34 pages • 1 hour read
Kimberly Willis HoltMy Louisiana Sky
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 1998A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 15-17Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 15 Summary
In a conversation that will shape Tiger over the rest of the novel, Tiger and Aunt Dorie Kay talk about relationships; Aunt Dorie Kay encourages Tiger to be honest with Jesse Wade about her feelings. Aunt Dorie Kay tells Tiger that she and Granny never saw eye to eye about Aunt Dorie Kay’s move to Baton Rouge, but now, Aunt Dorie Kay regrets that she and Granny never expressed their true feelings to each other. Tiger and Magnolia get on a bus to return to Saitter, and because Tiger is unfamiliar with the extent of the world’s racial segregation, she is puzzled when Magnolia goes to the back of the bus. She sits with Magnolia, and the two of them talk about Magnolia’s son, who, Magnolia tells her, struggles to find work due to discrimination. Finally, they return to Saitter, and after her absence, Tiger feels more warmly towards the town than she expected.
Chapter 16 Summary
Tiger and Magnolia connect when it comes to chores and work. Tiger goes to help at the plant nursery where her father works, and she is surprised to see Jesse Wade working as well. The two reconcile after working together all afternoon. Tiger pays more attention to the way that Black people are treated, and, because she is often treated like an outsider as well, she feels connected to them.
Chapter 17 Summary
Tiger, Lonnie, and Corrina share a family meal at home with the help of Magnolia, and Tiger relishes being a part of such a loving family. That night, huge flocks of birds noisily gather on a tree in Tiger’s front yard. This introduces rising action as Tiger’s father takes this as a sign that something strange is happening.
Chapters 15-17 Analysis
Ideas about honesty in relationships come to a head in these chapters. The value and healing power of work reappears, and Tiger grows more aware of the world’s racial divides.
In a conversation that is very formative for the protagonist, Tiger and Aunt Dorie Kay discuss relationships and how honesty is integral to building lasting ones. Aunt Dorie Kay tells Tiger that she will “regret it” if she doesn’t tell Jesse Wade how she feels, reiterating to Tiger that “[b]elieve me, I know” (147). She tells Tiger that she and Granny never reconciled their differences, and she regrets it. This conversation is what gives Tiger the clarity to sort things out with Jesse Wade after his unwanted kiss. The decision marks important development for her character as part of her coming-of-age, and she finds the courage to express herself.
There is then the idea of work as both an ethic and a valuable moral asset, most notably in the form of the healing power associated with hard work. Tiger notices that while Magnolia didn’t let her help in Baton Rouge, the maid is “handing out tasks left and right” (171-72) in Saitter. At first, Tiger takes this as an affront to her own work ethic, but she gradually realizes that Magnolia and Granny share this view of hard work and that “it seemed like Momma was finding her way back to us just by peeling those potatoes” (172). By engaging in hard (albeit menial) work, Corrina reconnects with her mother’s hardworking spirit and is better able to process her grief and regain functionality after being bedridden with sadness.
Tiger also increasingly notices issues of race. Upon returning to Saitter with Magnolia, she is surprised that Magnolia goes all the way to the back of the bus. Later, Magnolia tells Tiger that her son doesn’t have a job because “[t]hese days the world is a hard place for a young Negro man to live” (152). This also ties back to the idea of the value of work; racist discrimination has taken even that from Magnolia’s son. Because work can provide so many things—financial security, physical sustenance and shelter, dignity, a sense of purpose—this deprivation is more profound than Tiger likely realizes.
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By Kimberly Willis Holt
