Authors often use cause and effect scenarios in a text to build on an overall theme. Identify one moment of your text that has had a drastic impact on the characters or plot. How did this moment affect your reading? Why do you think that the author included this moment in the text?
I’m thinking about the incident with the milk on pages 101-103. The store owner was described as a white man who “did not seem to like black children” and sold James some spoiled milk. The mom insisted that he go return it and get her money back. She decided to go herself, and McBride states, “Right away they were at each other, I mean really going at it… After a while it was clear the man was not going to return her money”(102). This incident really shows me how the characters are being treated based on their skin tone. It affected me in a way because the little black boy needed to get milk from his family and the white store clerk was rude because they were different skin tones. It also amazed me that even though the white mother came into his store to get her money back and stand up for herself, he still didn’t budge with the money. I think the author included this segment to really show us readers the unnecessary black vs. white harassment in that time period.
ReplyDeleteHow did this really draw your attention and make you feel for the the little black boy? It is one this to read about racial issues, it is another to really put yourself in their shoes and see how you would feel. I only ask this because you had said how it had affected you, but I really feel as if you more so describe how it affected him. Talk more about you and how when you read this you felt... and so on.
Deletethanks for clarifying. but yes it made me feel very sad and I felt empathy for him. I felt how the mom could be annoyed and I know that I wouldn't want to go through the same situation. Back to how I feel, I feel privileged that in my lifetime I don't necessarily have to deal with racial issues.
DeleteI had also had this part of the story in mind Tia. James had went out to buy his family milk with money that his family could not waste and the fact that it was spoiled and they were treated so poorly was awfully wrong. I could only assume that if a white male/female had returned the spoiled jug then the clerk wouldn’t hesitate to swap it out. I think it’s sad that black people were separated this way because I could only imagine how it would be if the roles of colors had switched and what kind of life that would be.
DeleteI can agree on how this part of the book made you feel because I feel as if things like this still happen with people around the world. People still think that black people are not as important as white people and even though James mother is white, he still saw the little black boy and didn't want to give the money back.
DeleteA drastic event that has impacted Ruth’s life and has complicated her relationships between her and her family is how she was sexually assaulted by her father when she was younger. I have noticed that throughout the entire novel so far, she is not very honest and open with her family. An example of this is on page 50 when Ruth is crying in church and James asks her why. After that conversation, James says “happy people did not seem to cry like she did. Mommy’s tears seemed to come from somewhere else, a place far away, a place inside her she never let any of us children visit, and even as a boy, I felt there was pain behind them”. In this moment of my reading I stopped and sat there for a minute wondering if Ruth was crying because of what had happened to her, and if because of her father, could this be why she would not tell her kids much about her past. This moment also made me think about the powerful feelings that come from loving, praising and living by God. I feel as if the author included this in the book to showcase that there is tough spots in everyone's lives, but only the strong ones make it out stronger than when they went in. I also think the author included this because it shows how she hid her past from her kids. She would rather act happy and refuse to let her kids into her past rather than tell the truth and be honest with her kids. One question I still have is, does hiding her past from her kids and lying to them everytime they ask her about her past help her cope with the situation or is it just one of her her ways of protecting her children? Why?
ReplyDeleteI agree with basically everything you stated. A big thing that our book club as a group has been talking about is why the real reason Ruth hides her past from her parents. Think about the part where it is to protect her children, like do they really need to know that she was sexually abused by her own father? I think she’s smart enough to tell them only what they need to know.
DeleteI totally agree with how she doesn't need to tell them she was sexually assaulted by her father, but I do not think she shares with them everything they need to know. I feel like there is much more from her past that she has not told her children that could be valuable life advice or lessons for them. I just feel as if she may be hiding too much.
DeleteIn the last book club we all talked about maybe why Ruth wasn’t always honest and tried to hide certain things from her children. I had thought that it was because of the segregation she lived through and the constant hate crimes put on her culture causing her to protect her kids from knowing what she went through. Now knowing that it was because of her father it started to kind of come together. Knowing this I feel that it could be a post traumatic stress problem because of her experiences. Ruth is so focused on giving all 12 children a decent life that maybe she just isn’t focusing on herself enough. James notices that she isn’t a happy woman and would do what he could to help but the problem is he doesn’t know how to, Ruth needs to start being honest with the people that love her.
DeleteI agreed with everything you said, but I believe that Ruth is hiding her past because she wants to keep her children out of it and not have them worry about her and what has happened. She wants her kids to think that she is fine on her own but she really isn't and hiding in all of her emotions just make it worse.
DeleteA drastic moment that has impacted the characters in the book and myself is when James realizes his mom is crying at church and she said it was because she was happy but then he noticed that her tears come from a different place, a darker place, a place far away (50-51). I thought it was a drastic moment in their life because James then knew that his mother was in some sort of pain and that put him in pain and then felt bad for his mother. I don't think James knows why she's in so much pain, but that is also because she won't tell him anything about her past. It impacted me because it finally showed her true side, even though it wasn't for very long, she showed what she truly felt around her son.
ReplyDelete