Katie Nolan Timeline and Summary

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• Mama is a pretty twenty-nine year old woman with black hair, brown eyes, and quick hands. Her hands are cracked and red from working as a janitress cleaning three tenement houses, which she has to do because her husband is a drunk who she can’t depend on for rent money.
• As newlyweds, she and Johnny work together as night janitors in a school. They like the job and earn a pretty good wage.
• Katie gets pregnant and as soon as Francie is born, she is driven to make a good life for her kids. Three months later, she is pregnant with Neeley.
• Mama tries to overlook Papa’s increased drinking, but it is tough. At times, she doesn’t know why she even married him. In fact, Katie is so embarrassed by his behavior one time that they move. She finds a place where she can work as a janitress in exchange for paying rent.
• One time at a fair, she notices Sergeant McShane looking at her. Mama looks down at her worn hands and covers them up with her gloves.
• Mama sees Francie getting attacked by a sexual predator, gets Papa’s gun, and shoots him.
• She is taking on more work and Papa is in a full decline. He has gone missing.
• McShane tells her that Papa is gravely ill and in the hospital, and she rushes to his side where she stays until he dies shortly after.
• Katie struggles to find a way to keep Francie in grade school until grade school graduation.
• She decides not to have a midwife, and instead only uses her sisters to help her give birth to her daughter, Annie Laurie. She names her after one of Johnny’s favorite songs.
• Mama teaches Francie how to defend herself from nasty men on crowded trains who grope her.
• Mama makes the tough choice to only send Neeley to high school this year. She knows that if he doesn’t go now, he never will. On the other hand, she is confident that Francie will get back to school somehow
• Mama accepts a marriage proposal from Mr. McShane and agrees to let him adopt Annie Laurie