Character Analysis
Pa's mom, a.k.a. the girls' grandma, is never one to shy away from giving her opinion. On her hit list? Cecile for one. She doesn't take kindly to someone ditching her grandkids and son, and she has no problem sharing her thoughts on Cecile with Delphine, Vonetta, and Fern. Again and again during her visit, Delphine remembers bad stuff about Cecile from what Big Ma has told her.
At first, we can't help but wonder if Big Ma is a little biased. After all, would you like someone who left your son alone with three kids? Yeah, we didn't think so. Delphine considers this, too. So while she admits, "I didn't want to say Big Ma was right" (4.42) about Cecile being a bad mom, before long she realizes her grandma knows what she's talking about. Big Ma is loud, brash, and harsh, but what she says is usually grounded in the truth. And in this case, Cecile really is a pretty terrible mom.