P.S. Be Eleven

Mr. Mwile is strict. He punishes the entire class when one person misbehaves. One day, the class watches an anti-drug film that stars pop-rock star Sonny Bono. This is a shock since Bono looks like a hippie. (A hippie is someone who opposed mainstream cultural values during the 1960s; some also experimented with substance use.) The class laughs and sings one of Sonny and Cher’s songs instead of taking the film seriously, so Mr. Mwile punishes the class with double math.

After the film, Delphine stays behind to apologize to Mr. Mwile. She wants to impress him. He is reading Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, a novel about the process of European powers taking control of a country on the African continent. He tells Delphine that he reads the novel over and over again because it helps him make sense of the history of Black people across the world. Delphine can barely understand what he is saying and babbles on about Island of the Blue Dolphins, a book for middle grade readers. She realizes that the novel is to Mr. Mwile as the Bible is to Big Ma, and she finds this idea shocking. Her ability to make this connection makes her believe that she is finally maturing intellectually.

Later, Delphine writes to her mother to tell her about her plan to read Things Fall Apart, reasoning that it must be an important book if Mr. Mwile reads and re-reads it. She is shocked when Cecile writes back to tell her to wait before reading the book. Cecile states that Delphine is not ready for the book’s message and urges Delphine again to just be 11.

Pa pressures Darnell to get a job so that he will avoid burdening the family financially, but Big Ma tells Pa to leave Darnell alone because she sees the psychological toll that the war has taken on him. He is not even cheered by a visit from John-Isaac, an old high school friend and older brother of Delphine’s friend Freida. John-Isaac is dressed in Black Panther gear that Big Ma dislikes. John-Isaac gives everyone a laugh when he places his black beret on Big Ma's head. It is clear to everyone that something is wrong with Darnell and that there is little they can do to help him.

Lucy Raleigh works in the principal’s office. She overhears that the school has set the date for the sixth-grade dance as Valentine’s Day. When Lucy announces this, Delphine is displeased that Lucy has placed herself at the center of attention as usual, while Lucy is displeased that Delphine tries to deflect attention from her by interrupting. The girls trade insults, with Lucy targeting Delphine’s shame over her clothes and her fear that she won’t have a date for the dance.

Having no prospects for a date other than Ellis Carter, Delphine begins to think about Hirohito Woods, a boy on whom she had a crush in Oakland. She knows that it is impossible for Hirohito to sweep her off her feet by flying across the country to take her to the dance. Still, she cannot help but think about a fantasy in which that happens. She concludes that such fantasies are for little girls like Vonetta and Fern, but she still wants to call Hirohito. When she tries to force Vonetta and Fern to hand over some of her money from the savings jar so that she can make the call, the two team up and stop her. She overhears the girls chanting that they have “killed the giant. Like in ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’” (156). Delphine realizes that her sisters are allied against her just because she is older than they are.

Delphine’s 12th birthday arrives, and she finally feels older. She agrees to take her sisters to buy candy and is surprised by Vonetta’s reminder to save money so that they can go to the concert. Delphine looks at teen magazines, including one that has a small picture of the Jackson Five at the back. Fern and Vonetta stick up for their sister when the store owner threatens to make Delphine pay for the magazines she read. She responds by telling him that she will buy the magazines when there are Black people and Afros on the covers. She sees Ellis Carter watching her as she walks back home and does her best to make sure that he knows she is ignoring him.

One day at school, Mr. Mwile has the students divide into groups to discuss the upcoming presidential election, in which Republican Richard Nixon and Democrat Hubert Humphrey are the major candidates. In the scramble to get into groups, Delphine ends up with a girl named Rukia and the two people she least wants to work with: Danny the K (a boy who has bullied her in the past) and Ellis, who has been working up his nerve to ask her to the dance. Now, the other boys tease Ellis by calling him Elly May, a female character from the country music show Hee Haw. Rukia, who is Muslim, is uncomfortable when Danny the K makes anti-Muslim jokes about her.

Rukia suggests that the group focus on whether a woman has the skills to be president, an idea that both the boys and Delphine find unthinkable. Danny the K’s sexist jokes anger Delphine, and before she knows it, she finds herself in a battle of insults called “playing the dozens,” in which she and Danny the K trade “your mama” jokes. Danny the K’s jokes sting because they are all about Cecile’s absence. The verbal battle is so loud that everyone in the class stops talking, and Mr. Mwile gives Danny the K and Delphine detention.

Delphine serves her detention, after which the school sends home a detention note and calls Big Ma. Big Ma tells Delphine that if she keeps her mind on school, maybe one day she’ll have a respectable woman’s career like being a teacher. Big Ma ultimately sides with Delphine over the detention because she thinks that Delphine got in trouble for rejecting the idea of a woman being president, a change that Big Ma believes would be ridiculous and scandalous.

Big Ma approved of Martin Luther King’s efforts for change but now sees no hope that politicians will deliver on the change they preach, and her disillusionment extends to all Democrats. She is voting for the conservative Republican Richard Nixon because he promises to crack down on countercultural forces and because he looks presidential. Delphine disagrees with her grandmother’s political stance but knows better than to defy her by saying otherwise.

Marva Hendrix comes over for dinner that night, displeasing Big Ma, who gets into an argument with Pa about the matter. Delphine is surprised that Pa doesn’t back down as usual, and she is even more surprised to realize that she wants him to win the argument over Marva’s presence at the dinner table.

More disagreements break out during dinner. When Delphine tries to tell her family about getting detention because of the conversation over whether a woman can be president, Marva interjects to say that Delphine should be applauded for considering a woman for president. Marva reasons that if women were more involved in politics, there might be fewer wars like the one in Vietnam and greater attention to social issues. Marva is a volunteer working on the campaign of Shirley Chisholm, a groundbreaking politician who is a Black woman. The outspoken Angela Davis is a Black Panther who is Delphine’s idol. Pa believes that men bear the responsibility of supporting women and should therefore have the most political authority. Big Ma agrees with this statement but accuses Pa of not pushing back strongly enough against radical ideas like women presidents, especially when these ideas come from school. Delphine feels conflicted because she likes the idea of women in power but also wants Pa’s girlfriend out of her life.