Conroy Chp1

      The question that I answered was "What incident or conflict does the author use to begin the story? Why do you think the author chose this beginning?"
      The author starts the story with the issue of racism. In chater one, Pat Conroy, the author, is a teacher at a high school in South Carolina. Racism was brought to light in this chapter on the day that Martin Luther King Junior died. The majority of the students at this school are white. But, Pat taught them all, and he would talk to the black students during recess. Most of them anyway. There was one group of girls who would not talk to him, until the day that Martin Luther King was assassinated. On this day racism seemed to be brought into a whole new light for Pat. White students were going around saying things such as, "Mrs. King is now a black widow". He saw the black students walking the halls, crying to themselves, because they could not talk to their white teachers. During recess Conroy went up to some black students, and was talking with them about what happened. The group of girls who usually did not talk to him, came up to him that day. They yelled at him, and wanted to know why he was there. They wanted to know why he couldn't just leave them alone, and let them cry in peace. I think that the author chose this beginning, because it helps to open up the story. He plans to go an island, that has mostly a black population, and teach there. I believe that this opening is a way of showing

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