Warriors Don't Cry by Melba Beals pg (176-220)

Summary

Since Danny the soldier left, Melba felt lonely and knew the only way to survive Central High School was by self defense. The school was very unsafe, where students would hang out with knives, set dynamites near the exit stairs, or there would be hit-and-runners. With Melba knowing her grades are not that well, her main priority was to stay alive. 

Melba and her mother was invited to a parent meeting in the School Superintendent Blossom's office, which they felt that it would end in a disaster. As they enter the meeting, all they had in mind was to stop the abuse in Central High students. Melba's mother asked whether or not the school would have any plans to protect children. Blossom replied rudely by saying it's not her business, which ended the discussion of the meeting.

One day entering the cafeteria, which mostly all blacks wouldn't enter because of the drama, they decided to eat. Minnijean, who loved chili which was served today, decided to make her way and get her tray. Suddenly, boys have surrounded her in her tracks, where all hell broke loose. Minnijean angrily tossed her tray onto the boys. Minnijean was suspended, and the only way to come back is by having permission from the superintendent. That will never happen.

Quote

"I will be here tomorrow and the next day and the next" (Beals 212).

Reaction

As Melba entered her homeroom class, she whispered to a student that she will be here the next day and the next. This shows Melba's bravery and how she is fearless even though all the circumstances are put on her shoulders. She is willing to risk her life just to be in a integrated school. 

Warriors Don't Cry by Melba Beals pg (134-175)

Summary
Stepping inside the front door of Central High School, goes the violent mobs of disaster again. Each of the nine students were assigned a uniformed soldier for protection in the school. Everywhere Melba went, she was faced with harsh racial words from the students. In the classroom, or either the bathroom, the N word was said to terrify Melba. Not only Melba was being heckled, the soldier was being taunted by students because he was protecting an African American. When it was lunch time, she arrived in the room amazed at how the room was like the size of half the football field. As she was getting lunch, she saw the people serving food behind the counter who were blacks that smiled at Melba. Melba found a place to sit with some black students, and surprisingly even friendly white girls. In some classes like French, it was peaceful, where students were pleasant welcoming Melba. At the end of the day, all the nine students were gathered together smiling, chatting, and behaving as it was a normal school day.
Waking up for another day of school, Melba arrived in a helicopter. As she walked in school, the torture began again. She got spitted on by a girl. The soldier, Danny, said that he couldn't do anything, and his job was to keep her alive and is to not allow to get into verbal or physical battles with the students. Melba was then kicked in the shin and stomach till she fell on the floor. Melba went to the principal's office and reported the kids but the principal said Melba needed evidence of the incident. Melba told her Danny saw the incident but the principal refused him as a witness, where to be a witness is to be a teacher.

Quote
"In order to get through this year you will have to become a soldier. Never let your enemy know what you are feeling. You can't afford to become bored" (Beals 161).

Reaction
 The quote was the last words the soldier, Danny, had to tell to Melba. The quote signifies that Melba should have strength, in order to become a soldier. If the whites knew what Melba was feeling inside, they might torture Melba until she wants to quit. Melba should keep all her feelings inside to herself, and ignore her surroundings.

Warriors Don't Cry by Melba Beals pg (92-133)

Summary

Melba Beals and eight other African American students who attended Central High School were heading to a court room to discuss the decision of being able to go to an integrated school. As they were entering the Federal Building, reporters and photographers were constantly asking questions. As the students sat in the court room, reporters were taunting them because of their skin color. To attend Central High School, students were selected by their personal conduct, health, and basis of scholarship. In the court room, the students were to be testified as of only two of them were asked questions where the testimony ended. The judge said there was no reason to continue the court order, therefore the black students were able to attend Central High School.

Waking up on Monday morning marking her calender, Melba was anxious to experience again how whites would treat them as individuals. All nine students arrived in two cars, who were driven by two NAACP officials. As they got out the car arriving late, they heard voices from hundreds of white people, shouting with anger. The students entered the school while all they could hear was racial statements, scurrying down to the office. Everyone was separated into different homerooms while she wondered why they couldn't be together. A man said, "You wanted integration...you got integration" (Beals 110). As Melba was walking through the hallways, she always fantasized how Central High School was beautiful, but in reality, it is a dark, big, and deceitful.

As the students went to the principal office, some students were already crying, where it might have been the white students threatening them. It was an emergency that the mobs outside the school were coming closer and closer. The crowd even broke the barricades, where someone insisted that they should just use a student as bait, for the others to leave the school. But an Assistant Chief of the Little Rock Department named Gene Smith came and found out another way to escape the school. The police made all the students get into a car, while putting their heads down as he was driving away quickly. While they got away, a few white men threw rocks at the car, while the car sped up faster to end the chase. Melba safely made it home.

Quote

 "Two, four, six, eight. We ain't gonna integrate" (Beals 132).

Reaction

 The screaming and violent shouting of the mobs, was shown by their saying of the quote. The crowd was destructive, that the white men were holding weapons and was ready for a war. They were so berserk, that they knocked down the barricades, which they were gaining on the school closer very quickly. Luckily, the students were safely sent home, by a brave police officer risking his life.

Warriors Don't Cry by Melba Beals pg (41-91)

Summary

On the morning of September 4, Melba Beals begins to enter the tragedy of Central High School. Hundreds of citizens are gathered around just to wait for the arrival of the African American children. Melba stares at the seven stories high, two long city blocks building with astonishment. As of her arrival with her mother, she sees chaos around her environment with people running, uniformed police officers, men and women waving their fists, and soldiers carrying weapons. Melba started to see her friend Elizabeth, an African American friend, where she was the center of attention because of her standing alone with soldiers in front of Central High. Melba and her mother starts to realize that not only she was in trouble, they were also. They both eased their way out of the crowd not trying to attract attention, where a white man suddenly calls them out. Melba and her mother started to run for their lives to the car because of the danger of four men chasing after them like trained police dogs. They barely arrived to the car, and sped away from the men abusing the vehicle with anger. They drove around the familiar streets just to feel safe that no one was chasing them.

Melba and her mother safely arrived at home, frightened that this was happening. Melba knew that she could not leave the house without any permission, where she stayed at home a few days without going to school. One night during dinner, a boy called the house who Grandma thought to be Vince, Melba's crush. As Melba picked up the phone, she recognized that it wasn't Vince and it was a man who sent a threat to their house. One night, after talking to the real Vince, a sudden sound of gun shots were fired at Melba's house. Glasses were shattering, windows were broken, it was terrifying. Grandma took a rifle and shot out the window and made a big explosion. People along the house suddenly ran into their cars and escaped. Scared for her life, Melba wonders if they would come back. 

Quote

"Freedom is not integration. Freedom is being able to go with Grandma to the wrestling matches" (Beals 83).

Reaction

Life for Melba Beals was like being stuck in a shell, trying to find its own way out. With all the integration going on, it's very dangerous to even walk out the house alone. In the quote, Grandma did not let Melba go to the wrestling matches, one of favorite activities to do with Vince and Grandma. Grandma only would let Melba go to the matches when the integration dims down. The quote also sparks a meaning in life, where freedom is not just based on having no more integration involved, but it is as simple as just going to an event with your family, not having any consequences in the long run.