Fire from the Rock

“All the colored folks I knew were angry and scared. If a teenager from Chicago could get lynched, what chance did we have here in Arkansas?”

Sylvia refers to the 1955 lynching death of 15-year-old Emmett Till in Mississippi. Emmett was visiting from Chicago when he was accused of flirting with a white woman in a grocery store. The woman’s father and brother tracked him down, beat him, shot him, and threw his body in the river. Sylvia is aware that this incident happened only two years earlier and resulted in the death of a teenager from the North. She wonders how her community will survive school integration in a Southern city when this is how white people treat a perceived racial transgressor. Throughout the novel, Sylvia introduces significant people and events from history that help to define this story as a work of realistic and historical fiction.

“She tells us all the time that we have to be better prepared than the white children so that we can compete for jobs and opportunities. She told us she refuses to send incompetent, unprepared Negroes into a world that expects us to mess up in the first place.”

Sylvia describes the philosophy of her teacher and mentor, Miss Washington. Miss Washington’s views illuminate the very real racist double-standard that awaits her students upon graduation. The notion of a double-standard, by which people of color have to work twice as hard for recognition or success in a white-dominated society, is openly discussed in the classroom and is part of how Miss Washington prepares her students for life beyond school.

“This is no job for a girl.”

This is Mr. Patterson’s response to hearing from Miss Washington that Sylvia has been nominated to integrate Central High School in the fall. Gary initially shares his father’s view. Gary also really wants to get named to the list of students to integrate Central High. Both men want to protect Sylvia from harm, but they underestimate the power of her intellect and courage in the face of injustice. Sexism and paternalism were daily realities for women of any race in 1957 America. In actuality, many brave trailblazers of the civil rights movement were women, such as Rosa Parks and Claudette Colvin.

“Sylvia couldn’t understand what grown-ups thought they saw in her. She sure didn’t see anything special.”

When Sylvia runs an errand for her mother, the owner of the flower shop, Miss Lillie, stuns her by telling she will change the world. Sylvia does not see herself this way. She is surrounded by television, magazines, and books that constantly remind her she will not amount to much. She does not see herself reflected in TV shows. When she sees Black women in magazines, they are very light-skinned and never professional. Even the encyclopedia depicts African Americans as underachieving, irritating, and undesirable. With such limited and biased representation, Sylvia will have to dig deep to find the courage to change the world.

“You and I think alike, Sylvia Faye. Do you think there will ever be a television program with a policewoman or a lady detective or lady doctor as the main character?”

Rachel also yearns for greater representation of women in the media. She and Sylvia note that Lucille Ball, a popular white comedienne of the time, primarily portrays a bumbling housewife in every episode of the TV show I Love Lucy. Both girls want to see women playing roles besides housewife, and Rachel wonders aloud for both of them. This example of shared oppression based on gender cuts across racial lines for Sylvia and Rachel and allows both girls to find solidarity and common ground in their own struggles with oppression.

“Yes, the article mentioned the accomplishments of Negroes like Harry Belafonte and Ralph Bunche and George Washington Carver, but it was obviously written by a white person who was describing my people the same way I would do a report on bugs!”

While trying to complete a research paper for school, Sylvia looks up “Negroes” in an encyclopedia only to find more disappointingly disrespectful representation. Even though the article mentions accomplished African Americans by name, it still treats Black people overall as underachieving, undesirable, and best kept at a distance—like bugs.

“I know. But you’ve got the brains and the personality to make it work. I’d end up burning the place down.”

Gary demonstrates some growth as he comes to the realization that Sylvia has some skills in combatting racism effectively. Typically approaching the solution to every problem with physical force, Gary now shows appreciation for a broad set of skills and talent to effectively fight injustice. He also realizes the limitations of his own short-tempered but passionate approach. This is significant growth for Gary given that he really wanted to be on that list of students who get to integrate Central. Gary’s maturity will end up being his saving grace when racial tensions run high in the weeks and months before the integration of Central High.

“‘Be proud! Be black! Be white! Don’t turn white on us! Stay with your own kind! Go to Central! Stay at Mann! Integrate! Segregate!’ It’s enough to drive anybody crazy.”

In a surprising act of solidarity, Gary stands up for Sylvia when she tries to pick a fight with her mother over dinner. Gary intervenes on her behalf and asks that her parents give her some space because she is dealing with the pressure of everyone’s opinions on school integration. In one short burst, Gary sums up those conflicting views.

“Sylvia’s mind reeled as she thought about kids her age being sold at auction, or being executed in a concentration camp, or being lynched like Emmett Till. And here she was, getting ready to volunteer to be persecuted for going to school. She shook her head.”

Sylvia is beginning to realize just how dangerous integrating Central might be for her. She reflects on how kids her age were sold at auction during slavery, killed in concentration camps in Europe, and lynched. As she begins to see the patterns of oppression and violence, she questions whether she should be volunteering to put herself in harm’s way. As reality sets in and sometimes overwhelms Sylvia, she knows she will need to make the final decision for herself.

“Why can’t things just stay like they are? We’re happy at school, and we don’t have to worry about bad people hurting us. What’s so great about being with white people anyway?”

DJ cuts through the rhetoric and tells it like it is. She focuses on how much she likes her current school and community, and she doesn’t understand why adults want to fix something that, in her mind, isn’t broken. Because she is only eight years old, DJ can ask the questions that anyone might be wondering but is afraid to ask. What DJ doesn’t yet understand is that white people have access to the best of everything in Little Rock, and the only way for African Americans to get this same access is to have the choice and right to attend the same schools as the white students do. There is not necessarily anything “great” about being with white people, but DJ and Sylvia should have the right to make their own decision on that point.

“We’d have to give y’all separate bathroom stalls if we let you use the toilets at all. Could you go all day without going to the bathroom?”

To add insult to injury, the school board requires Sylvia to attend an interview with a panel of white board members. Sylvia has no idea what to expect, and she is nervous. Instead of asking her about academic subjects or extracurricular activities, the board members focus their questions on demeaning topics that are designed to remind Sylvia that she will not be a part of the Central High School community. The questions are designed to discourage Sylvia and to make her feel like less than human. This question about the bathroom represents the level of insult and disrespect that Sylvia, and the other students on the list, must tolerate before they even get to the school itself.

“She’s Jewish. She doesn’t count. Do you have any real white friends?”

When one of the white school board members asked her if she had any white friends, Sylvia responds that she does, and she names Rachel Zucker. Much to her surprise, this is the response. The Zuckers are not quite white in the same way that the board members are. Sylvia learns in this moment that racism and discrimination are not simply about skin color. This is the first time she begins to realize that “race” is what historians and sociologists call a “social construction”: It only means what the group in power says it means. Rachel’s family is somewhere on the continuum of whiteness, because they can attend Central High, but not as white as the members of the board. Their Jewishness somehow makes them less white in the eyes of the white community in Little Rock.

“I believe in the goodness of people, sir, and the power of young folks like us to overcome what grown-ups like you might not be able to.”

This is Sylvia’s response to the school board when they ask her why she wants to integrate Central High in the fall. This question comes after a humiliating litany of insulting and racist questions and commentary that include reminding Sylvia that she would never be allowed to date white boys or attend any dance or after-school activities and that her parents would likely lose their jobs. Sylvia’s brilliant and savvy response safely identifies the challenge as a generational one rather than a racial one. By saying she believes in “the goodness of people,” she implies the positivity of integration. Sylvia also sets herself up as a representative of all “young folks like us,” regardless of race.

“Malice lurks in the heart of the unbeliever, child. Be careful.”

Mrs. Patterson consistently speaks in proverbs throughout the novel. This is one of many examples. The proverbs demonstrate her faith and allow her to impart parental advice. In this particular instance, Mrs. Patterson prophetically delivers this proverb right as Sylvia and DJ head off to catch the bus to the library. Despite being aware of heightened racial tensions, the girls get caught off guard when they try to return on the bus from the library and end up in a nasty encounter with racists Johnny Crandall and the Smith brothers.

“That’s what happens when your mother is a teacher!”

This is Sylvia’s response to DJ about why the girls love books and libraries so much. The fact that Mrs. Patterson is a school teacher is mentioned in passing three times in the book, and this is one of those times. The girls attribute their love of books and libraries to their mother, who values education very much. Mrs. Patterson not only manages the household, cooking, and raising of kids, but is also a full-time teacher who instills the love of education in her children. Mrs. Patterson exemplifies the value of education within the African American community and serves to counter stereotypes of the time that education is somehow not important in Black communities.

“They didn’t touch DJ, except to push her down, but she said she feels dirty. I know what she means. My sense of, I don’t know, my sense that the world is an okay place, is all messed up. I was so scared.”

When Sylvia and DJ are harassed by Johnny Crandall and the Smith brothers, they decide not to tell their parents because they don’t want them to worry. This incident affects the girls in profound ways, and Sylvia feels she must tell someone. The someone she chooses to tell is Reggie. When she talks with him on the phone that night, she confesses that the incident was very scary and has changed how she experiences the world. Unbeknownst to Sylvie, Reggie is so upset about this encounter that he pursues a violent and dangerous path of learning to build the bombs that eventually blow up the Zuckers’ grocery store and nearly kill Sylvia.

“It’s a good thing I like to write—it’s my way of letting out all that stuff without screaming. I want to hit something, hurt something! I want to break a window or smash in some ugly, yellow teeth! I want to cry.”

In this diary entry, Sylvia demonstrates that she is as angry as Gary about the racism they must fight every day. Sylvia has an outlet that allows her to express her feelings without putting herself in further danger. This is the difference between Sylvia and Gary. This is why Sylvia’s name makes the list and Gary’s doesn’t. Not unlike today, to be Black and angry can sometimes lead to more injustice and violence. Sylvia is angry but also hurt and sad. She feels powerless to change the behavior and attitudes of these racist white boys, and she grows increasingly concerned that she might encounter hallways and stairwells full of them at Central High.

“Why do you have to fight all the time? Isn’t it possible that integration can happen peacefully?”

Sylvia’s school announces that there are only 17 names left on the list of students to integrate Central High. Gary seems exceptionally upset, and Sylvia isn’t sure why. When his father confronts him about his anger and about the possibility of a peaceful integration, Gary become furious and storms out of the house. What Sylvia doesn’t know is that Reggie told Gary about how she and DJ got harassed at the library. For Gary, this behavior demands response. Mr. Patterson, on the other hand, believes that cooler heads must prevail. He also worries that Gary will end up getting killed like his own father, who also had a short fuse. Gary simply hears his father’s comment as more evidence of inaction.

“Sylvia, standing off to one side by herself and shaking uncontrollably, was having trouble comprehending the enormity of what was happening. This can’t be real, she thought, not here in stupid old Little Rock.”

Following the explosion at the grocery store and Sylvia’s brush with death, she gets overwhelmed at the very idea that such violence can happen in her community. She is in shock. Previously, she dismissed Gary getting beaten up and her own harassment as isolated incidents that were exceptions to the rule in Little Rock. Now she must confront the escalating violence as a pattern of racism resulting from the efforts to integrate the schools. Her neighborhood is no longer safe from the ugliness of the world, and on this day she nearly became a casualty herself.

“Yesterday I was a good girl who just wanted a boyfriend and a chance to make a difference in the world like everybody seems to think I ought to be doing. Today I’m a liar and a sinner and a criminal.”

Surviving the bombing of Zucker’s grocery store has forever changed Sylvia. This is a turning point for her because she knows she saw Reggie running through the store immediately after the bombing. She knows he is involved, but she does not say anything about this to her parents or to the police officers who interview her at the scene. She feels that what she is doing is wrong, but she wants to protect Reggie, and she wants to understand how he could leave her there to die in the rubble. As she reflects on this moment, Sylvia knows that she has lost her innocence and must now figure out what to do to make things right. She knows she must find Reggie.

“White folks expect the worst from us anyway. Don’t give them the satisfaction of being right.”

Reggie initially disappears after the bombing, but he shows up on Sylvia’s doorstep the next day looking ragged and requesting to speak with her. Sylvia listens to Reggie explain that he was aiming for the Crandalls’ shop but his aim was bad and he hit the Zuckers’ window instead. When he ran in to see if she was alright, he accidentally dropped the second bomb he was carrying. He says he will run far away until things die down, but Sylvia desperately wants him to confess. She does not want Reggie to validate the stereotypes that white people have about young Black men. She wants him to confess because it is the right thing to do, no matter what happens next.

“I want you to stand tall, walk with dignity, and feel the pride the whole community carries for you.”

Mrs. Patterson buys Sylvia a brand new “store-bought” dress for her first day of school. Sylvia is thrilled. Her mother tells her that she wants her to look and feel her best because she is representing their entire community when she walks through those doors, and her community is very proud of her. A little later, Sylvia will make the difficult decision to take her name off of the list, and she will feel guilty for letting her community down.

“I need what the colored school will give me for the next four years. I have to suck up as much pride and dignity as I can while it’s there for me. Integration will happen eventually, and we’re gonna lose something when it does—that feeling of being special when we walk in the school yard because it’s just us.”

Sylvia decides to pull her name off the list for all the right reasons. She thoughtfully explains that she wants to take full advantage of immersing herself in a supportive community for as long as she can. Insightfully, she knows that the integration of schools means she will lose this sacred space. She recognizes that choosing to attend Horace Mann High School will mean she is best prepared to face the harsh realities of racism in the years ahead.