A recurring theme in this book is racial conflict. It began with Rosaleen defending herself and insulting the white men who taunted her, and she showed bravery and courage in the face of grave danger to her life. In this sequence on page 178, Zach is not the perpetrator, but he stands strong with his friends against the assault of the white men.
The author describes the scene in great detail. A phrase that stood out to me in the beginning paragraph is, “…stared at the boys with that same half smile, half sneer I had seen on T. Ray’s face a thousand times, the sort of look conjured from power without benefit of love,…” I think this phrase sums up Lily’s feelings about white people at this point. She has not known many white people who seem to have a heart toward anyone without their same skin color. I think her teacher is the only white woman to have shown her any care or mercy. She mentions that this look is one that has been on her father’s face toward her, and she knows what he does after, and so she is afraid for Zach and his friends. She has found that on the other hand, African-Americans seem to be more accepting of people with different skin tone.
After the bottle is thrown and the man that was hit walks into a store, the remaining white men cross the street to terrorize the boys. Like Rosaleen, they silently stand together and stand up for each other, supporting the one who threw the bottle. Also like with Rosaleen, Lily wishes that Zach would tell the truth and apologize to the white men so that he can stay safe. Zach stands with his friends, showing strength of conviction, just like Rosaleen did.
“He chose to stand there and be one of them.” I don’t think Lily was saying this as a racist that Zach chose to be with the African-Americans, but that he chose to stand there and be a part of what his friends were doing, to stand up for himself and his race. She worries about him the way she worried about Rosaleen.
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