Similes:
“Looks like a plastic spider web”
“Granddaddy tall and silent and like a king”
“But it really it looked like the crystal paperweight Granny kept in the parlor”
“Like I was a gift on a tray”
like it was a just a sack flown into by mistake
Like a sudden and gentle bird
Like it was a calabash cut for sharing
Metaphors:
“Go tell that man that we ain’t a bunch of trees”
“With rocks all in his jaw”
“She was on the back porch, Granny was, making the cakes drunk”
“The tall man with a huge camera lassoed to his shoulder was buzzin our way”
“Engines in his feet and motors in his hands”
“Smilin up a storm”
Allusions:
Bingo- The dog’s name, also a children’s song
Goldilocks- A children story, referencing the camera men waltzing into their yard without permission
Food Stamp Act- 1930’s, the great depression
Talking Secretive like they found a native- an allusion to B movies like Tarzan
The wolf man: Little Red Riding Hood
Symbols: The Chicken Hawk is Like Granddaddy and Granny Cain because they come to each other’s rescue.
The title is “Blues Ain’t No Mockin Bird” mean that it is impossible to recreate family hardships.
Dialect:
"stompin"
"me and cathy"
"I squinch my eyes open..."
"swingin"
"makin movie pictures"
"aunty"
"nuthin”
Description of Granddaddy Cain:
He is tall and quiet like a king
He has white hair
He wears oilskin and boots
He will do anything to protect his family.
Description of Granny Cain:
She likes to have her own space
She is polite and sophisticated
She hates cameramen
She gets annoyed very easily
They have moved 4 times because she becomes angry with someone there.
