Summary
The Little Rock Nine and their parents meet with Superintendent Virgil Blossom, who refuses to answer the parents' questions about student safety. He instead instructs the nine not to respond to abuse in order to "keep the peace."
The students bear signs of fatigue, their health and positive attitudes fading as they endure constant harassment and violence. The only light at the end of the tunnel is the Christmas vacation, where the nine can "recharge their batteries" or "let go of [their] dream and choose another school."
Minnijean is convinced that if the segregationist students can hear her sing at the talent show, they will accept the Little Rock Nine. The Central High Mothers' League campaigns to keep the Nine out of extracurricular activities. However, Melba is invited to speak at a religious gathering. Though some students listen to her talk with contempt, others compliment Melba's public speaking, giving her hope for the future.
Meanwhile, the federal government withdraws all troops from Little Rock, though Governor Faubus refuses to command the National Guard to defend the students. Additionally, the Arkansas Attorney General files a lawsuit against the NAACP.
Melba turns sixteen and is disappointed that the reality of her situation at Central High puts a damper on the celebrations she planned; of her friends, only Vince shows up to her birthday party, and even he leaves to attend a different party to which Melba is not invited. Melba and even Grandma India cry as "integration had stolen [Melba's] sixteenth birthday."
Following the removal of the 101st Regiment and endless news exposure, harassment and violence against the Little Rock Nine increase. The segregationist students organize their bullying. Instructed by "segregationist training programs," the tormentors create "teams" that slam the students into lockers, shove them down staircases, and attack them with weapons. Others use psychological tactics, such as pretending to befriend the Little Rock Nine before luring them into humiliating or dangerous situations.
Minnijean is particularly impacted by these cruel tactics, unable to believe the school administration is callous and unwilling to accept her exclusion from extracurricular activities. On the final day before Christmas vacation, boys steal Minnijean's lunch and push her until her food falls on two white boys; consequently, Minnijean is suspended.
When the students return from Christmas break, the White Citizens Council offers a reward for any Central High student who can "incite" the nine to "misbehave." The segregationist students amp up their antics, organizing psychological torment and bomb threats. Though several agitators are caught and punished, the Little Rock Nine's situation still deteriorates. Melba grows depressed, and when Minnijean is pushed to defend herself, she is expelled and moves to New York.
Exhausted from sustained harassment, Melba accidentally uses the wrong school entrance and is cornered by Andy and his friends, who intend to murder her. A blonde boy named Link helps Melba escape by letting Melba take his car, though he pretends to be on Andy's side, cursing Melba and calling her slurs.
Analysis
When meeting with superintendent Virgil Blossom, Mother Lois stands up for herself and Melba, demanding action to protect the Little Rock Nine. This event marks a change in Mother Lois's character. Though she endured abuse for years to keep her family safe, the violence Melba endures compels Mother Lois to speak up, despite the consequences.
In Chapter 22, as the white students terrorize the nine and compete for the reward, Beals lists newspaper headlines in quick succession. These headlines, dated only days apart, report on escalating incidents like "threats of bombing" and "dynamite found" at Central High. These headlines capture the paranoia and fear that the students experience every day as each headline promises new violence. The headlines also give insight into the growing sense that Little Rock is out of control.
As racial politics in Little Rock grow more incendiary, the segregationist students' tactics grow psychologically sophisticated and disturbing. Though the violence against the Little Rock Nine was always cruel, segregationist students begin bizarre forms of harassment, such as "stare days" where they silently stare at a selected member of the Nine to make them paranoid. Like an extracurricular club, segregationist students organize certain hours to harass the Nine at home and spread bomb threats and rumors to the Nine's family members that the students are "seriously injured."
The students' behavior both mirrors and contributes to the unrest outside Central High until even the National Guard and school administrators grow fearful of the teenage zealots. Just as the undue burden of successfully integrating Little Rock is placed on the back of the Little Rock Nine, conversely, the segregationist teens lead the charge to get the Nine expelled.
Melba grows depressed and confides in Grandma India that she wants to commit suicide. Grandma India reacts poorly at first, accusing Melba of being "afraid of facing God's assignment for her." However, she then spends time with Melba each day playing games, reading, and talking about things unrelated to integration, to help Melba feel like life is worth living.
Symbolic wins and losses are used by both the NAACP and the segregationists. For example, after Minnijean is suspended for accidentally dumping chili on a student, segregationists bully her by throwing soup on her clothes. This parallel violence not only physically harms Minnijean but humiliates her.
The NAACP also uses symbolic actions to further the cause of integration. When Minnijean is expelled, the NAACP arranges for her to attend a prestigious school in New York and live with a psychiatrist whose research helped pass Brown v. Board of Education, the Supreme Court Case that deemed segregated schools unconstitutional. These symbolic gestures demonstrate that the Little Rock Nine's experiences have national ramifications.
Chapter 23 includes entries from Melba's diary on February 18-20th. These excerpts detail how Melba was threatened with a wrench, assaulted with a tennis racquet until she "spit up blood in the restroom," and how the school officials refuse to believe any students "from a good family" could bully Melba. These entries concisely illustrate the level of violence Melba experiences and express her feelings of hopelessness and fear. Because the entries are dated one after the other, the reader understands that suffering disturbing acts of violence is commonplace for Melba.
When Link helps Melba escape, he explains he has to curse at her because if Andy suspects Link is helping Melba, it will get them "both killed." Link's behavior suggests that sympathetic students at Central High School may have been bullied by radical students, making the school infinitely more unsafe for the Little Rock Nine.
