Passage Analysis

“Don’t you dare even say that girl; curiosity gets a body in a whole lot of trouble. Be patient,” Grandma commanded once more as she smiled at me. “Be patient, and one day, God willing you’ll see inside that school, I promise” (21). This quote is said by Grandma India, she is trying to tell Melba that if she is patient she will one day get to enter inside Central High an All-white high school. Grandma India knows that if you just take your time and not try to rush everything eventually you will get what you want.

 

This quote is important because it demonstrates foreshadowing and flashback. It shows foreshadowing because later on in the novel Melba gets the opportunity to integrate into Central High School and see what it is like to go inside that school. This quote also demonstrates flashback because one day Melba was walking home and it was the first day that the community got word that white schools would integrate with black schools and her teacher had told her to walk home in a group of friends but melba didn’t do that and walked alone on a vacant block and then a segregationists walked up and tried to harass her and then she started to run away and he jumped on her and tried to rape her but she got away. Melba wasn’t being patient and didn’t wait for a group of friends and walked by herself and she wanted to be curious by walking in the vacant lot by herself. I think that this quote is important because it relates to all parts of her life.