Piecing Me Together

Piecing Me Together

by

Renée Watson

Teachers and parents! Our Teacher Edition on Piecing Me Together makes teaching easy.
Jade’s mother. Mom had Jade when she was 16 and so she didn’t finish school or attend college. Because of this, it’s her dream to see Jade succeed academically, and she’s one of Jade’s biggest supporters and cheerleaders as Jade attends St. Francis. Mom works as home help for an elderly lady named Ms. Louise; though she used to work as a maid in a hospital, she was fired for stealing blankets and toiletries. Mom works long hours and she has worked for Ms. Louise for several years, but she still struggles to keep food in the house. Even though Mom isn’t around much, she’s still a major influence on Jade. Jade knows that if she talks back or gets into trouble, Mom will punish her—and she also knows that she has to keep working hard and taking every opportunity so that she can make Mom proud. Though Mom is initially excited about the Woman to Woman program since the organization will give Jade a college scholarship for participating, she struggles throughout the first few months. She sees Jade’s mentor, Maxine, as a threat, especially since Maxine doesn’t seem to think that Mom a caring, involved parent. Because of this, Mom lashes out unfairly at Jade on occasion when Jade uses upper-class language or suggests they cook food differently. Mom only comes around to Maxine when she discovers that Maxine doesn’t know how to cook and she begins giving Maxine lessons. When Mom feels like she has something to give, she feels better about accepting Maxine’s help with Jade. With this understanding, Mom is then able to be a better parent to Jade and be more supportive of her artwork, her academics, and her involvement with Woman to Woman.

Mom Quotes in Piecing Me Together

The Piecing Me Together quotes below are all either spoken by Mom or refer to Mom. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Intersectionality, Identity, and Discrimination Theme Icon
).
Chapters 1 - 2 Quotes

And then so many of my classmates nodded, like they could all relate. I actually looked across the room at the only other black girl in the class, and she was raising her hand, saying, “She took my answer,” and so I knew we’d probably never make eye contact about anything. And I realized how different I am from everyone else at St. Francis. Not only because I’m black and almost everyone else is white, but because their mothers are the kind of people who hire housekeepers, and my mother is the kind of person who works as one.

Related Characters: Jade Butler (speaker), Sam, Mom
Page Number: 5
Explanation and Analysis:

But girls like me, with coal skin and hula-hoop hips, whose mommas barely make enough money to keep food in the house, have to take opportunities every chance we get.

Related Characters: Jade Butler (speaker), Mom, Mrs. Parker
Page Number: 7
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 13 Quotes

“Oh, it’s a last-minute thing. Maxine called and asked if I wanted to do brunch with her to celebrate my birthday.”

Do brunch? You mean go to brunch?” Mom laughs. “How does one do brunch?” Mom pours milk into her mug, then opens a pack of sweetener and sprinkles it in. She stirs. “That woman has you talking like her already, huh?”

Related Characters: Jade Butler (speaker), Mom (speaker), Maxine
Page Number: 60
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 28 Quotes

Maxine is full of ideas. “There are lots of free things too. I mean, even taking a drive to Multnomah Falls or going to Bonneville Dam.”

“Yeah, well, my mom doesn’t have a car, so there goes that idea,” I say. “And if she did, I’m sure she’d need to be conservative on where to drive in order to keep gas in the car.”

Maxine shakes her head at me. “Always the pessimist,” she says, laughing.

Always the realist, I think. Always the poorest.

Related Characters: Jade Butler (speaker), Maxine (speaker), Mom
Related Symbols: Portland
Page Number: 112
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapters 31 - 32 Quotes

“Kira—please leave Jade alone. She is not like that. She’s smart. She’s on scholarship at St. Francis and has a four-point-oh GPA. This girl right here is going places. She’s not going to mess things up by betting caught up with some guy,” she says. “I’m going to see to it she doesn’t end up like one of those girls.”

I know when Maxine says those girls, she is talking about the girls who go to Northside.

Related Characters: Jade Butler (speaker), Maxine (speaker), Mom, Bailey, Kira
Page Number: 130
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapters 35 - 36 Quotes

“You hanging around all those uppity black women who done forgot where they came from. Maxine know she knows about fried fish. I don’t know one black person who hasn’t been to a fish fry at least once in their life. Where she from?”

Mom won’t stop talking. She goes on and on about Maxine and Sabrina and how they are a different type of black [...]

Related Characters: Jade Butler (speaker), Mom (speaker), Maxine, Sabrina
Page Number: 142
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapters 42 - 43 Quotes

“But I don’t look up to Maxine,” I tell her. “She’s using me to feel better about herself. And her mother gave us all this food because she feels sorry for us. If that’s how you act when you have money, I’d rather stay poor.”

Related Characters: Jade Butler (speaker), Maxine, Mom, Mrs. Winters
Page Number: 168
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 51 Quotes

When the star-filled sky blanketed him, did he ever think about what his life was like before the expedition? Before he was a slave? How far back could he remember? Did he remember existing in a world where no one thought him strange, thought him a beast?

Did he remember being human?

Related Characters: Jade Butler (speaker), Mom
Related Symbols: York
Page Number: 194
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Piecing Me Together LitChart as a printable PDF.
Piecing Me Together PDF

Mom Quotes in Piecing Me Together

The Piecing Me Together quotes below are all either spoken by Mom or refer to Mom. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Intersectionality, Identity, and Discrimination Theme Icon
).
Chapters 1 - 2 Quotes

And then so many of my classmates nodded, like they could all relate. I actually looked across the room at the only other black girl in the class, and she was raising her hand, saying, “She took my answer,” and so I knew we’d probably never make eye contact about anything. And I realized how different I am from everyone else at St. Francis. Not only because I’m black and almost everyone else is white, but because their mothers are the kind of people who hire housekeepers, and my mother is the kind of person who works as one.

Related Characters: Jade Butler (speaker), Sam, Mom
Page Number: 5
Explanation and Analysis:

But girls like me, with coal skin and hula-hoop hips, whose mommas barely make enough money to keep food in the house, have to take opportunities every chance we get.

Related Characters: Jade Butler (speaker), Mom, Mrs. Parker
Page Number: 7
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 13 Quotes

“Oh, it’s a last-minute thing. Maxine called and asked if I wanted to do brunch with her to celebrate my birthday.”

Do brunch? You mean go to brunch?” Mom laughs. “How does one do brunch?” Mom pours milk into her mug, then opens a pack of sweetener and sprinkles it in. She stirs. “That woman has you talking like her already, huh?”

Related Characters: Jade Butler (speaker), Mom (speaker), Maxine
Page Number: 60
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 28 Quotes

Maxine is full of ideas. “There are lots of free things too. I mean, even taking a drive to Multnomah Falls or going to Bonneville Dam.”

“Yeah, well, my mom doesn’t have a car, so there goes that idea,” I say. “And if she did, I’m sure she’d need to be conservative on where to drive in order to keep gas in the car.”

Maxine shakes her head at me. “Always the pessimist,” she says, laughing.

Always the realist, I think. Always the poorest.

Related Characters: Jade Butler (speaker), Maxine (speaker), Mom
Related Symbols: Portland
Page Number: 112
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapters 31 - 32 Quotes

“Kira—please leave Jade alone. She is not like that. She’s smart. She’s on scholarship at St. Francis and has a four-point-oh GPA. This girl right here is going places. She’s not going to mess things up by betting caught up with some guy,” she says. “I’m going to see to it she doesn’t end up like one of those girls.”

I know when Maxine says those girls, she is talking about the girls who go to Northside.

Related Characters: Jade Butler (speaker), Maxine (speaker), Mom, Bailey, Kira
Page Number: 130
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapters 35 - 36 Quotes

“You hanging around all those uppity black women who done forgot where they came from. Maxine know she knows about fried fish. I don’t know one black person who hasn’t been to a fish fry at least once in their life. Where she from?”

Mom won’t stop talking. She goes on and on about Maxine and Sabrina and how they are a different type of black [...]

Related Characters: Jade Butler (speaker), Mom (speaker), Maxine, Sabrina
Page Number: 142
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapters 42 - 43 Quotes

“But I don’t look up to Maxine,” I tell her. “She’s using me to feel better about herself. And her mother gave us all this food because she feels sorry for us. If that’s how you act when you have money, I’d rather stay poor.”

Related Characters: Jade Butler (speaker), Maxine, Mom, Mrs. Winters
Page Number: 168
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 51 Quotes

When the star-filled sky blanketed him, did he ever think about what his life was like before the expedition? Before he was a slave? How far back could he remember? Did he remember existing in a world where no one thought him strange, thought him a beast?

Did he remember being human?

Related Characters: Jade Butler (speaker), Mom
Related Symbols: York
Page Number: 194
Explanation and Analysis: