When Bud is six years old, his mother passes away at the age of twenty-six, and he is taken to an orphanage. He eventually leaves in hopes of finding his father. Although Christopher Paul Curtis does not explicitly tell the reader the cause of Angela's death, he does give insight into how she died. In chapter 11, Lefty Lewis's grandchildren, Scott and Kim, ask Bud about his mother. Bud tells them that his mother got sick and died a short time after becoming ill. Bud also mentions that his mother's death was quick and peaceful. He tells Scott and Kim,
My momma died so quick and painless that she didn't even have time to close her eyes, she didn't even have time to make a face like she was hurting (Curtis, 77).
In a conversation with Herman Calloway in chapter 19, Bud explains to his grandfather how Angela died. Bud...
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tells Herman that his mother did not go to work for six days in a row because she was feeling ill. When Bud walked into her room one morning, she was dead. He also mentions to Herman that Angela died in peace and did not seem to experience any pain.
The book doesn't really say why or how Bud's mother died. What we do know is this:
1)Bud was six and Bud's mother was twenty-six when she died.
2)Bud's mother was sick for six days before she died. According to Bud, she didn't suffer.
I said, "I was six years old when it happened, sir. "I don't know why, she was too sick to go to work for six days in a row, then one morning I went into her room and she was dead. But she didn't suffer or nothing, it happened real quick, she didn't even have time to close her eyes, she didn't look like it hurt or nothing."
3)Bud moved to the orphanage when he was six years old, after his mother died.
So, all we can infer from the book is that Bud's mother died from an illness that killed her quickly. What that illness or sickness was, the book never says.