The Hundred Penny Box by Sharon Bell Mathis

First published: 1975; illustrated

Type of work: Domestic realism

Themes: Family

Time of work: Contemporary

Recommended Ages: 10-13

Locale: An urban household

Principal Characters:

• Michael, the only child of John and Ruth Jefferson, who is pleased to share his bedroom with Aunt Dew and is resourceful, direct, and compassionate, and an absolute defender of Aunt Dew and her few antiquated possessions
• Dewbet Thomas, a one-hundred-year-old physically and mentally fragile black matriarch, who has been brought to live out her life with her great-nephew John and his family
• Ruth Jefferson, Michael’s mother, a proud urban homemaker, practical, unsympathetic, and insensitive to the needs of her elderly in-law
• John Jefferson, Michael’s father, who mistakenly assumes that the deep love, affection, and indebtedness he feels for his great-aunt Dew are shared by his wife

The Story

The timeless events of this intergenerational story occur within the span of a single day. Michael wishes Aunt Dew would finish singing the long, long song of “Precious Lord” and play with him. Aunt Dew, however, will not deviate from the almost ritualistic drama of their daily visits. “I am weak, I am worn,” she sings. Drawn to the “wacky-dacky box with the top broken,” Michael considers counting the pennies without her, sadly realizing “there was no way to stop Aunt Dew once she started singing that long song.” Michael also understood fully that, without Dewbet’s attention, there would be no intermittent questioning as to the meaning of a given penny, and no accompanying story when Michael obligingly answers, “No, you tell me, again.” Tired of waiting, Michael takes the box to the kitchen, where his mother is working.

Momma Ruth, resentful and jealous of the intrusion Aunt Dew’s presence has caused, notices Michael, silent and sullen. Seeing the ratty old coin box in his arms, Ruth is reminded of her intention to replace Aunt Dew’s Hundred Penny Box with a more seemly container. Under Momma Ruth’s scrutiny, Michael is fearful that the most precious Hundred Penny Box might also fall to the zealous and relentless drive Momma has to sanitize everything about Aunt Dew. Michael wishes he had not removed the penny box from the safety of Aunt Dew’s room.

Though Michael has repeatedly conspired with Aunt Dew to salvage some treasured possession from the furnace incinerator, the Hundred Penny Box is special, not only to Michael but also to Aunt Dew. Michael, whose thinking is guided by the innocence of his love and the uncompromising respect he has for his great-great aunt, is not sure his Momma thinks about how Aunt Dew feels. Michael’s insistence that his Momma not burn the box frustrates Ruth. Her willingness to allow Michael to return the box to Aunt Dew’s room is clearly a temporary reprieve.

Michael is not sure how he will convince Momma to spare the old coin box. Whatever he does, he knows it must be easier than trying to persuade Aunt Dew to hide the coin box so that Momma will not see it. Aunt Dew, drifting between quiet senility and feisty alertness, is firm in her assertion that she will not be separated from her Hundred Penny Box. According to Aunt Dew, she and the box are one, “Them’s my years in that box. Anybody takes my hundred penny box, takes me.”

Michael only knows for certain that each penny, given by Dewbet’s late husband Henry on her birthdays, is tied to the rich heritage of family, friends, and special experiences Dewbet has witnessed. Dewbet insists that the pennies are proof of the hundred years she has lived. Dewbet will not consider allowing Michael to hide her box. “I got to keep looking at my box and when I don’t see my box I won’t see me neither.”

When Michael finally gets Aunt Dew to recall the stories he so loves to hear as he counts the pennies in the coin box, their game is interrupted by Ruth, opening the window for fresh air. It is time, she announces, for Aunt Dew’s afternoon nap. In spite of Michael’s tearful insistence that they were just getting started, and Dewbet’s protestation, “I got a long time to sleep and I ain’t ready now,” Momma Ruth does not waver in her insistence that Aunt Dew take a nap.

Michael sneaks back later to find Aunt Dew wide awake but with silent tears on her cheeks. Giving Aunt Dew a hug, Michael is apologetic about his momma’s meanness, he realizes somehow that Momma’s zeal, purportedly to help Aunt Dew adapt to her new surroundings, is motivated by indifference and a lack of respect for Aunt Dew as a person.

Context

As a part of a continuing effort to present readers with different aspects of the black experience, Sharon Mathis makes a personal statement about the cultural history of African Americans and the impact that ethnicity denied, devalued, or deleted has on each generation.

With the exception of her biographical works, The Hundred Penny Box represents a different approach to Mathis’ continuum of writings about African Americans. The abbreviated length permits an intensity that allows the efficacy of intergenerational conflict to emerge. Young people will identify with the internal struggle that Michael feels as he not-quite-openly defies his mother to protect the vulnerability of Aunt Dew. Mathis does not provide answers but lays bare the plight of the elderly, uprooted from familiar surroundings. The question of adjustment takes on a different perspective as readers reflect upon the reward/punishment mode that society inflicts upon the elderly in their waning years.

In The Hundred Penny Box, Mathis is able to draw upon the experiential social history of a people and to hold these sketches up to the light, recognition, and affirmation. The author provides important opportunities for readers to assess ways in which value, honor, and esteem of the elderly is demonstrated in modern society. The issue of the elderly, trapped in intergenerational conflict, is without ethnic boundaries. The universality of this story and its message have audience appeal that reaches beyond age and racial, social, or economic identification.

This slice-of-life narrative juxtaposes the open, accepting nature of children and the condescending practicality of adults next to the quiet wisdom, patience, and fragility that is so often found in the elderly. The unabashed honesty, trust, and loyalty peculiar to the very young and the elderly have been skillfully portrayed in The Hundred Penny Box. The strength of Mathis’ writing lies in her characterizations, the universality of the theme, and the ability to present an engaging story with multilevel meanings. These features not only validate the Newbery honor designation that The Hundred Penny Box won at publication but also place the title in the highest category of fine character studies written for young people.