Where The Watermelons Grow

Content Warning: This section contains descriptions of mental illness, children in emotional distress, and discussions of mental illness inheritance.

The impact that mental illness has on the entire family of someone with mental illness is the primary theme explored throughout the novel, with the echoes of Mama’s irrational decision-making impacting nearly every moment of the novel. Della and Daddy both struggle to cope, reflecting how a family member’s illness can also affect their loved ones.  

Della is haunted both by the day-to-day impacts of Mama’s illness and her own sense of guilt: “I’d been the one who had made Mama the way she was. And I needed to be the one to fix it” (80). Della’s sense of misplaced responsibility for both causing Mama’s schizophrenia and feeling as though she needs to cure it develop the idea that familial mental illness can lead to misplaced feelings of self-blame and responsibility. Della also feels the need to cure Mama because she fears, more than anything, losing Mama to the mental hospital again. She “couldn’t bear the idea of turning thirteen next year and becoming a teenager without a healthy mama to guide her” (99). Della’s fears and fruitless efforts to fix Mama develop the idea that mental illness can create fear and uncertainty for families dealing with it.

Daddy, too, is impacted by Mama’s illness, and the stress of Mama’s actions wears on him more and more as the novel goes on. Daddy becomes overwhelmed by the increasing frequency of Mama’s episodes. In the first chapter, Della describes how Daddy “never sounded upset” and is “so calm and quiet that you can hardly hear him talk sometimes” (7). However, as Mama’s illness worsens, Daddy’s patience wears thin. In Chapter 13, upon arriving home to find Mama scrubbing the cabinets while Mylie screams, Daddy loses his temper and screams at Mama, with Della admitting, “I’d never seen him like this” (115). Daddy, unable to manage his frustration, abandons the scene, leaving Della to clean up the mess. Daddy’s stress over Mama’s illness on top of the struggling farm develops the idea that familial mental illness can add additional struggles to already tough times.

When Della confides in Miss Lorena about Mama’s schizophrenia, Miss Lorena explains, “[Mama] is always going to have to struggle like this […] Everybody’s got burdens, honey, and this is the burden that belongs to your family” (217). Miss Lorena’s advice acknowledges that mental illness impacts more than just the patient. However, her reassurance and her emphasis on the family’s love for one another help Della to understand that, while mental illness may affect the family negatively from time to time, they will find ways to cope and heal together.