrs. Charles’s story. But Daddy sighs that this is the Charles’s family business and he doesn’t want to get mixed up in it. Ma smiles, but Claudia knows she’s angry. Daddy refuses to track down Tip’s number until Ma finally snaps and shouts at him. Daddy agrees to try.
Though Ma doesn’t seem as intent on finding Monday as Claudia is, she nevertheless shows here that she thinks it’s her family’s responsibility to check in on Monday’s wellbeing. Daddy seems to propose that the Charles family should deal with their own business privately. But this passage also harks back to the idea that Shayla’s mom escaped her husband’s abuse only because people in church intervened and spoke up on her behalf.
Themes
