Where The Watermelons Grow

“Your mama’s always going to have good days and bad days, and we’ll get through them the way we always have. Together, as a family.”

Della recalls what Daddy has told her about Mama’s illness and the way they’ll get through it together. This quote develops the themes of The Importance of Love and Acceptance as well as The Impact of Mental Illness on Family by showing how Daddy and the family must adapt to Mama’s illness with the only tools they have: love, patience, and acceptance.

“Sometimes, if I talked too much about Mama and her hard times, that was all people asked about—they’d look at us and see a sad family with big problems.”

Della explains why she doesn’t talk about Mama as much as she’d like to, sometimes keeping Mama’s condition a secret from the other adults in town as well as her best friend Arden. Della worries that talking about Mama will change the way people see her and her family, initiating her gradual isolation.

“Somehow that little bit of laughter and silliness had cleared the air inside me. A ladybug flitted down to land on the top of my hand. Ladybugs were always around me and Arden—lucky ladybugs, Mama called then, and laughed that it was part of the magic Arden and I made together.”

In this quote, Della feels a bit less anxious about what happened with Mama thanks to Arden’s silly story. This quote reflects The Comforts of Friendship by showing how Arden’s company helps Della feel better. This quote also develops ladybugs as a motif for the comforts of friendship, as the ladybugs appear whenever Arden and Della are having a positive moment together (See: Symbols & Motifs).

“It’s got all those chemicals in it—just think of the ways it could hurt our girls. The fans are better. We got along fine without the AC for years and years, didn’t we?”

Mama explains her reservations about fixing the air conditioning because of the harmful chemicals it might have that could “hurt” her daughters, reflecting a symptom of her mental illness. This quote explains why Della’s family suffers through the heat all summer, even indoors. Mama’s aversion to the AC reflects The Impact of Mental Illness on Family by showing how Mama’s sickness impacts the family more than just mentally, while also linking the deteriorating relations in the family to the motif of heat and drought (See: Symbols & Motifs).

“If I told Arden about the things that had been happening this week, it would make it real—make it so I couldn’t ignore or explain away the things Mama had said, the way she’d been so much worse than she ever had been since the bad time after Grandpa Case died.”

Here, Della narrates why she doesn’t want to talk to Arden about what’s been happening with Mama’s illness. Della continues to live in denial that Mama’s condition is incurable, and she feels confiding in Arden will only make it harder for her to hold onto the hope that Mama’s current behavior can be reversed.

“My stomach roiled and rocked with a sick kind of guilt—if I’d just come in sooner, if I hadn’t snuck that little blue book outside and dawdled while I was doing my chores, could I have stopped things before they got this bad?”

Della grapples with feeling guilty and responsible for taking care of Mama and making sure Mama’s illness doesn’t get too bad. After discovering Mama has been neglecting a screaming Mylie in her crib, Della feels it’s her fault for bringing a book to do her chores. This quote develops the theme of The Impact of Mental Illness on Family by showing how Della blames herself when Mama’s illness impacts Mylie and Daddy.

“My mind kept replaying it over and over like it was a movie—Mama leaving Mylie to scream and scream and scream in her crib, telling me it was safer for her. Safer. How could Mama think that? My hands shook even harder.”

As Della tends to Mylie, Della thinks about the traumatic scene she’s just walked in on and tries to process what just happened with Mama and Mylie. Della’s shaking hands betray her inner turmoil, foreshadowing how she will eventually find the strain she is under unbearable.

“We just have to hold on till things regulate in her body, honey. Your mama’s had this sickness a long time, and you and me and her, we’ve been through a lot together. We can get through this, too. It’s just going to take a little patience.”

Daddy gives advice to Della about being patient with Mama’s sickness, trying to instill The Importance of Love and Acceptance in his daughter. Daddy accepts Mama’s illness is part of her and is willing to work through it together with the love of his family.

“I stood planted there in the middle of the kitchen, Mylie hot and sweaty in my arms, little drafts of breeze trickling down from the ceiling fan. ‘You sure?’ I said finally, hugging Mylie a little tighter and feeling old and young, all at the same time.”

After Della decides to take on more of Mama’s responsibilities so Mama can get some rest, she offers to take Mylie for Mama. She’s desperate for Mama to allow her to help because she believes rest will fix Mama. This quote shows how stressed-out Della feels, carrying the weight of the responsibility she believes she needs to take on for Mama. This quote relates to the theme of The Impact of Mental Illness on Family.

“Daddy once told me, a long time ago, that it was part of Mama’s sickness; that making sure everything was sparkling clean was the one thing she could do to feel a little in control when everything inside her was going wrong.”

This quote offers a rare glimpse into what goes on in Mama’s head when she feels like her sickness is becoming unmanageable. This quote explains how Mama’s illness causes her to fixate on germs and cleanliness, which is illustrated throughout the novel.

“The one person who needed Mama healed more than anybody, the one person who couldn’t bear the idea of turning thirteen next year and becoming a teenager without a healthy mama to guide her, the one person who didn’t have anybody else to worry about—that was me. It was up to me now.”

Della feels she is solely responsible for getting Mama healthy again. Della’s description of her fear of becoming a teenager without a “healthy mama” shows why she feels the need more than anyone else to cure Mama. Della’s fears about a future without a healthy mom and sense of responsibility develop the theme of The Impact of Mental Illness on Family by showing what’s at stake for Della if Mama continues to be unwell.

“My eyes were prickling and I wanted to cry, but Mylie and Mama were already doing enough of that for all three of us. Somebody had to stay in control, and for once it sure wasn’t gonna be Daddy.”

Della describes holding back tears because Daddy has left her as the only capable person in charge of the mess Mama has made in the kitchen. This point in the novel begins a rift between Della and Daddy as Della begins to worry Daddy will not want to deal with the family anymore. This quote relates to the theme of The Impact of Mental Illness on Family by showing how Mama’s illness has affected Daddy too.

“Arden looked up and smiled, a secret smile that made me smile back. Lucky ladybugs. For the first time since that morning, life didn’t feel like it was pressing so hard against my forehead that it was giving me a headache.”

Della finds comfort in a small moment tending the stand with Arden. The ladybugs act as a motif for the theme of The Comforts of Friendship, as they appear whenever Della finds relief from her troubles in Arden’s presence (See: Symbols & Motifs).

“It isn’t just Mama. It’s Daddy, too. I’ve never seen him like this, not in my whole life. Like he’s going to break down right in front of my eyes, the way his tractor did. It’s scary, Arden. What if he decides he just can’t take Mama anymore and he just…leaves?”

Della finally expresses her fears to Arden about the toll Mama’s illness has taken on Daddy, on top of his stress about the farm. Daddy’s increasingly poor handling of Mama’s episodes has made Della begin to fear that Daddy will leave the family. Della now worries about both Daddy and Mama, putting her under further strain.

“She’s not crazy, honey, she’s sick. You gotta understand, Della, as hard as it is for us, it’s ten times harder for your mama. When she gets like this—it hurts her, honey, inside and out. More than it hurts either of us. She’s struggling, and she needs our love.”

After Della suggests Daddy should’ve made Mama take her pill, Daddy reprimands Della for using the word “crazy” to describe Mama. Daddy’s speech reinforces The Importance of Love and Acceptance by showing how Daddy has love and empathy for Mama during her time of sickness.

“The sight of that watermelon just took me right back to yesterday morning. I didn’t know if I’d ever be able to eat watermelon again without seeing Mama’s panicky face, hearing her nonsense talk about watermelon seeds, watching her slip that pill down into her pocket.”

Della almost decides to get some watermelon for a snack, but she finds she cannot stomach the painful memories she’s now attached to her favorite snack. Mama’s fixation on watermelon, and the way it prevents Della from enjoying it, develops watermelon as a symbol for normalcy (See: Symbols & Motifs). When Mama is unwell and attacking watermelon, her illness is impacting both the watermelon and normalcy from Della and Daddy’s lives.

“Whatever the reason I was out here at all—to help Mama, or to help myself—the thought of going back was even worse than the thought of staying out here, with the heat and the skeeters and the unfamiliar sounds off the bay.”

This quote highlights how miserable home life has become for Della in the wake of Mama’s illness. When compared to the unbearable heat, the biting mosquitos, and the jarring sounds of the bay, Della still feels more comfortable in her rickety playhouse than at home with Mama getting sicker.

“My head spun with the heat until all I could think was rain, rain, rain, over and over, my mind so crowded with wishing for rain that I couldn’t spare a single thought for Mama. In the hospital. The mental hospital.”

This quote takes place immediately after Daddy delivers the news that Mama has been taken to the hospital again. Della’s pleading thoughts of rain connect the weather motif to the theme of The Impact of Mental Illness on Family by showing how, just like the farm is desperate for rain, Della is desperate for relief from all the pain Mama’s illness is causing her (See: Symbols & Motifs).

“I’d been so fixed on healing Mama’s brain, I’d never been willing to go at things any other way. I’d been too afraid of the idea that Mama’s sickness might be a part of our lives forever, too afraid that Miss Tabitha was right and that my stubborn heart was the thing that needed fixing, not Mama’s brain.”

This moment is a turning point for Della, who is now isolated from her family and Arden after Mama is taken to the hospital. She’s spent the entire novel trying to find ways to cure Mama’s brain so Mama wouldn’t have to go to the hospital, and now she feels like a failure. This is the first time Della allows herself to consider the possibility that Mama’s sickness is a permanent part of her life, initiating Della’s journey toward healing the pain Mama’s illness has caused her and embracing The Importance of Love and Acceptance.

“If it happened to Mama…could it happen to me one day, too, do you think? Someday when I grow up and want to have babies?”

Late in the book, Della finally opens up to someone about the stress, fear, and pain she’s been managing with Mama’s illness, and for the first time, she acknowledges a deep-down fear of developing the same illness as Mama. This quote develops the theme of The Impact of Mental Illness on Family by showing how the potential to inherit mental illness can sometimes be an additional fear for children.

“The last couple weeks have been hard on all of us, probably you more than anyone. I know I put too much on you Della. More than any twelve-year-old girl should have to carry. I’m so sorry.”

Daddy acknowledges all the extra burden he’s put on Della during the last few weeks, with the farm struggling and Mama growing ill. Daddy’s apology to Della allows Della to open her heart and forgive him for his reactions in such a stressful time. Daddy recognizes The Impact of Mental Illness on Family by seeing how Della has been affected and apologizing for it.

“It was going to be okay, because even if I didn’t have my own mama right now, I had a life—and a town—full of other mamas who were looking out for me.”

As Della consumes the Bee Lady’s watermelon honey, she begins to acknowledge all the people in town who care about her and who have given her love and guidance in the last few weeks while Mama has been sick. Della’s recognition of the people who are there for her signifies the change of heart the Bee Lady said Della needed.

“And soon, Mama would be back home. And she would have her ups and her downs, but she would get through them. We would get through them, together. Because I knew, with all the lightness of that glow that radiated through me, that Mama loved me more than life itself.”

This quote shows how Della has worked through her feelings that she is responsible for fixing Mama. Della has come to accept that Mama will always be this way, developing the theme of The Importance of Love and Acceptance by showing how Della returns Mama’s love by accepting Mama how she is, no matter what.