Warrior Don’t Cry - R E A D I N G #6
Pages 183–226 (abridged)
Pages 262–312 (unabridged)
1. Why does Link feel responsible for Mrs. Healy? Why do you think his parents do not feel as responsible for her welfare?
2. How does Link’s relationship with Mrs. Healy affect his attitude toward African Americans?
3. How does racism shape Link’s friendship with Melba?
4. To what extent does Link take a stand against racism?
5. The people who attend the graduation applaud other graduates but are silent when Ernest receives his diploma. How do you explain their silence?
6. What does Ernest Green’s graduation from Central High School mean to African Americans in Little Rock? Why is it a matter of such concern to segregationists?
7. School officials tell the Greens that only members of their family can attend the graduation, but the family secretly arranges for two outsiders to attend: one is a reporter for a black newspaper and the other is Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Why do you think the family invites these two strangers to the graduation? Why do you think both choose to attend? What does their presence suggest about the effect the nine students have had on African Americans throughout the nation?
8. Why is Melba so committed to returning to the school in September? Melba writes that “the newspapers said Ernie’s diploma cost the taxpayers half a million dollars. Of course, we knew it cost all of us much more.” What does she mean by that statement?
9. Why do you think Melba comes to see her Central High experience as “a positive force that has shaped the course of my life”? How has it shaped her identity?
10. What experiences have been a positive force in your life? How have they shaped your identity?