Summarizer

Section 2 - pg. 58-116 (Shandell)

Right before Chapter 10 (pg. 60) Maya and Bailey's biological father comes to visit them in Stamps, and ends up taking them back with him to St. Louis to live with their mother. While Bailey is eager for the change, Maya on the other hand is more skeptical about the move. However, the stay with their mother, whom the children call "Mother Dear", ends up turning out pretty well. At least at first. Maya for along with the family, and her and her brother excelled in their new school. However, not too long after their arrival, their mother's boyfriend, Mr. Freeman, began sexually molesting Maya. At first, Maya didn't understand what was happening to her. She even welcomed the attention. After being raped and then threatened, however, Maya realized that what this man was doing to her was wrong. She became "ill" and that is when her mother found out about the rape. By this time, her and Mr. Freeman had broken up and he had moved out. Maya was sent to the hospital and charges were pressed on Mr. Freeman. He was found guilty and sent to prison. He was soon bailed out of jail and was then found dead in an alley where he had been murdered. After all of this, Maya began feeling guilty and stopped opening up to those around her. She began talking less and less. Eventually, the children were sent back to Stamps to once again live with their grandmother. Once the children were back in Stamps, Maya still didn't return to her normal self. She remained closed-up and moped around the Store for a year, seldom talking or interacting with other people. However, Maya did have one particular interest: Mrs. Bertha Flowers. Maya was mesmerized by the woman, and was thrilled when she was invited over to the Flowers' house. Maya was given cookies, lemonade, and books to read. Mrs. Flowered believed that if Maya read them aloud, the books would help her be able to speak again. Mrs. Flowers also sent Maya home with a plate full of extra cookies for her brother. When Maya gave her brother the cookies, she got a whipping from her grandmother for saying "by the way" which her grandmother said meant the same as "by Christ" or "by God". Around this time, Maya also started working for a white woman named Mrs. Cullinen. At first, Maya was treated well, then her and Mrs. Cullinen stopped getting along so well. Mrs. Cullinen decided to rename Maya, "Mary", because it was easier for her to remember. So, Maya intentionally broke her favorite dishes so she would get fired. The section ended with Bailey getting in trouble for coming home late from the movies. He had stayed late to watch a movie twice that starred a woman who greatly resembled his mother.

Section 4 - pg. 175-232 (Shandell)

At the beginning of section 4, Maya is about to graduate. She is very excited about graduation, and all the presents and preparations, and the opportunities that follow. However, the speaker, a white man by the name of Mr. Edward Donleavy, does not give an inspirational speech about the opportunities following graduation. Instead, he basically insinuates that if you are an African-American male, the only chance you have at being successful is through sports, and if you are an African-American female, you have to chance at all to excel in life. Marguerite leaves the ceremony feeling depressed and melancholy, the exact opposite of how she felt going into it. Maya then gets two cavities in her teeth, the pain is so unbearable that she had to go see a dentist. Her grandmother takes her to see the local dentist in Stamps, who refuses to treat her because she is black. Therefore, the two have to travel to Texarkana to see a dentist there. Maya's teeth are pulled and the problem is fixed. At the beginning of Chapter 5, the children's grandmother, "Momma" announces that she is taking them to California, to return to their mother. Around the same time, Bailey witnessed an African-American man being pulled out of the local pond. He situation stunned Bailey, and he didn't know how to cope with the white man's harsh words about the dead negro. The number one priority, however, was still getting the kids back to California to live with their mother. The children travelled separately, Maya going first with Momma, then Bailey following soon after. Momma remained in California with them for six months until their biological mother could get a house situated for them. The kids are happy with their mother and soon adjust to life in California. Around this same time, WWII was going on and Pearl Harbor had just been bombed by Japan. Maya and her family lived in a Japanese neighborhood, which quickly became the black ghetto, due to the Japanese internment camps. Maya had troubles settling into her new high school in San Francisco, an institute for girls, and quickly transferred to George Washington High School, where she met Miss Kirwin, the only teacher she took a liking to. Maya also enjoyed card games, her new step father, Daddy Clidell taught her to play poker and other card games and introduced her to some of the infamous gamblers of the area. The section ended with Maya going on a summer vacation to visit her father in southern California. She did not get along with her father's new girlfriend, but was pleased when her father invited her to Mexico with him.

Section 5 pages 233-end- Melissa Marguerite and her father went to go visit Mexico. He leaves her in a bar, and she ends up staying there for a while but ends up going back home to Bailey and her mother. Bailey leaves home and Maya gets a job as the first black streetcar driver in San Fransisco. She ends up thinking she is a hemephradite(but really means lesbian) and ends up having sex with a man and ends up getting pregnant.