Discussion Topic
The identities and affiliations of the 'smilin' man' and the cameraman in "Blues Ain't No Mockin Bird."
Summary:
The 'smilin' man' and the cameraman in "Blues Ain't No Mockin Bird" are representatives of the county government. They are filming a promotional video about food stamps and invade Granny's property without permission, reflecting themes of intrusion and disrespect towards the personal space and dignity of the characters. Their actions symbolize the broader societal and governmental disregard for the individual lives of marginalized communities.
Who are the camera man and smilin man in "Blues Ain't No Mockin Bird"?
"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 unfolds, the narrator is playing outside her Granny's house on a winter's day, soon before Christmas. She is playing on the tire swing with her third cousin Cathy, and their twin next-door neighbors, Tyrone and Terry. While the narrator is waiting for her turn on the swing, Granny comes out to the porch and orders the narrator to "tell that man we ain't a bunch of trees." It's then that the narrator and the rest of the children notice a man with a camera walking through the meadow, heading towards the Cains' house. Camera man approaches Granny, explains his desires to film her house, and compliments her possessions, directing the camera around the yard to take...
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in "the pecan barrels, the sled, me and Cathy, the flowers, the printed stones along the driveway, the trees, the twins, the toolshed." When Granny gives camera man a hard time, a second man approaches, who the narrator calls smilin man.
The narrator calls him smilin man because he is "smilin up a storm" as he
explains they are filming for the county for the sake of the food stamp
campaign. He continues to smile as he notices Granny's vegetable garden and
asserts that, if other people in Granny's social class grew their own
vegetables, "there'd be no need" for food stamps.
In short, camera man and smilin man are there to film Granny's state of poverty and how she handles it in order to convince the county not to spend money on food stamps. They are there to make a mockery of Granny's poverty and the poverty in her social class.
Who do the 'smilin' man' and 'cameraman' work for in "Blues Ain't No Mockin Bird"?
The two white filmmakers claim to have been sent by the county to make a film about food stamps. They appear to be operating on the racist assumption that the Cain family, being African-American, is on welfare, and is therefore the ideal subject for their film. Grandma Cain takes exception to the filmmakers' presence, seeing them as nothing but a nuisance as they trample all over her flower beds. They make patronizing observations about Granny's vegetable patch, blithely unaware that this is proof that the Cains are hard-working, self-reliant folk who have no need to be on welfare.
Granddaddy Cain is not much happier than his wife at the filmmakers' intrusion. These men are trespassing on private property, and he wants them to leave at once; It makes no difference whether they're working for the county or not. In any case, Grandaddy Cain doesn't take kindly to the government infringing on his rights as a citizen. In asserting his rights as an American, he is challenging the stereotyped view of African-Americans that the filmmakers and their employers clearly hold. Far from being reliant on the state, he wishes to assert his independence from it.
In "Blues Ain't No Mockin' Bird," who are Smilin' Man and Camera Man?
Toni Cade Bambara's short story "Blues Ain't No Mockin' Bird" is about a rural black family whose privacy and dignity is invaded by a pair of bumbling county workers.
The county workers are shooting scenes for a documentary about the county food stamp program. The fact that they show up at the family's home implies that they think the family is needy. The workers find out, however, that the family is proud and hardworking.
The narrator generalizes the two workers by naming them "Smilin'" and "Camera." In so doing, she associates their prejudicial attitudes with those of society in general. Smilin' and Camera just assume things about the black family, like many others in society would. Ironically, the narrator is critical of their stereotypical perspective while actually stereotyping them herself. It is also a way of showing that the two county workers are of no importance to the family beyond their reason for being on their property.