Chapters 7 - 9 Summary and Analysis

Chapter 7

The chapter opens with the advent of Pearl Harbor, but Audre does not understand the significance of the event. Everyone behaves differently, though, so she knows something important has changed. She recalls having to learn her blood type and saying Hail Mary's for the people who died. She notes that her mother worked the polls on election day. Her father works various additional jobs during the war. Eventually her family finds a new home.

Chapter 8

Chapter 8 begins by describing Audre's awakening racial consciousness as she discovers what Colored means. Audre is the first black student at St. Catherine's School. She notes the stern Ann Archdeacon and the lecherous Monsignor John J. Brady. Her elementary school had taught Audre math and reading well, so she was the smartest kid in the class. Audre describes her goal of becoming class...