Not Without Laughter · Chapter
Princess of the Blues explained
Sandy and Annjee attend Harriett's vaudeville performance at the Monogram Theatre in Chicago, where she performs as 'The Princess of the Blues.' After the show, they reunite backstage and later share a meal at a Chinese café.
What happens
Sandy and Annjee attend Harriett's vaudeville performance at the Monogram Theatre in Chicago, where she performs as 'The Princess of the Blues.' After the show, they reunite backstage and later share a meal at a Chinese café. Harriett learns Sandy works an elevator job for fourteen dollars a week and passionately insists he stay in school, offering financial support to continue his education. The chapter ends with Sandy and Annjee hearing old spirituals from a nearby church, evoking memories of Stanton.
Themes in this chapter
Music and Cultural Expression
Harriett's blues performance and the audience's participatory response highlight the central role of music as a form of emotional expression and community bonding in Black culture.
Family and Generational Conflict
The argument between Harriett and Annjee over Sandy's education reflects generational tensions about sacrifice, ambition, and the legacy of Aunt Hager's hopes.
The Search for Identity and Ambition
Sandy's desire to continue school despite financial pressure, and Harriett's insistence on education as a path to uplift the race, underscore the struggle for self-determination and advancement.
Characters to notice
- Sandy
Attends Harriett's show with Annjee, works an elevator job, and is determined to return to school despite his mother's objections.
- Annjee
Attends the show with Sandy, cries during Harriett's blues song remembering Jimboy, and initially argues against Sandy continuing school due to financial strain.
- Harriett
Performs as 'The Princess of the Blues' at the Monogram Theatre, reunites with Sandy and Annjee, and insists Sandy stay in school, offering financial help.
- Jimboy
Mentioned as absent and possibly enlisted in the war; Annjee cries remembering him during Harriett's song.
- Billy Sanderlee
Harriett's piano player, drinks gin backstage, discusses numbers betting with Sandy, and is described as having avoided the draft due to liquor.
- Tempy
Mentioned by Harriett as having behaved coldly after Aunt Hager's funeral.
Key passages
“This boy’s gotta get ahead—all of us niggers are too far back in this white man’s country to let any brains go to waste!”
Harriett insists that Sandy must pursue education to advance himself, because Black people are already too disadvantaged in a white-dominated society to afford wasting any talent.
Harriett's passionate plea for Sandy's education reflects themes of racial uplift and the importance of seizing opportunity.
“It’s a mighty blue mornin’ when yo’ daddy leaves yo’ bed. I says a blue, blue mornin’ when yo’ daddy leaves yo’ bed— ’Cause if you lose yo’ man, you’d just as well be dead!”
The blues lyrics express deep sorrow and a sense of hopelessness when a woman's partner abandons her, equating the loss to a kind of death.
Harriett's performance of this folk-blues evokes strong emotions in the audience, particularly Annjee, who cries remembering Jimboy.
“An we’ll understand it better by an’ by!”
The old spiritual's refrain expresses faith that in the afterlife or in time, all suffering and confusion will be made clear.
The song from the nearby church contrasts with the blues performance, yet both offer solace and a sense of continuity with the past in Stanton.
