Chapters 3 and 4 (The Water is Wide)

“I love people and collect friends like some people collect coins or exotic pipes.”

I chose this sentence because it reflects on what type of person Mr. Conroy is. The struggles he faces within the classroom with the students is tough enough not counting the prejudices that are in the society. Although Mr. Conroy grew up with racism being the norm, as an adult he generally loved all people and viewed everyone as humans that were equal. He would listen to others make racist remarks and even laugh sometimes about them but his views about people were all the same, no one was better than anyone else. That is why almost everyone liked him and why he collected so many friends.

Chapter three was a chapter that focused on Mr. Conroy in the classroom. It showed the reader in more detail just how uneducated the students really were. It was so sad to me to learn that these students who were in sixth through eighth did not know how many fingers were on a hand. I guess I always thought that knowing there were five fingers on one hand was a given that everyone knew. In that part of chapter three when Mr. Conroy asked the students how many fingers were on a hand, it shocked me to learn that this age of children truly did not know. It made me realize that I am lucky to have had such a good education and I should not to take for granted the little things that seem to be a given.

Chapter four focused on Mr. Conroy’s life outside of the school house. It went into detail about what he did on a day to day bases. I felt empathy for Mr. Conroy when he described himself as being, “an island on an island.” He was lonely even though he had made many friends on the island. His surroundings were different and it was a different way of life that he was not used to. I cannot wait to continue reading because I wonder what Mr. Conroy will do now that he is married and has a family that needs him back in Beaufort. He has to be a strong willed man to stay and travel back and forth as he does because of his love for all the people in his life. Again he said himself, “I love people and collect friends like some people collect coins or exotic pipes.”

Chapter 1 and 2 (The Water is Wide)

“I was becoming convinced that the world was a colorful, variegated grab bag full of bastards.”

I chose this sentence because it brings to life what Mr. Conroy discusses throughout the first two chapters. This sentence is a well written sentence because it helps to relate Conroy’s life experiences with how he feels about them. It is a very powerful sentence that can be interpreted in many different ways. This sentence was brought about by the events Mr. Conroy had witnessed and experienced. The assignation of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the concentration camps at Dachau he visited, and the pure racist remarks and gestures that were common for both races, for truly no reason at all.

The first chapter of this book is explaining who and what kind of person Mr. Conroy is. It goes into detail about his upbringing in the American South during a time when racism was extremely popular. This chapter explained what type of household Mr. Conroy lived in and how he was brought up to be. It was a chapter that was necessary for the readers to read in order to understand what and why certain events will occur later in the book. This is the background chapter that sets the time, place, and gives the reader the setting to relate to throughout the book. It also begins Mr. Conroy’s journey to becoming a teacher at the Yamacraw School.

Chapter two begins to explain what type of atmosphere Mr. Conroy enters when he begins at the school. It is amazing to me how illiterate these children were in such high grades. It was so sad to read and visualize what Mr. Conroy was facing with these children. The type of person chapter one described Mr. Conroy as foreshadows to me what great things he will do for these students. I cannot wait to read more and find out exactly what all he does to help them and see how much they accomplish at the end of his class.