Blues Ain't No Mockingbird

Blues Ain't No Mockingbird Summary | Detailed Summary

One of more than a dozen short stories gathered in Toni Cade Bambara's Gorilla, My Love, "Blues Ain't No Mockingbird" is the tale of an impoverished black family as told through the eyes of the young granddaughter. The story opens as two children, Cathy and the title's unnamed narrator, are jumping atop a frozen puddle, waiting for their turn in the tire swing occupied by Tyrone and Terry, the neighbor's twin boys.

Cora Cain, the young narrator's grandmother, is on the porch making Christmas cakes when two white men, one holding a camera, come their way. They work for the county and are purportedly taking footage as part of the food stamp campaign. They approach Granny Cain in the hopes that she will give them a statement regarding the campaign. She says nothing and eventually they leave. When they are gone, she tells the children a story about how she had been on a bridge once, as part of the crowd that had gathered to watch a man threatening to commit suicide by jumping off. The police were there, as was a minister and the man's woman.

A man with a camera had come to take pictures of the ordeal and it is clear that Granny Cain does not approve. The twins are eager to know if the man jumped, but Granny simply ends her story there. Cathy is the narrator's third cousin, whom they had taken with them after a visit last Thanksgiving. The family has moved around a lot, mostly due to Granny Cain's intolerance of those who look down on them. Clearly, she is a proud, righteous woman. She wouldn't abide with Mr. Judson bringing them boxes of old clothes and raggedy magazines or Mrs. Cooper's condescending comments and it is for these reasons that they had left those places.

With Granny not finishing her story, Cathy tells the others about a story she had read once about a lady named Goldilocks who had simply barged into a stranger's house, messed up their groceries, broke their furniture, and slept in their beds. The twins are intrigued and the narrator thinks to herself that she had heard the story was actually about bears.

The two boys get into an argument and start a scuffle. Granny Cain however, is in such a foul mood that she does not seem to notice and instead continues pouring the rum over the cakes while mumbling and grumbling to herself.

Just then, Granddaddy Cain returns from the fields with a chicken hawk slung over his shoulder. The two men from the county are close behind. He nails the bird to the tool-shed door; it is still alive. Granny Cain tells her husband to get the men out of her flower bed, but just then the chicken hawk's mate comes swooping down across the yard, having come to claim its mate.

The children fall to the ground and the two men are running and falling about. One of the men flails helplessly at the bird with his cap. Granddaddy Cain kills the bird. Sure of themselves once again, the men walk over to him, but he simply dismisses them with a quiet, "Good day, gentlemen." Not sure of what to do, they stand in place and smile wolfishly. Granddaddy Cain then holds his hand out for the camera. They put the camera in his hand and start to explain how they are filming for the county. The cameraman even asks for it back, saying, "Please, sir."

Granddaddy Cain smashes the camera. The cameraman comes forward and gathers up the pieces in his arms, trying to preserve the film. Presently, both men leave. Granddaddy Cain makes his way into the house, while Granny Cain continues working on the cakes, now humming contentedly. Cathy says that she is going to write a story one day and Tyrone asks if he can be in it. Maybe, she replies, if he is there and ready.