The Big Yellow House

Nanny’s Big Yellow House is the most significant place of the memoir in that most of Johnson’s life and memories center around Nanny’s home. Nanny’s Big Yellow House, located in Plainfield New Jersey, represents the gathering place for the entire family - and where many family members live, stay, party, and come and go throughout the memoir. They write, “to four little Black boys, the Big Yellow House was a palace and Nanny was the queen. It was the house that had space for every major holiday, birthday, and impromptu family visit” (10). At least four other family members lived in the house with Nanny at any given time of the memoir. This setting also represents the themes of Black joy and trauma, as Johnson both personally experiences both of these emotions and witnesses them. Johnson writes about the experiences of...