"When a crowd of fifty or more closed in like diving vultures, the soldiers stared straight ahead, as if posing for a photograph" (Simile)
This quote describes the first time the Little Rock Nine attempt to enter Central High School. Elizabeth Eckford, one of the Little Rock Nine, arrives earlier than the other eight and is blocked by the Arkansas National Guard. Beals compares the violent crowd to "vultures," birds that swarm over carcasses. This comparison suggests Elizabeth is in imminent physical danger, as the crowd wants to see her killed.
Beals also compares the soldier's attitude to "posing for a photograph." The National Guard refuses to move or help Elizabeth; they stand at the front doors to demonstrate Orval Faubus's power and rebellion against the federal government.
"The deep voice sounded like a circus ringmaster announcing the next act." (Simile)
When Melba and the other members of the Little Rock Nine testify in court, hecklers, news reporters, and spectators crowd and harass the students. When the bailiff instructs the court to "rise for the honorable Judge Ronald Davies," Melba compares his deep voice to a "circus ringmaster," as the courtroom's chaotic behavior is reminiscent of a circus.
"'It's the first graduate degree I know of in this family,' Granda India said, stroking the document as though it were the same precious tablet given Moses in the Bible." (Simile)
This simile compares Grandma India's pride in her daughter's education to her reverence for the Bible. The "precious tablet given to Moses" refers to the Ten Commandments, a set of rules God gave to Moses in the Bible story, Exodus, when enslaved Jewish people escaped Egypt, helped by God. By drawing a connection between education and the Bible, Beals highlights how vital education was to her family's identity and, ultimately, their liberation.
"I am like a rag doll with no stuffing." (Simile)
As integration and survival become the only things in Melba's life, she feels herself losing her identity. Invoking a rag doll, a symbol of childhood, Melba laments both her lost innocence and her waning hope.
"Going to a pep rally was rather like being thrown in with the lions to see how long we could survive" (Simile)
On a typical day at Central, the Little Rock Nine suffer extreme verbal and physical abuse; an unsupervised pep rally is exceptionally dangerous, as the Nine will be surrounded by hundreds of segregationists who can use the chaos to cover up their abuse. Because the students at Central High harass the Little Rock Nine as a twisted form of entertainment, Melba compares the pep rally to an ancient Roman execution, where people watched prisoners get killed by lions in an arena.
