In Warriors Don’t Cry, Melba Pattillo Beals, an African American teenage resident of Little Rock, Arkansas, is fighting for the integration of Central High School. After being selected for her excellent academic achievements at her previous school, in 1957, she is enrolled into the all-white Central High School. This school year is torturous for Melba. She is constantly attacked with obscene words and language, while physical attacks are also quite common for her. Despite these horrible circumstances, Melba is able to use her traits and abilities to survive. Melba uses her physical strength to combat her enemies, her acute cleverness to outsmart and confuse her attackers, and relies on her faith in God to keep her mentally strong. Melba uses physical strength to retaliate against her enemies and survive their attacks. In Chapter 10, Melba enters a dimly lit bathroom and a group of girls gathers around her stall. They then proceed to drop flaming wads onto her. In retaliation, Melba throws her school books up at the girls. This show of force scares her attackers and allows her to break out of the stall to …show more content…
When trying to open a classroom door in Chapter 14, two boy attackers push it closed in front of her. She then speaks to the attackers in a positive, appreciative tone. Melba is still perturbed by the attackers’ actions but feels a small slice of victory as a result of her response. The attackers are stunned and confused, halting their attempts to disturb Melba. Her sudden change in attitude, quite a clever move, allows her to escape. In Chapter 15, while sitting in the cafeteria, a group of attackers sends a golf ball flying past her head. Melba picks up the ball, in Chapter 15, and says, “It’s just beautiful, thank you. It’s just what I need,” (180). Melba’s clever mind games such as this one, confuse her targets and allow her to escape