Summary

Chapters 2, 3, and 4 delve into Dixie and Mama’s individual histories, as well as the development of their tumultuous relationship. Chapter 2 starts by going back in time to 1966, when Dixie was eight years old. One Saturday morning Mama is agitated and Dixie decides to stand up to her. Mama responds by shaking Dixie and slapping her in the face so hard her mouth bleeds and her face bruises. When her father returns home from work, Dixie immediately tells her father “Mama socked me in the face” (52). Daddy instantly becomes furious and beats Mama while the children play outside in the yard. Later that night, Dixie overhears Mama and Daddy arguing and her mother lies about what happened with Dixie.

A few days after Mama hits Dixie, Mama and Daddy take the children to Daddys’ parents home and the reader meets Granny and Grandpa Dupree...