Irony of Jessie’s Spanking - “Cora Unashamed”
Spankings do not transmute Jessie into an downright ‘dream child’ notwithstanding the agony they wreak: “Her mother was always a little ashamed of stupid Jessie, for Mrs. Art was the civic and social leader of Melton, president of the Woman's Club three years straight, and one of the pillars of her church. Mary, the elder, the teacher, would follow with dignity in her footsteps, but Jessie! That child! Spankings in her youth, and scoldings now, did nothing to Jessie's inner being. She remained a plump, dull, freckled girl, placid and strange. Everybody found fault with her but Cora.” Mrs. Art’s nurturing approach, which comprises spanking, is aimed at implanting fear in Jessie so that she can be a prototypical child who would supplement her mother’s standing. However, the spankings are vain because they do not materially renovate Jessie intrinsically.
Jessie’s Blooming - “Cora Unashamed”
Jessie blossoms in an improbable locale: “In the kitchen Jessie bloomed. She laughed. She talked. She was sometimes even witty. And she learned to cook wonderfully. With Cora, everything seemed so simple -- not hard and involved like algebra, or Latin grammar, or the civic problems of Mama's club, or the sermons at church. Nowhere in Melton, nor with anyone, did Jessie feel so comfortable as with Cora in the kitchen. She knew her mother looked down on her as a stupid girl. And with her father there was no bond. He was always too busy buying and selling to bother with the kids.” Jessie’s parents do not accord her the adulation that Cora bids her. Besides, her lowly performance in school may be regarded as ironic for her parents can afford her fees. The chores that Jessie thrives in are conservatively viewed as deprived and for the unschooled blacks. Accordingly, she violates her parents’ prospects by embracing a pathway which deviates from that which her parents fashioned for her.
“You Were Great” - “Passing”
Jack concedes, “I felt like a dog, passing you downtown last night and not speaking to you. You were great, though. Didn’t give a sign that you even knew me, let alone I was your son.” Jack’s mother’s feedback is ironic and implausible. An orthodox mother, devoid of internalized racism, would have been disillusioned if her son were to disregard her for her blackness. The ironic reaction surmises that Jack’s mother gathers that she is too mediocre to have a white son; thus, would not discomfit him.
