Perspective

The perspective of the author in "Warriors Don't Cry" is that of one of the nine students who suffered greatly in order to have integration in schools in Arkansas in the 1950s. While many tales have been written about this time, there are none that can truly explore and depict what happened during that time, the emotions the experience brought, or the price the students paid, more than someone who was in the thick of it.

Melba Pattillo Beals started to write "Warriors Don't Cry" when she was eighteen but discovered that the wounds were still too fresh and too painful to face. Years later, the wounds were still there but had begun to ease and the pain wasn't as severe. The chronology of the book is accurate, having been derived from the author's diaries, newspaper clippings, and the memories of those involved. The words of a teenage...