This page was created by Aleya Washington. The last update was by David Squires.
Miss Jane as Mammy
The strong black woman trope is a piece of the mammy trope. It is present in all of the black female characters, but it is displayed most vividly in Miss Jane Pittman who, perhaps deliberately, takes on this role very early in the novel despite being so young. Although Miss Jane is barren, she becomes a foster mother for Ned once his mother dies. In this mode of mothering, these characters are allowed to be strong. However, this strength follows the trope of the mammy figure.
Miss Molly fits this description perfectly. She is portrayed as both a strong black woman and a mammy figure. Gaines describes Molly as “a great big, brown-shin woman” (88). This description is similar to Bogle's description of the mammy as “desexed, overweight, dowdy, dark black” (243). Even though she is not explicitly described as wearing an apron, Miss Jane notes that Molly “had been with the Clyde family ever since she was a young lady…she had been the cook, she had been the nurse” (Gaines 90). She is figuratively wearing the apron and kerchief. Molly as mammy overpowers her character as the strong, black woman.
Despite Molly’s malicious attitude and violence towards Miss Jane Pittman, she is tender towards the white children whom she mothers. She invests in these children so much that she does everything to protect her position as their mammy. Her role as mammy is the basis of her character. Very little of her personal life is revealed. Miss Jane never imparts whether Molly had a partner or children of her own. Molly’s life as a character is irrevocably intertwined with her role, her job as a sort of foster mother to white children. Gaines depicted Miss Molly in this way from the very beginning. The typewritten draft provided showcases his early imagining of Miss Molly.
Ned’s mother Big Laura seems to be even more representative of the mammy trope. Not only is the trope marked in her body, but it is also evident in her character and actions. Big Laura’s character is “capable, generous, and kind” to Miss Jane, which are words that O’Donnell uses to describe the mammy figure (244). She protects Jane from the “slow-wit” that is trying to fight her for the ability to use the name Brown. Big Laura uses her physical strength to protect Jane and even when faced with death she uses her physical strength to defend herself from the Secesh soldiers. When Gaines was in the early stages of writing, Big Laura did not even have a name. He simply described her as “big woman.” Through her actions to protect Jane, she is depicted as being both maternal and reliable like the mammy figure.
However, Gaines uses the mammy trope in an intriguing way with Miss Jane’s character. Big Laura seems to be the ultimate representation of the mammy figure and it is she who Miss Jane decides to emulate. After Big Laura’s death when Miss Jane realizes that she must now take care of Ned, “she dug a whole in the ground and built a little fire just like [she] saw Big Laura do the night before” (25). She emulates the mammy and strong black woman characteristics so that she and Ned can survive. Likewise, she also emulates Big Laura’s physical strength when she asks the hunter “what he knowed about [her] strength” because he doubts that she has the physical strength to use his bow and arrow (47). She performs this persona as a way to protect herself and Ned from this stranger, to warn him against trying anything unsavory. However, Gaines utilizes these strong figures in various ways.
In the typewritten draft above (6-18) we see a paragraph that was later removed which nearly mirrors the definition of the mammy. Miss Jane defines "stud-ing" based on her experiences. She claims that that "the master would use a big healthy man—a prime nigger; a big healthy woman—a prime wench to bring forth big healthy children." The woman is defined through the time period as a property meant to rear strong slaves. The black female slave is defined as "big" and "healthy." She is mentioned adjacent to strength and the ability to birth more strong slaves.