Sunday, February 19, 2012

What is the setting of Blues Ain't No Mockin Bird? When and where does the story takes place?

Toni Cade Bambara's short story "Blues Ain't No Mockingbird" takes place in the front yard of a poor black family.  The house and yard are surrounded by a meadow (which is where the men with cameras have spent their day) as well as a forest (woods) where Grandaddy comes home from hunting.  In the front yard is a tire swing which the children of the neighborhood share and enjoy.  Granny has planted a flowerbed, and there are puddles of water in the yard which are being used as entertainment for several girls.  Beyond that are two images which are stereotypical of their living conditions:  Granny is baking some fragrant cakes, and Grandaddy is traipsing home with a dead chicken hawk. It isn't much, but it is a place where dignity reigns.


This is obviously a typical home for a certain category of people, or the camera men wouldn't want to use it to represent the typical living conditions of a poor black family in the South.

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