Blues Ain't No Mockingbird

“Blues Ain’t No Mockin Bird” exemplifies Bambara’s pursuit in portraying Black lives authentically. Because the story is told by a child in her own voice—her own rhythms, cadence, idioms, and vernacular—it is told the way it would be heard. The childlike perspective also lends the narrative a guilelessness, a truthfulness that only a young voice could provide. Her viewpoint is trustworthy, as she simply says what she sees and relates it to other things she’s picked up along the way.

The young narrator is not afraid or even aware, at first, of the white men filming the property; her immediate concern is getting a turn on the tire swing. It’s Granny who draws her attention to the men, and it’s Granny on whom the child is focused—the narrator is more worried about Granny lashing out than about anything the white men may do. This indicates that Granny has been successful at removing her family from the scrutiny of white people and providing a life where the child may simply be a child, but this sort of freedom has clearly come at a price.