Blues Ain't No Mockingbird

In “Blues Ain’t No Mockingbird” by Toni Cade Bambara, the author uses a flashback in which Granny tells the story of a man on the brink of committing suicide by jumping off a bridge. She describes...

In "Blues Ain't No Mockingbird," Granny tells Granddaddy Cain to get the two camera-men out of her flower bed. Granddaddy Cain has just come back from hunting, and he has brought a dead hawk home,...

In Toni Cade Bambara’s short story “Blues Ain’t No Mockingbird” she provides insight into the character traits of Granddaddy and Granny through direct descriptions and through their actions. The...

Granny didn't finish her story about the man on the bridge because both Terry and Tyrone failed to understand the significance of her tale. On the surface, Granny's story is about a man who was on...

Toni Bambara's "Blues Ain't No Mockin' Bird" is apparently set in the South as the dialects used are reflective of this geographical area. These dialects are African American Vernacular English and...

Toni Cade Bambara's short story "Blues Ain't No Mockin Bird" appeared in a collection of her stories in 1972. It is about a black family trying to deal with a pair of white county government...

The usual spelling of mockingbird author Toni Cade Bambara uses in her title "Blues Ain't No Mockin Bird," as seen in her volume of short stories the work was first published in, tilted Gorilla, My...

In "Blues Ain't No Mockingbird," Toni Bambara uses the technique of indirect characterization for the narrator and the techniques of both direct and indirect characterization for other characters....

In Toni Bambara's "Blues Ain't No Mockin Bird," Granddaddy kills the first hawk because it is the mate of a giant hawk that will come for her and he can then kill it and be rid of both hawks who...

Birds in general are a strong symbol for transcendence and elevation of the spirit and intellect. Like a bird, the inner being can spread it's wings and reach new heights. Birds represent the...

"Camera man" and "smilin man" are the names the narrator gives the two strange men trespassing on the Cains' property in Toni Cade Bambara's short story "Blues Ain't No Mockin Bird."As the story...

in "Blues Ain't No Mockingbird," the two hawks do symbolize Granny and Granddaddy Cain because they are attacked in their own environment. Granny and Granddaddy want the film crew to leave, stating...

In Toni Cade Bambara's "Blues Ain't No Mockin' Bird," the narrator explains why Granny moves around so much soon after Granny relays to the kids her story of the man being photographed who was...

The narrator characterizes Cathy as somewhat incomprehensible. The narrator doesn't understand how Cathy can comprehend things so easily, thing that the narrator herself can't comprehend. For...

A couple of white filmmakers are lurking around Granny and Granddaddy Cain's property in the hopes of making a documentary for the government on food stamps recipients. There's no evidence that...

When the men from the Public Works Program unexpectedly appear in the yard of the Cains uninvited, Granny emerges quickly on the steps with the back screen door banging "soft and scratchy against...

The style of "Blues Ain't No Mockingbird" seems more realistic and appropriate to the theme than the tone of Toni Cade Bambara's short story. "Blues Ain't No Mockingbird" is told from the...

As we can gather from reading "Blues Ain't No Mockingbird," Cathy is an inveterate storyteller. For instance, after the cameramen turn up unannounced at her grandparents' house, she starts telling...

In the story, Granddaddy Cain returns from his hunting trip with a dying and squawking chicken hawk slung over his shoulder. Upon his return, he stops on the porch to show Granny that he's finally...

Both hawks are killed by Granddaddy Cain in Toni Cade Bambara's short story "Blues Ain't No Mockin Bird." The first is hunted by Granddaddy for dinner, whereas the second is killed to keep it from...

The two men, who are shooting a film ‘‘about food stamps’’ for the county move away after Granny comes outside, but they continue filming anyway as they have no respect for her wish to be left...

The two men are on the property to make a film about the county's food stamp program. In the story, the two men are referred to as Camera and Smilin. They ask Granny Cain for permission to take...

The climax in any story is the turning point of the story, the moment rising action becomes falling action. It can also be the most intense moment in the story. In Toni Cade Bambara's "Blues Ain't...

An idiom is a frequently used phrase within a culture that is interpreted to mean something other than what the words in the phrase literally mean. Idioms are colorful expressions, meaning rich,...

One of the most dominant conflicts in Toni Cade Bambara's "Blues Ain't No Mockin' Bird" is character vs. character. Granny Cain has discovered that two men are filming the fields around her...

"Wolf men" is an appropriate term for the filmmaker visitors, both for the way they physically appear and for what they represent to the other characters of the story. The cameramen clearly were...

In Toni Cade Bambara's "Blues Ain't No Mockin Bird," Granddaddy's actions show he is a no-nonsense sort of man who is very used to surviving in harsh conditions. He is also capable of being very...

Granny also resents the filmmakers because they appear to be investigating the extent of her wealth (or lack thereof). For example, the cameraman takes pictures of the pecan barrels, the sled, the...

In "Blues Ain't No Mockin Bird," Granny speech directed at the filmmakers gives two clear messages. The first is that they have no permission to film her and her family and equally no permission to...

Toni Bambara wrote "Blues Ain't No Mocking Bird" during the height of the the Black Power movement in which black pride and autonomous black identity were core components of the movement. In the...

In Toni Cade Bambara's "Blues Ain't No Mockin Bird," the narrator is both very impressed by and very puzzled by her grandmother. The reason why she is both impressed and puzzled by her grandmother...

The photographers appear to be filming in the area on behalf of the county for the food stamp program. In the story, two men are taking pictures of the area residents, their homes, and their...

If Grandaddy Cain were to not have returned home, it is probable that the two men filming for the government would not have left the property for some time because they have ignored Granny's...

From the beginning of the narrative of "Blues Ain't No Mockin Bird," there is an immediate conflict established among Granny and the white filmmakers who intrude upon the Cain property. For, as...

The short story "Blues Ain't No Mockingbird" by Toni Cade Bambara tells of an African American family that is being harassed by two overly intrusive white photographers. They claim that they are in...

Told from the point of view of one of the black children who possesses a wry sense of humor, Toni Cade Bambara's short story "Blues Ain't No Mockin Bird" provides the child's interpretations of...

In Toni Cade Bambara's "Blues Ain't No Mockin' Bird," we are told a bit about the narrator's relationship to other characters in the opening paragraph and in other places throughout the story.Since...

When Toni Cade Bambara's "Blues Ain't No Mockingbird" begins, Granddaddy Cain appears wearing work clothes. I can see Granddaddy Cain comin through the woods in his field boots...the shiny black...

The term falling action refers to events in any story that occur after the climax and lead to the story's resolution. The climax in Toni Cade Bambara's "Blues Ain't No Mockin Bird" intensifies when...

They claim to be making a film for the county. It would seem that the authorities want to document the true scale of poverty in the locality, and are using poor families like Granddaddy Cain's to...

The reaction of destroying the camera is justified by Granddaddy Cain because he recognizes by the moaning sounds of Granny that the men have intruded upon their property and upset his wife with...

When the men with the cameras take pictures near the Cains's place, Granny exhibits several times verbal irony in her speech. With verbal irony being the saying of one thing when actually something...

Granddaddy becomes involved in the story's conflict because Granny asks him to. Because she hasn't been successful in getting the men off their property, Granny decides to enlist Granddaddy Cain's...

Granny is offended by the men from the county in “Blues Ain’t No Mockingbird” by Toni Cade Bambara. The first mistake the men make is filming Granny’s property without her permission. They hid in...

The resolution, or denouement, is the final unraveling of all the complications of the plot. In "Blues Ain't No Mockingbird" by Toni Cade Bambara, the child who is the first-person narrator...

The conflict of Toni Cade Bambara's "Blues Ain't No Mockingbird" is a conflict of race and representation. When the men arrive on Granny's property they take the liberty of filming the house...