Chapters 7 & 8 Summary and Analysis

Chapters seven and eight highlight Ruth's experiences with civil rights during the 1960s. In Serafina, Ruth arrives at the University of Michigan all alone, to meet her roommate from Detroit. Serafina's parents are originally from Guyana and are of French and Indian heritage. Serafina has straight, shiny black hair and light brown skin. When Mom finally meets Serafina, she is shocked that Ruth's roommate is "negro." Ruth assures her mother that Serafina is not. The two girls become best friends and roommates throughout college. Both girls love to cook, with Serafina making spicy curries and delicious coconut bread from her mother's recipe.

Serafina's is thrilled when her boyfriend Rob gives her his fraternity pin to wear during their first year of college. Rob's fraternity brothers resent it, because it means that a non-white girl is symbolically part of the fraternity. Rob...