65 pages • 2 hours read
The Heart of a Woman
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Chapters 5-8Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 5 Summary
As the SCLC office is stretched, Angelou takes a significant role in promoting the “Cabaret for Freedom” despite her limited practical and technical skills. She feels ambivalent about the extent to which the practical side of the civil rights campaign is in the hands of white activists, feeling they perpetuate racist stereotypes by encouraging to “sing and dance [their] way to freedom” (69).
The review is a huge success and leaves all those involved feeling buoyed up and optimistic. However, as the series of performances draw to a close, Angelou and the rest of the company find themselves faced with the same trials and struggles as before. Angelou is relieved to be offered a two-week contract singing at a new nightclub in Chicago. However, she is anxious about leaving Guy alone. Guy is eager to convince his mother that he is a “man,” capable of looking after himself. Eventually, Angelou arrives at the compromise that she will hire a housekeeper, Mrs. Tolman, who will come in every day to cook for Guy, look after the house, and keep an eye on the situation.
In Chicago, Angelou befriends the Clancy Brothers, an Irish group who are performing in the same venue. She reflects on the similarity of the experience and the sentiment in their songs: “If the words Negro and America were exchanged for shamrock and Irish, the song could be used to describe the situation in the United States” (74).
For a fortnight, Angelou alternates between rousing performances and passionate discussion on civil rights. Again, she is filled with hope and confidence that change is coming and that she will have a role to play.
However, a phone call from John Killens as she is waiting to pay her Chicago hotel bill abruptly pulls her back to more personal concerns. Having rejected the advances of the housekeeper’s grand-daughter, Susie, Guy has incurred the wrath of a local gang, the Savages, who recently murdered and defiled the corpse of another teenager. Guy is stubbornly nonchalant about the situation, as Killens advises Angelou against being too openly over-protective. Angelou reflects on the behavior of the Savages, observing that their nihilistic violence toward members of their own race stems from having grown up within a society which has successfully convinced them “that they were worthless, and that everyone who looked like them was equally without worth” (81).
Without her son’s knowledge, Angelou borrows a pistol and visits Mrs. Tolman’s house, where she finds the elderly Mrs. Tolman sitting with Susie’s mother who is nursing a new baby. She asks Susie to call her boyfriend, Jerry, who is the leader of the Savages. When she sees the boy she is struck by his youth: “The details of his face stopped and held me beyond my mission. His eyes were too young for hate. They glinted with promise” (83). Nonetheless, she proceeds to threaten Jerry that if anything happens to Guy, she will kill the whole family.
At the close of the chapter, the focus shifts back to Angelou’s growth as a writer, and we learn that she has had her first short story published in the Cuban magazine, Révolucion. Her friends at the Harlem Literary Guild organize a celebration in her honor.
Chapter 6 Summary
Angelou is summoned back to the headquarters of the SCLC, where she is surprised to be invited to replace Bayard Rustin as the organization’s coordinator. Initially, she is doubtful of her own abilities and afraid that she is being used to push Rustin out of his position (King was under pressure to distance himself from Rustin because of Ruskin’s former ties to the Communist Party USA), but she eventually agrees to take the post.
In the next part of the narrative, Angelou has fully taken up with her role and is surprised to find classes of white schoolchildren volunteering to help out in the office. She describes how fast Black and white society is changing and the huge impact of Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. Reproducing a dialogue between two anonymous speakers, Angelou introduces the divergence in the approach of these two leaders, which would become a core issue in the civil rights movement:
‘Man, that Martin Luther King. He’s not a man made of blood.’
‘He’s a fool. Love your enemies? Jesus Christ did that and you saw what happened to him.’
‘Yeah, they lynched him.’
‘Black people ought to be listening to Malcolm X. He’s got it right. Crackers are blue-eyed devils.’
‘I don’t go for that hate talk. Negroes ain’t got no time to be hating anybody. We got to get together’ (92).
Angelou doesn’t comment on the conversation but gives a clearer picture of her feelings in the next section, where she is surprised to find King himself waiting in her office. King is already a near legendary figure, and Angelou is surprised at his ordinariness: “[H]e had become just a young man asking a question of a young woman” (92-93).
King asks Angelou about her childhood in the South and smiles in recognition at their shared experiences. When he asks about her brother, Bailey, Angelou grows defensive, as she feels uncomfortable admitting that her brother is in prison. King responds with sadness and sympathy, observing that many young Black men end up acting out of desperation due to the relentless oppression to which they are subjected. He suggests that it is for “the Baileys of this world” that they are struggling and concludes that Bailey is somehow “freer than those who hold him behind bars” (93). This last argument leaves Angelou somewhat skeptical, as she has never known anyone to be redeemed by pain.
As he stands up to go, King comments on the important role being played by white volunteers in the movement, and Angelou wonders if he is trying to ingratiate himself with the white activists in the room. After his departure, she reflects on their encounter. She has always admired King but has harbored doubts about his optimism and universalism, but King’s genuine compassion for her brother has dispelled these reservations and opened her heart to him unconditionally.
The members of the Harlem Writers Guild are excited to learn that the Cuban delegation to the United States, led by Castro himself, has been turned out of a midtown hotel after being accused of keeping live chickens in their rooms for voodoo rituals. As a result, they have been offered alternative accommodation at the Teresa Hotel in Harlem. The Guild members hurry to the hotel to join the growing crowd of African Americans waiting to welcome the Cubans. A few days later, Khrushchev, the president of the USSR, visits the Cubans at the hotel. Angelou describes how many Black Americans take the Communist side in the Cold War because of their grievances against white Americans. Angelou is shocked to discover that Guy has skipped school to witness the event and volunteer in the SCLC office. When she confronts him, Guy responds coolly, resentful that she is challenging him in front of his friends. Associating his mother with the “olden days” and himself with “modern America,” he argues that, for a young Black man, this meeting of “powerful forces” against capitalism is of fundamental importance for his future and is something he “had to see” (97). Angelou is impressed with Guy’s self-possession and simply nods at him and gets back to work.
Together with Rosa Guy, Angelou sets up an organization of “talented black women” who will help all of the other civil rights groups with fund-raising.
Chapter 7 Summary
At the opening of the chapter, Angelou notes the growing discrepancy between her professional and political status and her social and personal life as an impoverished single mother to a teenager. Guy is increasingly absent in the evenings, so Angelou counters her loneliness by frequenting Tony’s Restaurant and Bar, where she befriends the barman. Here, she meets and begins a relationship with Thomas Allen, a divorced bail bondsman. The couple enjoys cooking together and has a satisfying sex life, but they have few interests in common and never really talk to each other. For Thomas, Angelou’s work for the SCLC is “just another job” (101).
After a meeting of the Harlem Writers Guild, Angelou is invited to bring Thomas to a late-night party. Before she has a chance to answer, one of the writers counters that Thomas would not be welcome at her house because bail bondsmen are “as bad as cops” (102). Angry at being challenged in public, Angelou blurts out that she and Thomas are engaged to be married. Angelou fantasizes about the comfortable, domestic life ahead of her. When Thomas plans the details of their honeymoon without consulting her, she stays positive and looks forward to the move, suppressing a “twinge” (103) of misgiving about her rash decision.
Chapter 8 Summary
While Angelou organizes a concert at Carnegie Hall, her colleagues at the SCLC and the Harlem Writers Guild have been enthusiastically following lectures by a South African freedom fighter, Vusumzi Make. Make speaks eloquently on Pan-Africanism, arguing that “the spirit of Africa” is “most vital” in Black America, since slavery stole away the continent’s “strongest sons and daughters” (106). African Americans can provide invaluable support to continental African freedom fighters because they have already learned firsthand that “the oppressor” is “a formidable but opposable foe” (106).
Angelou misses three lectures because of work commitments but accepts an invitation to meet Make at the Killens’s house in the evening. When she is finally introduced to Make, she is impressed with and attracted to him. Make, for his part, has asked the hosts if Angelou is married and wishes to “get to know” (107-08) her better. As Angelou listens to the other guests question Make, she finds his intelligence sexually attractive and wonders if he is flirting with her.
Make invites a question from Angelou. Flustered, she asks him whether Martin Luther King Jr.’s nonviolent approach could work in Africa. He responds in the negative, explaining that, whereas the US constitution should, at least theoretically, guarantee “liberty and justice for all” (109), in South Africa, Black Africans are written out of all of the legislation dealing with justice and fair play. Angelou learns that Make has already introduced himself to Guy and has taken the time to speak to him at length. At the end of the party, he asks for Guy’s permission to accompany his mother home. Angelou refuses but is favorably impressed because, with the exception of King, most of the politicians she has encountered have considered talking to children a waste of time.
Torn between her sense of propriety and her attraction to Make, Angelou eventually decides to attend a party the next night, where she knows the South African man will be present. That evening, Make tells her that he intends to take her back to Africa with him. Angelou insists that she intends to marry Thomas, and the next night, she accompanies Thomas to a movie. She finds the movie boring and walks out of the theater to sit in the lobby and smoke, thinking of all the political and cultural events she is missing. When Thomas follows her, asking what is wrong, she tries to explain the political significance of the United Nations meeting and her sense that they are missing out on a historic moment. Thomas’s response is brusque and dismissive. He denies any common cause between African Americans and Africans and refuses to engage in any kind of political dialogue, as he wants to separate his personal life from politics. This response devastates Angelou, and realizes that there will be no space for her own political beliefs in their marriage.
Angelou is conflicted and ends up avoiding both of her suitors, who continue to woo her with gifts: roses and bunches of flowers from Make, a record player and luggage from Allen. Make’s gifts make her feel “like a desirable courtesan” while she finds herself wondering whether Allen’s are stolen property.
Professional frustrations add to Angelou’s general confusion. Despite her hard work and success, two new men are hired to help her in coordinating the SCLC, and it is implied that she should report to them.
Chapters 5-8 Analysis
In Chapter 5, Angelou’s financial needs and quest for professional and personal fulfillment again enter into conflict with her desire to protect her son. The difficulty of raising a young Black man in a racist society is once again a core concern and highlights the theme of African American Motherhood. The fate of Angelou’s brother, Bailey, imprisoned for a petty crime, stands as a stark warning. The self-hating, destructive behavior of the Savages is similarly illustrative of the devastating effects that constant prejudice and oppression can have on young people. As a social activist, Angelou empathizes with the gang members and does not judge them. As a mother, her first duty is to her own son, and she goes to extreme lengths to protect him, even threatening a nursing mother and an elderly grandmother.
After she receives a guarantee from Jerry that Guy will not be bothered again, Angelou goes back to chatting with the elderly Mrs. Tolman, who seems unperturbed by the whole exchange. Throughout Angelou’s narrative, there is a kind of complicity between Black women, and especially Black mothers, borne of shared experiences and hardship. Angelou recognizes that Mrs. Tolman would share “her last biscuit” (72) if Angelou asked her to. This sense of Black motherhood as a community, characterized by mutual support and solidarity, is further reinforced through the warm support and advice which she receives from Grace Killens, and John Killens’s mother, Mom Willie (78). While, in general, Angelou is skeptical of white liberals, when the film star Shelley Winters justifies her support for King in terms of maternal duty, Angelou understands and respects her.
As she seeks to help Guy navigate his way into adulthood, Angelou repeatedly dwells on the relationship between youth, experience, and political responsibility. As Guy becomes politically active, he begins to draw a line between his own generation and that of his mother. There is certainly a degree of irony in the fact that a 15-year-old is preaching in this manner to his mother, who is only 32 and playing a leading role in one of the most important political campaigns in the world. Angelou encourages her son’s political engagement, but at the same time, Angelou is acutely aware of Guy’s vulnerability in the discriminatory political climate in which he is growing up. Nonetheless, as Killens argues, it is imperative that she leave him the space he needs to grow up into a man, since the white-dominated society is determined to belittle and infantilize African American youth: “Everything in this society is geared to keeping a Black boy from growing to manhood. You’ve got to let him try for himself” (79). Interestingly, when Angelou meets Martin Luther King Jr. in person, one of the first things she notes is his youth. Later, she compares him to a “good-looking school athlete” (93). Even the already legendary Martin Luther King Jr. is ultimately a fragile young man growing up in a racist world.
In her treatment of King and the SCLC in these chapters, Angelou begins to introduce some of the key debates arising in the civil rights movement: namely, the possibility of non-violent opposition, the relationship between Pan-Africanism and African American Identity, and the role of white activists. In the period during which Angelou’s narrative is set, responses to these issues increasingly polarized around the two figures of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. Angelou tends to report these conflicts through dialogue between anonymous speakers, as in Chapter 6. While she herself expresses some reservations about King’s optimism and Christian forgiveness, she is never partisan, and her overall tone is one of respectful awe.
While the political world of the civil rights movement is divided between Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X, Angelou’s personal affections are torn between her two suitors, Allen and Make, who also represent two alternative father figures for Guy. As always, Angelou’s personal dilemma mirrors the debates pervading the contemporary political landscape. Make is an African freedom fighter who espouses Pan-African ideologies while Allen is an African American who feels no connection to Africa. Make is actively fighting oppression while Allen, as a bail bondsman, is arguably complicit in the racist judicial system. For Angelou as a woman and mother, the two offer very different future prospects. Allen offers domesticity and security in the United States. Make offers a life of political activism and danger in Africa. Allen refuses to show any interest in Angelou’s professional or political development. Their relationship, centered on sex and cooking, rigorously partitions off the physical from the intellectual, favoring the former.
Make seems to offer Angelou a greater outlet for her political passions. However, the patriarchal structure of the relationship he is pursuing is already apparent in Chapter 8. When Make wants to accompany Angelou home, he asks for her son’s permission, not hers. As he states his intentions to Angelou, his focus remains on his own desires and intentions: “I intend to change your life. I’m going to take you to Africa” (115). With this statement, Make appears to consider Angelou as an object or accessory to his own political and personal agenda, rather than an agent in her own right.
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