On the rural Southern farm where the Cain family lives in “Blues Ain’t No Mockingbird,” the family is independent and self-sufficient, able to find sanctuary from racial persecution. The same cannot be said for their previous places of residence. The reason the Cain family moved so often was due to persecution by white people: “Like people wouldn’t pay her for things like they said they would. Or Mr. Judson bringin us boxes of old clothes and raggedy magazines. Or Mrs. Cooper comin in our kitchen and touchin everything and sayin how clean it all was.” This quote reveals that Mrs. Cain has not been treated fairly as a laborer, nor has she or her family been treated with respect. She has worked and not been paid for her labor (probably by a white employer, given the historic context of the narrative). Imagine a white person refusing to pay a black person for labor during the Civil Rights Era! It is akin to a blatant pro-slavery statement. She has also experienced her white employer impeding upon her personal home-space, making condescending comments about the cleanliness, as if surprised that a black person could live so hygienically. Finally, she has experienced being given junk as donations, which expressed a judgment of her own worth and value. Today, many foster care agencies and donation centers for the poor weed out well-meant but extremely offensive “junk” donations in order to prevent the very degradation and humiliation Mrs. Cain felt at being given trash as treasures.
"Andrew says this because he had been able to keep his promise given to Joe Morgan; he had been able to save Mrs. Morgan as well as his newly born baby after it had been born lifeless. It means Andrew felt contented and jubilant at his own efforts and the achievement."
