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Chapter 47
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Piecing Me Together, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Intersectionality, Identity, and Discrimination
The Power of Language
Mentorship, Opportunity, and Dignity
Friendship
Summary
Analysis
Jade’s stomach hurts. Nobody at school says anything about Natasha Ramsey, and all Jade wants to do is talk to Mom, Lee Lee, and Maxine. Jade’s thoughts are interrupted by Ms. Weber’s voice telling her to keep moving through the lunch line. Ms. Weber tells a white girl behind Jade named Hannah to move along, too, and Hannah tells Ms. Weber not to have a heart attack. Jade joins in Hannah’s sarcastic backtalk, but when Hannah asks Ms. Weber if she’s in such a bad mood because of PMS, Ms. Weber says to go see Mrs. Parker. Jade assumes Ms. Weber is talking to Hannah, but Ms. Weber throws Jade’s lunch away and escorts her out of the cafeteria.
Though Jade may be a somewhat unreliable narrator—she’s sharing her filtered experience, after all—it’s fairly clear from her description that Hannah should be the one in trouble. Ms. Weber’s choice to send Jade to Mrs. Parker, then, reads as racist and discriminatory. While to the reader, it’s understandable that Jade feels touchy and on edge because of what happened to Natasha Ramsey, Ms. Weber’s lack of empathy suggests that she has no idea what happened or that the news might be affecting some of St. Francis’s students.
Themes
Ms. Weber makes Jade stand outside Mrs. Parker’s open office door while she exaggerates what happened. Jade interjects that Hannah was rude too, but Mrs. Parker asks everyone to calm down. Jade goes silent, and finally Mrs. Parker calls her into the office. Mrs. Parker asks if Jade wants to go home or stay at school and she warns Jade that she needs to drop her attitude if she stays. Incensed, Jade says she wants to go home. Mrs. Parker says that she’s sure both Ms. Weber and Jade took things too far. Jade thinks of how she should use her voice, but she can’t. Before going home, Jade stops in Mr. Flores’s classroom to get her homework. He asks if she’s okay, talks her through the lesson, and invites her to come back with questions tomorrow. Jade notices that his laptop is open to an article about Natasha Ramsey.
Mrs. Parker’s insistence that Jade just has an attitude today again suggests that much of the school’s staff is unaware of what happened to Natasha Ramsey or that the incident may be affecting some of the students. This illustrates how ill-equipped St. Francis is to serve its nonwhite students who need compassion and support in times like this. The school apparently expects all students to behave impeccably no matter what traumatizing or scary things might be going on in the world—and given the unique challenges that communities of color face, minority students might need additional help to make it through the day.
Themes
