The DArkest Child post #9

I don't understand why Rozelle would swing her child over the porch and I think if she really didn't do it on purpose, she should have been more emotional about what happened. Her reaction seemed so fake, but I also don't understand why she would want to harm her baby, or even worse kill her. Maybe its because Martha Jean has become so attached to Judy, she was pretty much Martha Jean's child because all she did was take care of her.

Velman had been taking Rozelle out to teach her to drive because he was going to give her his car so he could take Martha Jean with him. After the accident with Judy Velman told Rozelle he and Martha Jean were leaving. It's interesting that Rozelle would give away her daughter for a car and some money, that's not a very mother-like thing to do but at least Martha Jean will probably be happier with Velman than with her mother so I guess its not that bad.

The DArkest Child post #8

Rozelle is pregnant again and she feels it would be especially convenient if she had a boy since Harvey is gone... that is very interesting. So maybe she does only want the children around so they can work and bring money into the house.  I also think the only reason she let Tangy see her father was because she knew he would give her some money. She immediately went to Tangy after Tangy's visit with her father and told Tangy to give her the money that he gave her because she knew Crow gave her some money. The money Tangy gave her mother was the money she was going to use to buy her dress. Tangy got upset and yelled at her mother, then she told Tarabelle about how their mother had taken the bus ticket Mushy sent for Tarabelle to go live with her and Rozelle then broke Tangy's finger. 

Miss Pearl agreed to buy Tangy's dress so she was able to go to prom and the night Tangy was supposed to leave, before she left, her mom made sure she told her everything not to do that night and emphasized that Tangy not let Jeff kiss her. I think Tangy is very fortunate and special, even though she isn't seen that way by her mother because of her skin color, I think she is. 

The DArkest Child post #7

Harvey, Tangy's older brother, secretly got married behind Rozelle's back and she is very upset about it. I wonder why Rozelle gets so mad and then it changes so fast. I think she really has emotional issues. She was just about ready to kill Harvey for getting married and then right after she seemed really helpless asking him not to leave because he was her baby. 

I think thats a sign of love and desperation, I wonder if Rozelle really wants her children around because she loves them or if she just wants them around so they can work to bring in money. Most of time it seems like she just wants them around for the money but sometimes it seems like she actually loves them. I wonder if she will loose all of her children because one by one they are all leaving; if she does its her fault because she should have treated her children better. 

Jeff Stallins asked Tangy to prom, but they are four years apart and she doesn't know how to ask her mom. I like Tangy's attitude and the way she carries herself around men. She reminds of how my mom tells me to be around young men; she is very independent, doesn't feel like she needs a man and doesn't get attached easily. However, I think she may like Jeff Stallings and he likes her also. I don't appreciate her mother telling her that Jeff couldn't like a girl like her just because she was dark but I guess that should be expected from Rozelle.

:) I thought it was soo funny when Tarabelle called Crow, Tangy's, father a big black ape. At first I thought Rozelle was going to start making Tangy do prostitution but I was glad when he told her he was her father.  

The Darkest Child post #6

It was such a surprise that Junior, a friend of the Quinn family, was hung. He was probably hung because he was a threat to the white community since he was very educated and he was involved in changing the way black people were treated in their town. I don't know who could have done, I suspect a white person but there are no white main characters. At first I thought Tangy Mae may have had a crush on Junior because of the way she described how she felt when she heard him talk. Tangy's brother, Sam, was especially affected by the hanging because Junior was his really good friend. They were both really involved in motivating the black people of their town to stand up for their rights and demand they have equal treatment as the whites. 

Rozelle was really there for her son during this time. I think this is the only time she showed so much affection for one of her children. She held Sam while he was crying and until he stopped crying. 

Velman Cooper has been taking Rozelle for out for several evenings, no one knows what for and it is worrying Mary Jane very much . He is probably trying to butter her up so that she will let him take Mary Jane, I don't think it will work but he told Tangy to tell Mary Jane that he has everything under control so maybe it will. 

The Darkest Child post #5

 "I truly believed there was something unnatural about her--a madness that only her children could see." 

In this chunk it was really interesting that Rozelle beat Mary Jane so bad until she bled and had bruises all over her face because the man she met at the post office, Velman Cooper, delivered a letter to their house and the day after she beat her she acted as if she didn't know what happened to her. Rozelle has a very confusing personality; she got upset at Mushy for going out with a married man and at Mary Jane for talking to the man at the post office but yet she has relations with men for money and forces her daughters into prostitution. 

Mushy left after her and her mom got into an argument about Mushy going out with  married man. Mushy wants to get Tarabelle out of their mother's house so Tarabelle can live with her and Velman Cooper wants to get Mary Jane out of her mother's house. This makes Tangy Mae a little envious of her older sister because she wants for a man to love her the way Velman loves her sister; I'm not sure whether she wants love specifically from Velman Cooper or just from a man.

"I wanted him to love her, but I realized that I wanted him to love me, too." 

The Darkest Child post #4

Mushy, the oldest Quinn, took her siblings out one night while their mother went out. She did so because she wanted them to have a good time. It turns out not all the Quinn siblings are bitter towards each other after all. Tarabelle stayed home with the baby, she did not want to go out with her siblings because i think she likes to isolate herself. Tarabelle is really affected by her mother making her be a prostitute. When she told her brothers and sisters she seemed really embarrassed because she began crying and stormed into the house. I think her prostitution is what makes her bitter towards her siblings, especially Tangy Mae since she is able to go to school and she is not working. She is also bitter towards her mom but knows not to show it how she shows it towards her siblings because she does not want to disrespect her mother.

The Darkest Child post #3

Even though on some occasions the Quinn siblings seem bitter towards each other there are still times when they display some type of compassion/care for each other. For example, Tangy Mae is very protective of her older sister Martha Jean who is deaf. Their mother refers to Martha Jean as the "dummy" but Tangy Mae tries to take care of her. When they were at the post office a twenty year old young man was very attracted to Martha Jean but Tangy Mae tried her best to not let him talk to her because she new it was risking her sister's safety. 

Tangy Mae's older brothers were involved in civil rights, making sure that the black people in their town are being treated equally as the whites because they were living in the time of segregation. I do not think their mother really paid much attention to the unequal treatment of blacks, or maybe she did but did not pay attention to making any actions that would change it, she seemed comfortable in the fact that blacks were considered inferior to whites. It seems like Rozelle lived in her own world.