Chapters 8 and 9:

Key Issues/ Quotes

Solomon Bradley educated, a very different childhood and education
from Cassie, worldly-wise, successful but still giving back to the
community
-He is the paper, she said. He owns it.
-That man got too many women as it is running after him
-Amherst was a white town, so I went to a white school. My father owned
a store there, and my mother was a teacher. All while I was growing up
just everybody I knew and associated with was white. It wasnt a bad life.
-Sometimes it was lonely, but I got a good education. It was good enough
to get me accepted into Harvard.
-The truth of the matter is that I use my knowledge of the law to further
my business interests. I also use my knowledge of the law to advise
people who come to me on a personal basis, not as clients, butwho want
some advice from a knowledgeable source. I dont charge them for any
advice I might give.
-Lot of black folks didnt much go in for settling matters in court. They
figured the courts belonged to the white folks.
-symbol of hope and success shows what colored people are capable of if
given the opportunity to make a better life for themselves: Solomon made
good use of the opportunity for an education despite his loneliness being a
Negro in a white school. After graduation, he did well enough to enter the
prestigious Harvard Law School, eventually becoming a lawyer. In the
midst of his court case, he identified the need to educate colored folks
about the law. When giving out flyers and holding speeches, he saw the
opportunity to reach out to the masses through a newspaper and hence,
his newspaper was born. Through Solomons example, Taylor also
emphasizes the need for education. Solomon even went on to set up
Memphis Valley Enterprises, eventually owning the building his newspaper
office and apartment are in. It is likely that the cleaners and the garage
were owned or partly owned by him, or were set up with his help because
he was able to arrange for Cassies clothes to be cleaned and Staceys car
to be repaired on Sunday when stores were closed. He was even able to
get Moe a ticket to Chicago when it seemed virtually impossible to do so.
Taylor shows how the willingness to work hard, when coupled with
opportunity, reaps success. He is all the more admirable because he could
have stayed in Massachusetts instead of Memphis, which is far less
developed. That he did so is testament to his desire to help his people

through the opportunities he had been given.

- a ladies man, very popular with ladies. Mag warns Cassie against being
attracted to Solomon: the last thing you want to do is get your mind
set on Solomon Bradley. That man got too many women as it is running
after him, and they got a whole lot more experience on how to get him
than you do.
Implications of the War (Perceptions and Attitudes)
-we best prepare ourselves to fight overseas and on the homefront too.
For jobsfor spoils of waror what this war could mean to us.
(Solomon)
-I was a man, I sure wouldnt, not until I got called, and then Id be trying
to figure a way not to go. (Cassie to Mort)
-So what happens if we win? What difference would it make to us? I
mean, if we win, are we going to be able to do everything the white folks
can do then? We going to be able to use their restrooms in a gas station or
eat in their cafes or sleep in their hotels or go to their hospitals? We going
to be able to do any of that?
-Cassie is unable to look beyond her personal experience of racism and
discrimination to consider how the war could bring changes to the country,
changes from which colored people could benefit. She represents those
who are sceptical about the prospects of the colored community in a
country dominated by whites in every way socially, economically,
politically.
Strong Sense of Community among the Blacks
-Youre welcome to stay hereIll see you get a train out. (Solomon
Bradley) In addition he arranged for the Staceys car to be fixed, allowed
them to use his phone to contact Uncle Hammer and showed kind
hospitality to everyone even though he was not acquainted with all of
them.
-Ma Dessie taking care of Clarence even in death, respect for life as well as
the dead, He looked soldier-perfect. His clothes were newly-pressedhis
face looked as fresh-washed as a newborn babes.
-saw it as divine appointment for Clarence to be with them so that he
could be taken care of in his last hours: The Lord done brung yall here,
said Ma Dessie. Now, the Lord done worked his will.

Cassie and Solomon (Romantic crush for an older, more successful

and worldlier man)
-I was Cinderella and he was my Memphis Prince.

- Solomon plays a part in Cassies growth as a young woman he is her

Prince Charming: a handsome, well-dressed, well-educated man comes
from a world that is very different from hers.
He sweeps her off her feet in a dance that makes her forget about the
world at war and Moe being in trouble, turning her world into a
dream.
Her first taste of romance first dance with a man, first kiss.
All I could think about was Solomon Bradley. Being crazy the way she
described of Sissy when Sissy told her the way she felt about Clarence.
Cassie and Moe (Friendship and comfort in a shared childhood and
journey.)
-I felt bad that he had seen me with Solomon. Moe cared something
special for me, and I didnt want that to change.
-he was my friend, and that was a good feeling too. I didnt want to lose
that.
-maybe make plans for getting married. I wanted to get to be
somebody first.
-I promise you Cassie, Im gonna make something of myself, spite all
this. Ill make you proud, I promise you. Youll see. Ill make you proud.
Clarence A sense of loss
-that boys dead The night blackened and nothing was the same.
-that boy, he aint got no war to fight now. He got no war to fight.
- no more fighting with Sissy either.
- irony: Cassie joked about how if a war breaks out and he has to fight, he
might end up being buried in one (a uniform) (65). When he dies, he is
dressed in his uniform which Ma Dessie cleaned and put back on him.
(265)
Chapter 9
The Road to Memphis The journey has ended but has it come full
circle (Change? Resolution?)
-Nothing had changed in town during our short few days away, though I
supposed, because so much in our lives had changed, that it would be
changed too.
-everything was the same as before we had left, and that seemed strange
to me, for our lives had changed so that they would never be the same
again.
-All I knew was that people who had always been a part of my life, people
I loved and that included Jeremy Simms were leaving, and some were

not coming back. All I knew was that my brother soon would be leaving,
too, and that I was fearful of what was to come.
-The night passed.
The morning came.
Stacey left.
We did not see Jeremy Simms again.
Racism and Injustice
-Any one of yall believe the word of a nigger and go question my boy,
they aint no friend of mine.
-He (Sheriff Dobbs) said he got no choice but to believe what I was
saying, that I aint knowd Moe was on the truck. Said it was too hard not
to believe me. Sides, only folks in jail are Negroes and he said he
couldnt stand to put me in side of them.
-inconceivable for white community to think that one of them could have
betrayed them by helping a colored person escape, one who had hurt
white men.
Friendship (and Betrayal)
-If I denied I knew about Jeremy, these men would take Harris away. I
would make an enemy of Sissy by not telling the truth, and I would betray
Jeremy if I did.
-I looked at Jeremy, saw the awful fear in his eyes, then looked at Stacey,
who saw my fear and stepped forward. Sheriff he started, but then
Jeremy spoke up and cut him off.
-Im sorry bout this whole mess. (Stacey to Jeremy)
-You got no cause. Wasnt never your faultI aint had to do itSides, it
was what was right, and I aint sorry. (Jeremy)
-He gripped Jeremys hand once more and this time the handshake was
like an embrace.
-Well be thinking on you and all you done. (Stacey to Jeremy)
-You ever play that ole wind pipe I made, you think of me, hear?
-I wanted to run down and hug him too, but something kept me from it,
that same something that had always stood between us.
- We hadnt always understood Jeremy Simms, and I had often wondered
if he even understood himself. He had made us uncomfortable with his
presence and his offer of friendship, and we had hated him for his
betrayal, yet now his leaving tugged at my heart.
Jeremy Simms (A tragic figure, alone in the world)
-Charlie Simms set a dead-eyed stare on his sonGet outa my sight.
Dont know where you got it from, but you always was a nigger lover.

Never thought Id live to see the day I said that bout my own flesh, bout
my own son, but its so. I done tried to beat it outa you since you was
knee-high, done tried to make ya see right, but you jus had t be round
niggers. Well, ya mights well be one your ownself, cause you aint white
no more. Not after what you gone and done gainst your own kin. Your
own blood boy!
-Dont you never again let me see you in this life, boy. Cant stand the
sight of ya.
-I shivered, feeling Jeremys pain, feeling the stabbing jabs of his fathers
anger, for the chill of that anger and that hate was enough to arouse
the devil.
-But, Pa- (Jeremy is humiliated and we sympathise even further as we
see him plead and beg for forgiveness)
-Jeremy is disowned in the most tragic and humiliating circumstances and
is refused care for his injuries. Fars Im concerned, he got no ma, no pa
neither. He got no family nowBut me and mine, we got no further use
for him.
-The irony here is that it is the Sheriff (a stranger) that has to stop his own
father from brutally injuring him, Sheriff Dobbs (not Jeremys fathet) who
believes Jeremys explanation that he did not know Moe was in the back
of the truck and Sheriff Dobbs who take sJeremy away to receive aid for
his wounds (inflicted by his own father).
-Me and my family, you know we done had a parting of ways long time
ago. Onliest one Im feeling sorry bout is my ma. Wanted to see her fore
I go, wanted to see her real bad.
-Then Jeremy held up his hand in a final farewell, turned and walked
away into the misty nighthe looked such a lonely figure, but then again,
he always had.
-Jeremy. You think hes gone for good. (Cassie to Stacey)
-ending of Ch 3 a foreshadowing of Jeremys final journey.