The fantasized version of the dialogue that Maya concocts to salvage her family's pride expands the motif of hyperbole:
"When you get settled in your next place, you will be a vegetarian caring for dogs with the mange, cats with the cholera and cows with the epizootic."
". . . she waved her handkerchief at the nurse and turned her into a crocus sack of chicken feed." In Maya's mind, Grandmother Henderson looms all-powerful, even supernatural — capable of neutralizing the ugliness that exists in the real world. Maya concludes, "I was so proud of being her granddaughter and sure that some of her magic must have come down to me." The poignant truth is that, for all Annie Henderson's land ownership, shrewd business acumen, and philanthropy toward Stamps' citizens of both races and for all her bravado in facing up to Dr. Lincoln and his rude white nurse, the prevailing atmosphere of distrust, bigotry, and hatred prevents her from receiving her share of community respect and status. Living on society's fringe, she remains largely unacknowledged, except by her black neighbors, son, and grandchildren.
Angelou, a master of language, strengthens the historic significance of her autobiography with strict attention to detail. For example, her narrative features entertainment and trade names from the period. In addition to the list of popularized fictional characters, such as the Green Hornet, Mickey Mouse, the Katzenjammer Kids, and the Shadow, in this chapter she names "Milky Ways, Mounds, Mr. Goodbars and Hersheys with Almonds," "Mum and Cashmere Bouquet talcum powder," and "Greyhound." Likewise, Annie peppers her speech with the dialect common to southern blacks, as in "He tole that little snippity nurse of his'n," "I figger," and "I ain't gonna mess around in no niggah's mouth." These touches, like period relics, anchor the narrative in a time and place and provide the texture of verbal authenticity.
The maturity of her grandchildren puts an unfair burden on Annie Henderson. After Bailey's close encounter with the decayed corpse, she knows that he faces the "humorless puzzle of inequality and hate." Concealing her motives beneath her "African-bush secretiveness," Annie scrimps to accumulate enough money to return first Maya, then Bailey a month later, to California. The order of their going suggests that Momma worries more about the vulnerability of Maya than that of Bailey.
