Chapters 25-26 Summary and Analysis

In chapter 25, the black girls began calling each other stepsister as a term of affection, a term of inclusion. However, Claire was not among those referred to as stepsister. The only reason Mrs. Paley could see for Claire's exclusion was that she was not of the same culture as the other girls. Claire was not from the urban American culture and had in fact been excluded from it by her own father. At the same time, a friend of Mrs. Paley's called her out for referring to this group of girls as the black girls, calling her use of this term a form of prejudice. Mrs. Paley recognized that fact and agreed to work on it. In chapter 26, Mrs. Paley wondered if she had made any progress at all, but came to the conclusion that she learned to say...