Review of "The Kind of Light That Shines on Texas"

349 Words2 Pages
Review of “The kind of light that shines on Texas” This is a story about an African American boy in a white elementary school in Waco, Texas, after his father goes to Vietnam. The first line of the story indicates Clint’s active dislike for one of his African American classmates, Marvin Pruitt. His reasons for this dislike are also extremely clear: Marvin is dark-skinned, smells bad, and is two grades behind. Clint largely ignores a second African American classmate, Ah-so, a heavyset girl, who is also behind in school, but obviously not stupid; she simply refuses to speak. Their sixth-grade teacher, Mrs. Wickham, makes little effort to hide her racism. She ignores Marvin, who sleeps away most of the day, she narrows her eyes in disapproval whenever Clint answers a question correctly, and she badgers Ah-so with questions even though this girl steadfastly refuses to speak. Mrs. Wickham frequently feels the need to tell harmless racist jokes. Clint even laughs at her jokes. There is one white boy that feels the need to always let Clint know that he wants to kill him. Finally one day after the two have a standoff in dodge ball and Clint gives him a bloody nose it is clear that they will have to have a fight after school. Clint is asking why him? Why not Marvin? Clint does escape the fight for that day. He goes home and remembers his last talk with his father. During this time we discover that his mother does not pay much attention to him, she cares more about the soap operas than what is happening in his life, and he misses his dad. At the story’s end, it is Marvin that helps him and stands up for him. No real explanation is given as to why or how Clint feels about it. Imagine the boy he had a hatred for being the one who comes to his defense? And in class the girl Ah-so, looking at him and smiling, and now notice’s that she is not all that bad

More about Review of "The Kind of Light That Shines on Texas"

Open Document