“You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing which you think you cannot do.” This quote by Eleanor Roosevelt says that to grow as a person, someone must first be scared. People also have to do what they think is impossible to grow. The Little Rock Nine, who integrated Central High, were scared for their lives every day of their high school experience at Central High. The ideas shown in this quote are expressed in the memoir Warriors Don’t Cry by Melba Patillo Beals. Melba Patillo Beals was a member of the Little Rock Nine. Beals highlights conflict and metaphor in her novel and displays examples of Eleanor Roosevelt’s beliefs in action.
In Warriors Don’t Cry, A
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Every day at school, Melba is forced to “look fear in the face” and “do things which she cannot do.” One day after school, Melba runs into Andy, and “he is going to kill her” (172). This quote shows conflict because Andy plans to attack Melba. This conflict between Andy and Melba is man vs man. When Melba runs into Andy, she is looking fear in the face because Andy might kill her. She afterwards borrows Links car to get away. This is something she thinks she cannot do because he is white and Melba is black and she believes he is a segregationist. At school “she knew to expect some kind of harassment” (148). This shows that at school, conflict happened every day with other students. After months of harassment, “only the warrior exists inside Melba now” (170). This shows that every day she goes to school and is attacked or harassed, she becomes more courageous, strong, and confident. Melba grew into a warrior who can “get hit across the back with a tennis racquet” and say “Thank you very much” to her attacker (170). Melba Beals Patillo’s high school experience describes perfectly how Eleanor Roosevelt’s quote is
Annotated Bibliography #3 Source A: "Eleanor Roosevelt." UXL Biographies. Detroit: UXL, 2003. Student Resources in Context. Web. 4 Feb. 2016.
Melba Pattilo Beals is an African American woman, who was born on December 7, 1941. Warriors Don’t Cry is was memoir of Beals’ encounter in the Civil Right Era. With memorable encounters with the Little Rock 9, who were a group of 9 African American students who were enrolled to Central High in Little Rock, Arkansas. Central High was an all-white school before the integration. Leading up to the integration, Beals’ childhood was extremely painful encounters, which no child should experience in their childhood.
Studies show that in 2011, 51.4 percent of black students in the Northeast attended schools where the student population was 90 percent to 100 percent minority? That means that more than half of the percent of black students attend schools that have mostly black students. In Warriors Don’t Cry, by Melba Pattillo Beals, Melba is a strong person because she listens to her elders, trusts in God, and endures physical and mental abuse. Overall, Melba was a strong person throughout the integration. Melba is a strong person, as shown in this quote, “One nigger down, eight to go” (Beals 220).
In the beginning of the story Melba didnt have alot of hope that attending Central was a good idea, because of all the riots and threats against her family. When Melba told her grandmother that she wanted to go back to Horace Mann she tells melba that nothing will change if she does. When Melba attends the court hearing on the integration case she tells reporters that she has every right to go to Central High School. Melba grows more hopeful in the story because she felt as if nothing good was going to come from going to Central but then she feels like she has the right to be
Being an upstander when someone is prejudged based on their appearance can impact their life. Looks can deceive people and change their perspective on who that person really is. People can prejudge as quick as the snap of a finger. In the book Warriors Don't Cry, the segregationists prejudged African Americans intelligence to the extent where the whites rioted against the integration of the school Central High. Shouting chants like “Two, Four, Six, Eight….
Courage is exemplified in the novel by, “They wanted a better life for my sister and me. My sister is running away to get lost, but I am running away because I want to find something.” (page:46) “You’ll be the first one to ever leave the reservation this way,” Mom said. (page:47) Junior attending Reardan an all-white school even though, he know want he would be known as traitor on the reservation.
Melba shares her story and what she did to overcome the intense obstacles that tried to prevent her from an equal education. Beals was interviewed about her memoir and is quoted saying "Until I am welcomed everywhere as an equal simply because I am human, I remain a warrior on a battlefield that I must not leave. I continue to be a warrior who does not cry but who instead takes action. If one person is denied equality, we are all denied equality. "
Eleanor Roosevelt is an inspiration for me, as a woman, and anyone who have felt the pressures of conforming to stand up strongly for their own personal beliefs despite societal limitations. Completely changing the role of the First Lady, Roosevelt actively promoted the careers of many women and encouraged them to enter the public life more. She became the protector of those most likely to be left on the margins– particularly women, African-Americans, and children- and fought for their rights. If Eleanor Roosevelt was alive today, I would ask what factors inspired her to persevere through harsh criticism, ridicule, and disapproval. From her dictating mother-in-law to parts of the American population, opposition for her battle against inequality
Eleanor Roosevelt had once stated “You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the think which you think you cannot do.” An interpretation of this is that the only way growth and courage can increase is when the time is taken to perform at the best state possible. This can occurs when there is a challenge which may or may not be extremely difficult, but you must push forward and come out ahead. The Little Rock nine had to endure going to school facing true hatred and constant denigrate each and everyday.
Fear can leave you petrified, but hope is the greatest strength that you can possess and hope will always overpower
Have you ever thought of what life would be like without guidance? In the book, The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor, Alyss is forced into this situation. This all stems from her aunt’s hunger for power as this is why her parents, the king and queen, are killed by Alyss’ aunt and why their heir, Alyss, is on the run. Led by her chief bodyguard, Hatter, she is thrown into a strange universe, but as they are transported through the pool, Hatter and Alyss are separated. The challenges that Alyss faces in The Looking Glass Wars are that nobody is there to guide her, her malicious aunt wants to kill her, and she is told she failed the maze.
These people are overcome by fear. They are afraid to continue moving forward and taking risks. The quote itself can be translated into, an everyday person does not want to be happy and ambitious. That person will settle with what will keep them alive. I agree with this quote for a few reasons.
In the book Warriors Don 't Cry, Melba and her friends integrate into Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. Melba and her friends experiences troubles as she tries to survive integration. Beals reveals a lot of things that would gives hint to things that we see ahead. The book mainly focuses on the south, light has been shed on events in the north around the same time when the Little Rock Nine (Bars) integrated. This essay will make inferences that show how people in the southern schools will continue to be ruthless and slow acceptance for the nine and for the north schools how whites will except African-Americans more.
Eleanor Roosevelt once said, “A woman is like a tea bag - you can’t tell how strong she is until you put her in hot water” (Eleanor Roosevelt Quotes). Roosevelt was raised in a luxurious penthouse in New York City, and she was expected to be like the usual elegant woman who lived a life of going to tea parties and living at the top of society. This completely changed when her husband became president making her the First Lady of The United States. Normally first ladies just had to be married to the president and they didn’t have much of a say in anything, but Roosevelt was a bold and courageous woman who changed all of these stereotypical views. She not only spoke out, but she worked to help others in need during times of despair.
Eleanor Roosevelt claimed, “You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing you think you cannot do.” I learned this lesson fairly early on when one day in my eighth grade year I was called to the principal’s office and informed that I was chosen to give an informative tour of the school to the entire Fayette County school board. I was told that everyone from the county office was coming the following week to hear about how the new technology was being utilized in the classroom. I was terrified and had nightmares for a week.