White Schools In Sharon Draper's Fire From The Rock

In the novel Fire From The Rock by Sharon Draper, the protagonist Sylvia is consistently faced with the controversy of the decision of going to either Dunbar and Mann High School or Central High School. Dunbar and Mann seems like the more viable option because of the time period Sylvia is living in, 1939, which obviously had tremendous amounts of discrimination for black citizens. The alternative, however, for the all-black school is Central High School, a white school that is beginning to engage in integration. Looking at evidence from the story so far and Sylvia’s reasoning, we can predict which school she will most likely go to. It is very apparent that Sylvia has a crush on a fellow classmate at her middle school, named Reggie. When Reggie
White people were ruthless at this time in Southern States, with endless lynchings, harassment, and unfairness on almost every block. It was common to walk outside and be tormented by white folk, even if you didn’t do anything. Imagine all this chaos, except you’re black and surrounded by hundreds and hundreds of white teenagers, an important detail since they’re usually more willing to cause trouble. Sylvia could very easily end up dead after we seen the brutality of racists, for example in the case of simply beating up Gary because he was walking home. Even the Patterson’s neighbor, Mr. Crandall, trained his dogs to attack African-Americans. Authorities at the school and police wouldn’t be much help either, considering their strong dislike of blacks as well. Walking into those doors is practically risking your life every single day, and your chances to get harmed physically or emotionally are almost certain everyday. Even the black community isn’t sure she should take the chance. One of the people at church says to Sylvia to “Stick to your own kind, girl. Mixing the races will only get you hurt. They don’t want you there. You hear?” (p.68). Knowing Sylvia is very self-conscious, we can observe she’ll probably think