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Mama
In “Boy on a Train,” James’s father has recently died. James remembers him as attentive, kind, and intellectual, and Mama’s stories suggest that he worked as a construction worker to provide for his family in Oklahoma. His death leaves the whole family with the sense of emptiness and desperation with which they try to cope over the course of the story.
Daddy Quotes in The Black Ball
The The Black Ball quotes below are all either spoken by Daddy or refer to Daddy. 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:
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Boy on a Train Quotes
“See, Lewis, Jack Frost made the pretty leaves. Jack Frost paints the leaves all the pretty colors. See, Lewis: brown, and purple, and orange, and yellow.”
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The butcher had tried to touch her breasts when she and the boys first came into the car, and she had spat in his face and told him to keep his dirty hands where they belonged. The butcher had turned red and gone hurriedly out of the car, his baskets swinging violently on his arms. She hated him. Why couldn’t a Negro woman travel with her two boys without being molested?
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He closed his eyes tight, trying to see the picture of Daddy. He must never forget how Daddy looked. He would look like that himself when he grew up: tall and kind and always joking and reading books. … Well, just wait; when he got big and carried Mama and Lewis back to Oklahoma City everybody would see how well he took care of Mama, and she would say, “See, these are my two boys,” and would be very proud. And everybody would say, “See, aren’t Mrs. Weaver’s boys two fine men?” That was the way it would be.
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“You understand, son. I want you to remember. You must, you’ve got to understand.”
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“Go with us and keep us, Lord. Then it was me and him, Lord; now it’s me and his children. And I’m thankful, Lord. You saw fit to take him, Lord, and it’s well with my soul in Thy name. I was happy, Lord; life was like a mockingbird a-singing. And all I ask now is to stay with these children, to raise them and protect them, Lord, till they’re old enough to go their way. Make them strong and unafraid, Lord. Give them strength to meet this world. Make them brave to go where things is better for our people, Lord.…”
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James wanted to cry, but, vaguely, he felt something should be punished for making Mama cry. Something cruel had made her cry. He felt the tightness in his throat becoming anger. If he only knew what it was, he would fix it; he would kill this mean thing that made Mama feel so bad. It must have been awful because Mama was strong and brave and even killed mice when the white woman she used to work for only raised her dress and squealed like a girl, afraid of them. If he only knew what it was … Was it God?
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Daddy Character Timeline in The Black Ball
The timeline below shows where the character Daddy appears in The Black Ball. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Boy on a Train
...his friends, who he imagines are working for Mr. Stewart, picking peaches. But now that James’s father is gone, his family has to follow his mother’s employer, Mr. Balinger, to the rural...
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...eyes and notices that the silo is almost as tall as the Colcord Building that Daddy helped build in Oklahoma City.
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...her row. She says that she remembers passing the same grain silo when she and Daddy first went to Oklahoma City. James loves Mama’s stories about life back in the South,...
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...children and bestow them with strength and bravery. James feels “tight and smoldering inside”—he remembers Daddy singing in the church choir, and he wishes that he could “kill this mean thing...
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