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
The next week, there is a commotion next door. Emma, Daddy, and Anne hear Emma’s sister, Janie, yelling for help. They go over and see Janie’s husband Wilbert wielding a gun. While Emma tries to hold the door closed and protect Janie, Wilbert accidentally shoots her in the foot. Daddy takes Emma to the hospital while Anne puts Janie’s children to bed. She listens to Janie and Wilbert’s 12-year-old son, Leon, as he tells her his worries about his father finding work. She writes that “he looked like an old worried man with a twelve-year-old frame.”
The incident involving Janie, Wilbert, and Emma showcases the effect that systemic racial and economic injustices can have on families. Anne’s observation of Leon as an older person in the body of a younger person reflects the fact that children growing up in poverty and injustice, like Anne and Leon, are forced to grow up faster than children who don’t, as they’re often burdened by worries of survival.
Themes
Anne goes to visit Emma in the hospital. She’s amazed at Emma’s positive attitude and her willingness to forgive Wilbert. Emma explains that she doesn’t blame Wilbert—she blames the white people who prevent Wilbert from being able to support his family. However, Emma’s positive attitude does not last forever, and she grows depressed and irritable after a few weeks of being unable to leave the house.
While living with Daddy and Emma, Anne attends Johnson High. Though she misses her old classmates, she prefers the basketball team at Johnson High. When Coach Dunbar recruits Anne to fill in for their best player, the size and skill of the other girls intimidates Anne at first. In time, however, she ends up joining the team and becomes one of their star players.
Anne’s involvement with the basketball team highlights her adaptability. It also highlights her determination and the importance of community for one’s self-esteem.
Themes
At the time of Anne’s high school graduation, Wilkinson County is in the process of merging their high schools for Black students into one large, new high school, built as a result of the 1954 Supreme Court decision about “Separate but Equal” schools. Though the decision deemed segregation in schools unconstitutional and was a step towards racial justice, schools in the South did not immediately desegregate their schools. Principal Willis is chosen as principal of the new school because he’s considered the biggest “Uncle Tom” among the county principals. Anne is skeptical of the new school, reflecting that their new school would never be as nice as the schools for the white students.
The school system in Wilkinson County exemplifies the complexity of implementing desegregation in the American South. The fact that Principal Willis is thought of as an “Uncle Tom” (a Black person who is overly deferential to white people and perpetuates the white supremacist establishment) shows the complex hurdles Black people face when it comes to inhabiting positions of power in a racist society. Anne’s skepticism of the new school illustrates her understanding of the deep-seated nature of racism in the American government and school system.
Themes
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The night before graduation, Anne packs her belongings to go to New Orleans and says goodbye to Daddy. At the graduation ceremony, Anne sees Mama in the crowd. She does not recognize her at first because she thinks she looks “much too old.” Now, seeing on Mama’s face all the hardship she has endured throughout the years, Anne feels guilty about the way she treated Mama. After the ceremony, Mama and Junior give Anne a lift to Centreville, and Anne agrees to spend a few more days with them there.
Anne’s empathy for Mama in recognizing the hardship of her life and the difficulty of losing Anne herself shows her emotional maturity. The decision to stay a few days with her family before going to New Orleans reflects her ability to empathize with her roots while looking towards the future.
Themes
