34 pages • 1 hour read
Kimberly Willis HoltMy Louisiana Sky
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 1998A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
Changing Oneself in Order to “Grow Up”
Because this is a bildungsroman, a coming-of-age story, the idea of growing up is vital in My Louisiana Sky. Here, the idea of “growing up” concerns the idea of changing oneself. Throughout the novel, Tiger stops playing baseball, thinks about changing her name, and cuts her hair. It is only through taking charge and trying to change herself that Tiger realizes that she doesn’t need anybody’s approval.
Early in the novel, Tiger decides to stop playing baseball—a choice mostly driven by the fact that none of the other girls in Saitter seem to play. Later, she finds more reasons not to play, primarily that “a girl has to grow up sometime” (33), as she tells Jesse Wade. Eventually, Tiger tells Jesse Wade how she feels about their friendship, decides she wants to stay in Saitter, and begins to feel more truly grown up. It is only after Tiger feels more comfortable in herself that she returns to the game, thinking that “[i]t was like old times, only better” (197) since now some of the other girls are playing, too.
Tiger also considers changing her name to Ann when she visits Aunt Dorie Kay, or Doreen, in Baton Rouge. Aunt Dorie Kay tells Tiger that she will have an easier time fitting in if she changes her name; Tiger thinks that Ann “sound[s] plain,” but she admits that “a plain name [is] better than being teased” (125). Tiger tries to go by Ann for a while, but it doesn’t stick. As she becomes more self-assured and more comfortable in what makes her special, she embraces the name “Tiger,” one of her strongest ties to her family.
In one of Tiger’s most visible attempts to change herself to become more “grown up,” she cuts her hair into a short style worn by Audrey Hepburn. Tiger wavers on whether she likes it; at first, she thinks she looks “like somebody wearing a hat too small for their head” (140). Later, after Aunt Dorie Kay tells her how good it looks, Tiger starts to like it more. Finally, in a decisive moment, Abby Lynn tells Tiger that her hair “kind of looks like Audrey Hepburn’s” (184). With shock, Tiger realizes that she “[doesn’t] care one little-bitty bit” (185) about Abby Lynn’s opinion. By this point in the novel, Tiger has enough self-confidence to disregard others’ opinions.
Judgment in the Face of Difference
My Louisiana Sky carries a heavy emphasis on judgment, rather than appreciation, in the face of difference. Over the course of the novel, Tiger observes people judging her family, and she witnesses her mother and aunt’s very different responses to grief. She sees judgment between people who love each other. As a result, Tiger realizes that the fear of difference, rather than the difference itself, is what leads to destructive judgment.
From the beginning of the novel, others judge Tiger’s family because both of her parents have intellectual disabilities. On the very first page, Tiger recounts that “[s]ome people in Saitter say Momma and Daddy should have never been allowed to get married because they’re different” (1). This judgment runs throughout the whole novel, and Tiger sees it increasingly as she matures. Eventually, she discovers her worth and feels protective of her parents, brushing off others’ judgments because she knows that her parents are good people.
After Granny dies, Tiger is shocked by how differently Corrina and Aunt Dorie Kay react. Tiger’s mother becomes deeply depressed, refusing to do anything. Aunt Dorie Kay seems relatively unbothered, jumping in and taking care of all the funeral preparations herself. At first, Tiger finds this strange, but she remembers that Granny once told her that “[p]eople handle death in different ways. Sometimes they act different on the outside, but inside it’s the same for everyone. Their hearts are breaking” (95-96). After remembering this advice from her grandmother, Tiger can accept the differences between Aunt Dorie Kay’s reaction and her mother’s, and she is therefore able to accept both women as they are.
Finally, Tiger sees several examples of judgment within her own family, most notably between Aunt Dorie Kay and Granny. Tiger remembers Granny saying that she “wouldn’t be caught dead” (98) in a fancy dress Aunt Dorie Kay bought for her, but Aunt Dorie Kay later says that “[i]t’s the only decent thing she has to wear” (99). Tiger eventually learns that Aunt Dorie Kay and Granny never reconciled after Aunt Dorie Kay moved to Baton Rouge and that this misunderstanding is the root of the judgment between the two women. After Aunt Dorie Kay tells Tiger that she wishes she’d told Granny how much Granny meant to her, Tiger realizes that honesty and vulnerability are all-important in interpersonal relationships and that without them, resentment and judgment will thrive.
Over the course of My Louisiana Sky, Tiger learns that judgment stems from fear and misunderstanding rather than from difference. This is an important lesson for an insecure young girl, even more so when that young girl lives in the late 1950s deep South.
The Healing Power and Importance of Work
Tiger’s family in My Louisiana Sky is decidedly working-class. As such, the value of work is a common theme throughout the novel. Granny is continually lauded for her strength, Magnolia coaxes Corrina out of her depression with housework, and Tiger is finally impressed by Jesse Wade when he begins to learn how to work.
Tiger’s grandmother is constantly praised for her work ethic, especially after her death. During one of her conversations with Tiger in Baton Rouge, Aunt Dorie Kay admits that she “never would have had the courage to strike out on [her] own” (148) without the example that Granny set for her growing up. Tiger is impressed by and proud of her grandmother’s strength, and she identifies with both Aunt Dorie Kay and Granny in different ways. She seems to find strength in this legacy of strong women who came before her, and she continues that legacy through loving, understanding, and trying to help Corrina.
One of the most powerful examples of the virtue of work comes from Magnolia and her approach to helping Corrina through her depression. Tiger, and likely Corrina, see Granny in Magnolia because of Magnolia’s matter-of-factness and attitude that “a few chores never hurt anybody” (172). Magnolia is the one who manages to get Corrina out of bed after Granny dies, and she seems to do it solely through the power of housework. Tiger marvels at the change in her mother, saying that “it seemed like Momma was finding her way back to us” (172) by helping them make dinner. This also eases her distrust of Magnolia and helps Tiger feel more connected with her mother again.
Tiger is also motivated to reconcile with Jesse Wade after she sees him working. She is judgmental of his privilege and the fact that he never has to work; after they have a falling-out, she uses this as one more reason not to reconcile. Eventually, he comes to help in his father’s nursery where Tiger has also been working. Tiger observes that “[i]t was a rare sight to see dirt under Jesse Wade’s fingernails” (165). He admits that he asked to work so that he could see her, and shortly thereafter, they reconcile. Through working at the nursery, Jesse Wade proves to Tiger that he has the determination, sticking power, and other moral qualities that she associates with hard work.
In My Louisiana Sky, many of those closest to Tiger are exceptionally hard workers. She admires this quality and connects with her grandmother, her aunt, and her father through their work ethics. Over time, she is able to appreciate the work of Jesse Wade and her mother as well.
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