Warriors Don T Cry Melba

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In the memoir Warriors Don’t Cry Melba Pattillo Beals illustrates the characteristics of a warrior that are required to fight for social change. Melba has to deal with continuous hatred from whites and blacks, and these unfortunate events morph her into a faithful and courageous warrior. Melba uses multiple weapons to get her through her journey at Central. The weapons she continuously uses are her faith in God, her words, and her courage. To begin with, on her second day at Central, Melba is experiencing an abundance of hatred. One girl spit on her, others walk on her heels, and a majority call her awful names: “To keep my focus, I began saying the Lord's Prayer” (Beals 147). This demonstrates her using her faith in God as a weapon in …show more content…

First of all, students are yelling and chasing Melba, one tripped her and she fell forward cutting her knee and elbow: “ I was in tears ready to give up paralyzed by fear. Suddenly grandma's voice came into my head: “God never loses one of his flock.” Shepherd, show me how to go, I said. I stood still and repeated those words over and over again until I gained some composure” (Beals 113). Melba is ready to give up, but she remembers some encouraging words her grandma told her. After that she gets up and finishes her day, without faith she probably would not have complete her journey at Central. Furthermore, Melba is at school and a girl starts walking on her heels, Melba quickens her pace, but the other girl quickens her pace as well: “To keep my focus, I began saying the Lord's Prayer. I continued to whisper those words under my breath as I approach the door to my homeroom at the top of the third-floor stairs” (Beals 147). This shows that she is faithful, because she could have cursed, yelled, or screamed at that girl, but instead she said the Lord's Prayer. Finally, Melba is physically and mentally tired with everything that is going on at Central. She starts to cry so her grandma said, “You're a warrior for the Lord. God's warriors don't cry, ‘because they trust that he's always by their side’(Beals 57). This gives her courage to go on, but without faith she would not have believed what her grandma said, and she probably would have killed

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