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Chapters 35 - 36
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 spreads out photocopied photos of Mom. The earliest are from when Mom was a baby. Later, Mom and Jade stare at their calendar. Mom confirms that Jade is able to keep up with her homework even with all the Woman to Woman activities and then she comments on the upcoming trip to the symphony. She asks what Jade is going to wear, since people dress up to go. Mom suggests that Jade ask Maxine and she walks away, mumbling that she’s never been to the symphony. Jade tries to find something to wear in her closet, but nothing is right. She thinks of the money she saved from the summer.
Mom may be experiencing some jealousy—maybe if she’d had something like Woman to Woman when she was Jade’s age, she would’ve finished school and she’d be in a better place financially now. This anxiety about Jade moving up in the world and spending time with people of a much higher economic class shows just how anxious and ashamed Mom is her family’s poverty—even if change for Jade might make things better, it doesn’t make it easy or comfortable.
Themes
