Childhood and Adulthood Theme Analysis

Most of the narrative tension in “Gorilla, My Love” arises from conflicts between children and adults. Hazel is skeptical—if not outright disdainful—of most adults and feels as though children must stick together to endure adults’ dishonesty and patronization. Bambara uses Hazel’s confrontations with various adults throughout the story to emphasize that although the young girl’s perspective is flawed by inexperience, she has a keen sense of justice and her indignation at being mistreated by adults is valid.

Like many children, Hazel is both intelligent and immature. She is proud of being “the smartest kid P.S. 186 ever had in its whole lifetime” but refuses to sit in the back of the truck next to the pecans because their movement unnerves her, “like maybe a rat in the buckets.” She sleeps with the lights on and blames her young brother, Baby Jason, for needing them at night. Although she is very smart, she is still motivated by these irrational fears. Her immaturity manifests in her behavior towards others as well. She gets into physical fights with the bullies at the park who “take Big Brood’s Spaudeen away from him.” When she goes to the movie theater, she buys Havmore potato chips because the bags are good for “blowing up and bustin real loud,” and generally making a scene, “which I love to do, no lie.” These details establish Hazel’s childlike nature, but they do not legitimize or excuse her mistreatment from adults.

The righteousness of Hazel’s anger is established at the Washington movie theater when the children in the audience realize they have been tricked into watching King of Kings, a religious film, instead of the advertised Gorilla, My Love. Hazel, Baby Jason, Big Brood, and the other children start “yellin, booin, stompin and carryin on” and the man in the projection booth tries to drown them out by raising the volume of the movie. When a staff member ropes off the children’s section and tries to restore order, some kids start running up and down the aisles to show “it take more than some dust ole velvet rope to tie us down.” While Hazel and her siblings’ previous disruptive behavior could be chalked up to immaturity, this scene is an act of resistance against being cheated by the theater. Hazel fumes, “I get so tired grownups messin over kids just cause they little and can’t take em to court.” When the movie ends and Hazel goes to the manager’s office to try to get her money back, the man speaks to her “like I lost my mittens or wet on myself.” Hazel resents his condescension and recognizes that she and her fellow audience members have been exploited due to their age. In her view, childhood and adulthood are in a constant state of tension, where vulnerable children must resist being manipulated by adults who abuse their power.

Hazel’s confrontation with Hunca Bubba about his marriage and name change further legitimizes her sense of injustice at the way adults treat her. When Hunca Bubba affirms that he intends to marry the woman in his photograph, Hazel reminds him angrily that, when she was little, he promised to marry her when she grew up. Hunca Bubba is confused and reminds her that she is “just a little girl” and that he was “just teasin.” Hazel becomes upset because of his condescension, which is reminiscent of the way the theater manager treated her. Hunca Bubba’s joke was likely well-intended, but his dismissive comments make Hazel feel invalidated and disrespected simply for being a child. Granddaddy then calls Hazel “Precious” in an attempt to placate her, but this patronizing nickname just infuriates her more. In the end, she and Baby Jason start crying together and she feels they must stick together “what with grown-ups playin change-up and turnin you round every which way.” The fact that she and her brother are both crying emphasizes that they are equals—he idolizes her and would never treat her with such disrespect.

Bambara, it seems, wants readers to feel sympathy for Hazel despite her immaturity. Her examination of the way adults mistreat children encourages her audience to view both groups in a more nuanced light—children are capable of wisdom and justice despite their immaturity, and adults are capable of mistreatment and wrongdoing despite their supposed maturity.