by Kristin Hunter (American)

CHARACTERS

Mom Luby/ Mrs. Luby

Elijah

Arlethia

Miss Rushmore

Mr. Jenkins

Mr. Luby

Zerline

Bobo

Lucas Mose

Jake

SETTING(s)

The United States of America

19th century (The great depression)

The welfare office

Division Street

SUMMARY OF THE STORY

The story has a first-person child narrator, Elijah. Elijah and his sister Puddin’ go to live with Mom Luby after their mother died. Mom Luby goes to the Welfare office to seek help to send them to school and to buy clothes for them. Elijah describes the welfare building as a gloomy place where the children are uncomfortable and are in a great hurry to leave. Miss Rushmore is assigned to the case. She is young and she sticks to the rules that govern childcare. She also seems uptight as she attempts to investigate the circumstances that Mom Luby puts forward. She visits the house on Division Street and criticizes the way that Mom Luby cares for the children. She questions the food that Mom Luby prepares for the children to eat. Miss Rushmore notes as well that Mom Luby is operating an illegal restaurant and bar from her home and that there are male customers interacting with the children.

Miss Rushmore continues to assess the circumstances when she decided to go on errands with Mom Luby. The welfare worker realizes that Mom Luby performs several duties including lawyer, midwife, minister, herbal doctor, and more. Miss Rushmore is tired and disheveled. But Mom Luby is calm as she goes into the house. She takes the social worker to the back and pours her a drink of corn wine. Miss Rushmore is overwhelmed by Mom Luby’s daily tasks and is impressed that Mom Luby could do these tasks in two hours. She states that her help is not needed and that she could not have done all that work in such a short time.

CONFLICT

Mom Luby needs help with caring for the two foster children. She goes to the welfare office for assistance and must convince Miss Rushmore that she needs their assistance.

RESOLUTION

Mom Luby does not receive help from the welfare office. This is because Miss Rushmore believes that Mom Luby does not need help. While Mom Luby is not given the assistance that she needs, the reader believes that the family will do well even without assistance from the welfare office.

THEMES

Family relationship

The story of Mom Luby allows the readers to question the ideals of the typical family unit. Although Mom Luby is not the biological parent of these children, she cares for them in a way that would suggest that she is their real mother. She does her best to meet their basic needs and when she realizes that she faces some form of challenges, she seeks the assistance of the government. Mom Luby creates a family structure that the children appreciate and enjoy.

Poverty

The story is set in the Great Depression when job opportunities were limited and few. The cost of living was high because there was a financial decline in the period. The reader sees this through Mom Luby’s customers being unable to pay for food, alcohol, and other services she provided. The welfare system held to the belief that the government was misguided in the way it helped the citizens to provide for their basic needs. Mom’s Luby’s story is significant as it stresses the challenges that citizens faced as they attempted to gain assistance from the government.