Chapter 12 (The Water is Wide)

“I don’t think I changed the quality of their lives significantly or altered the inexorable fact that they were imprisoned by the very circumstance of their birth.”

This is a statement Mr. Conroy made at the very end of the chapter, which is the very end of the book. I chose this sentence because just in these few words it shows how Mr. Conroy felt about his whole experience with the children on Yamacraw. He does not think he made a big difference in their lives because they are in a living position that they could not help. They were born into a life that was bound for no success because of who they were and how their local society was. It is really said to think about knowing that these children are a victim of circumstances that they can not help. In this sentence Mr. Conroy says he does not feel like he changed the quality of their lives. This is true in a way but his job was not to change their living conditions or economic factors. It was to teach them and that he did. These children in my opinion learned more from Mr. Conroy within his one year teaching them than they had in their entire schooling. I believe he was feeling this way because after all this push and fight against Mr. Piedmont and the Board he still did not get the Yamacraw people any help. He did teach the children though and helped the people in more ways than he knew.

This final chapter is Mr. Conroy reflecting back on his experiences the past year on the island. He explains that Mr. Piedmont and Mr. Bennington were not bad people like he thought after all. They were just two men that were stuck in a changing society that they were not used to and did not know how to cope with. He talks about Mrs. Brown and how he hopes she is will be happy for the rest of her life. It is sad that society has made her feel like she should not be proud of who she is and treat her own people so badly. Overall, Mr. Conroy enjoyed his year on Yamacraw Island and learned so much about the people and the changing world around him. 

Chapter 11 (The Water is Wide)

“Their response was to initiate a petition to get me back on the island. Every black on the island signed the petition, although many of them had to enlist the help of friends to write their names.”

This sentence took place when Mr. Conroy was going to in front of the board to discuss the county giving him gas money for traveling to Yamacraw everyday. I chose this sentence because it shows what love and respect Mr. Conroy has earned from the people on Yamacraw. When he first came to the island the people thought of him as just another white man coming to rule and so call teach their children. This sentence shows that Mr. Conroy was so much more than what the people initially thought. It proves that he helped the students in many ways and the people of Yamacraw saw that and wanted him to be able to stay and continue to teach their children. They saw the love Mr. Conroy brought with his teaching along with the compassion for the children and the drive to educate them in the best possible way.

So many important events took place in this chapter. At the beginning there was graduation of the children. Then the big argument between Mr. Conroy and Mr. Piedmont took place. This led to the two going to the board to argue their points on why or why not Mr. Conroy should receive money for gas to continue traveling to Yamacraw everyday.  This was a tense and explosive meeting and Mr. Conroy came out on top. He was granted the money for the gas. But, it was not without the help of the Yamacraw people and some of the parents of the children. The next school year began and Mr. Conroy knew it would be his last so he wanted to treat the children to an excellent and exciting year. Mary, Top Cat, and Frank’s parents wrote letters to Mr. Conroy and his wife Barbara pleading with them to let their children stay with them in Beaufort for the next year of high school. They agreed so now they were being faced with hash treatment for letting three black children stay with them.

Then Mr. Conroy found out that Mr. Piedmont and Mr. Bennington was out to get him. Sure enough they fired him for some crazy reason of being late. He went to court to try and fight it considering he traveled by boat everyday to the school in any kind of weather. He had parents supporting him and the Yamacraw people wanting to go on strike by not sending their children to school. Ultimately he lost the case and had to stop teaching the children. He went back in his home in Beaufort and reflected on the time he spent on Yamacraw.   

Chapter 10 (The Water is Wide)

“The goal I developed the first week that never changed was to prepare the kids for the day when they would have to leave the island for the other side.”

I chose this sentence because it showed what Conroy’s real intentions were for going to the island. It shows again what kind of person Mr. Conroy is. He went to the island to help prepare these kids for life outside of Yamacraw. When he arrived he was shocked at how uneducated the children were and although some progress has been made he still knows inside that they are not ready for the world outside of Yamacraw. At this moment in the chapter he was feeling down and saw his days on the island coming to an end. He was upset with the little progress even though he knew he had done a good job. He was reassuring himself with this sentence that that was still his goal even though he was in a depressing mood.

In chapter 10 Mr. Conroy plans a trip to Washington D.C. for the students. He went through so many obstacles to be able to do this. He had money issues, transportation issues, and had problems getting the parents and guardians permissions to let the children go. After all these problems were solved Conroy and his wife Barbara along with the two California boys took the students to D.C. They had a wonderful time exploring the museums, zoo, and the overall city life.

Conroy in the end of this chapter realizes just how remote these children were from a real society. When Jasper asked what the lines in the road were for. Conroy did not know what he meant because he was so use to seeing the yellow lines that separated the highway. After his wife explained to Jasper what they were for Conroy reflected on how much these children had to learn just about regular life outside of the island. 

Chapter 6-9 (The Water is Wide)

“I expected her to praise me profusely, tell me what an outstanding job I was doing, and offer to help me in any way possible.”

I chose this sentence because it was funny to me. This is what Mr. Conroy was thinking when he told Mrs. Brown about his idea to take the children to Beaufort for Halloween. The sentence is funny to me because I cannot believe Mr. Conroy would have thought that Mrs. Brown would act in that way. She is always criticizing his teaching styles and what he does with his students. I do not see how he thought she would have praised him and helped him.

Chapters 6-9 showed so much about what kind of people Mr. Conroy and Mrs. Brown are. Throughout the chapters Mrs. Brown was constantly fussing about something Mr. Conroy and his students were doing. Like when the children had cut out pictures that Picasso had designed of women. She claimed it was a disgrace because they were naked women, or in her word (wimmin). Mrs. Brown for some reason despised people of her own color. She talked down about them and degraded them. It is really sad that she is not proud of who she is. I also find it sad that she believes in physically assaulting the children to keep them under control. She is not a good teacher because in my opinion she does not have good social skills.

Mr. Conroy on the other hand has done so much for these children in these chapters. He gave them a Halloween experience that no one had ever had. He also took the children to see the Harlem Globetrotters in Charleston. I found that so admirable and wonderful of him because as he said it was the farthest any of the children had been from the island and probably was the only chance they would ever have to get away. It was in a way sad that Mr. Conroy moved home and just commuted to the island but I understand why he did. The kind of person he is though he still but 100% effort into his students at the school on Yamacraw Island.   

Chapter 5 (The Water is Wide)

“I was on an island for expiation, and I think I liked to watch Joe and Jim struggle so patiently because I saw in them a reflection of myself.”




This sentence stuck out to me when reading because it gave an insight into what Mr. Conroy was thinking and feeling at this point in the book. When he said that he saw a reflection of him in Jim and Joe it made me think. Mr. Conroy was a Jim and Joe all wrapped up in one. He described Jim as being a caring and compassionate boy who was dedicated to helping the children succeed, even if it was in just a recess game. Joe was the boy who wondered just what exactly he was doing on the island and if he was really making a difference at all. Mr. Conroy compared himself to these two because he felt like both. He wanted to do well and help the children succeed. Yet, there were times he wondered what he was doing and if it even was worth it. 

This sentence also clearly pointed out one reason he went to the island. “Expiation,” I have to admit I did not know what this word meant, but when I looked it up the definition was (compensation for a wrong). This connects Mr. Conroy’s guilt with how the white man had treated the blacks for so long in the history of the U.S.A. If this reason was mentioned before in the book I did not pay attention to it. This made me see Mr. Conroy as a very good person. He was doing a job that he thought could help in some way compensate for the years when the white people treated the blacks terribly. 

This chapter was about the two visitors that came to the island from California, Jim and Joe. It also had a couple of Mr. Conroy’s class discussions in it as well. The students on day had a huge discussion on the Wizard or Oz and another day on how they are suppose to treat animals. By reading these discussions it helped me to understand the children a little more. The reactions of the students and their comments they make showed me a little about how they had been raised and what they believe.

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.