The Gold Cadillac

When the family reaches Kentucky on their trip South, Daddy’s adamant instruction to ’lois and Wilma that they do not speak in interactions with white people is the girls’ first introduction to the differences between life in the South and life in the North. In her community and among her family, ’lois has been completely free in her speech. She exuberantly shares the news of the car with family and friends (11), she chides her mother that she ought to be “nice to Daddy” about the purchase (18), and she asks her father questions when she doesn’t understand the “white only” signs (29-30). Several times, Taylor depicts the two sisters speaking as one, signifying their bond and childlike excitement (e.g., 11, 16, 29). ’Lois can’t understand that a Black child could complicate her family’s situation or endanger them, but she and Wilma obediently answer, “Yes, sir” (29). That Daddy must deliver this warning to the girls highlights the implicit threat of violence that Black families in the South faced in even the simplest interactions among white people during this era; it also is evidence that those implicit threats, tacitly supported by Jim Crow laws and by other expressions of racism built into the structure of Southern institutions, effectively silenced and controlled Black Americans. Being one’s true self simply is not an option for ’lois, Wilma, or even their parents.

Much of the narration of the conflict in The Gold Cadillac revolves around ’lois and her feelings of apprehension and fear when she is outside of her normal community. Her experiences on the road trip are traumatic: She watches her father get searched and arrested, he is placed in the back of a police car, another officer drives their Cadillac to the police station, and she has to wait with her mother and Wilma for more than three hours as they wait for Wilbert to be released. Finally, she experiences being followed by police once they are on their way and sleeps in the car in a strange place before arriving safely at her grandparent’s farm. In each moment, ’lois narrates her feelings to the reader, describing her fear and her desire to make it through the events without incident. Through these descriptions, Taylor portrays one possible way that children navigate trauma. Rather than reacting in the moment, ’lois internalizes her fear to make sense of it. When the family spends the night in the car, ’lois pulls a large knife from the picnic basket so she can protect her family “in case the police came back and tried to take [her] father away again” (35). In this pivotal moment, ’lois acts independently, without including Wilma or speaking to her parents first. ’Lois, feeling responsible for the safety of her family, has lost her innocence and taken a step toward adulthood as she grapples with the reality of the day’s trauma. In the conclusion of the novel, ’lois describes how this particular memory would stay with her throughout her life. As in her other novels, Taylor crafts a story that shows the long-term impact that racism and other trauma can have on young people.

As in other young adult novels by Mildred D. Taylor, The Gold Cadillac is partly about the ways young people establish independence and a sense of responsibility as they get older. This is both characteristic of the genre and illustrated, in particular, through ’lois’s growth as she goes through the difficult experiences described in this second half of the story. ’Lois begins to develop an understanding of the world that is based not only on what her father and mother tell her but also on her own observations and experiences. She starts to be more independent of Wilma, speaking in unison with her less and focusing more on her own thoughts and actions as the novel moves towards a resolution. This kind of change is developmentally appropriate for children as they move into adulthood and is a common component of books written for younger audiences.

Throughout The Gold Cadillac, as implied by the title, status symbols remain a focus of many of the characters. While ’lois’s father initially drives the conflict by purchasing the gold Cadillac, ’lois and her sister, as well as members of their community, show great interest and excitement about it. As the novel moves toward the resolution, the meaning of the Cadillac becomes complicated. Rather than remaining a positive status symbol, the car comes to represent the complex and oppressive societal systems around ’lois. The car is what draws the racist ire of the policemen in Mississippi, and the family is only able to navigate the state safely when they switch to a more modest vehicle. As a result, ’lois internalizes messages about how families like hers are devalued by some white people and has complicated emotions in the concluding scenes about what this means for her. Since ’lois is young, the story is an important portrayal of how children and adolescents might internalize messages from oppressive interactions. ’Lois feels her family should be able to have the Cadillac, yet simultaneously learns that they cannot have it if they want to be safe and together. Taylor doesn’t fully resolve this conflict for the reader, posing it almost as a concluding question at the end of the novel.