Resilience In Melba Beals 'Warriors Don' T Cry

Throughout the book Warriors Don’t Cry by Melba Pattillo Beals, the reader can see that Melba is resilient, resourceful, and clever from how she acts in different situations. Melba has a variety of character traits, and the reader can clearly see them. The book builds the reader’s understanding of Melba’s personality by showing how she reacted to different experiences. There are many examples of her resilience, resourcefulness, and cleverness in the book that the reader should notice.

Melba’s resilience is displayed multiple times because of her ability to continue through the pain. One such example is when Melba said she had “to be like a soldier in battle,” and she “could not imagine a 101st trooper crying or moping when he got hurt” (Beals

While Melba was trying to use the restroom, some of the girls decided to throw papers lit with fire at her, so Melba “picked up her books and tossed one upward as hard as she could, in a blind aim to hit her attackers” (Beals 164). Melba finds a way to escape even though it seems she is trapped. She uses the materials around her to help her in this situation. If she was not resourceful, it might have ended worse for her; the other girls might have hurt her more. Later, Melba showed resourcefulness when a boy tried to trip her, so Melba “stepped on his foot, hard” (Beals 205). She did not just let it go and move on; she fought back. Melba found ways to get back at the kids that hurt her. Another moment of resourcefulness happens after explaining to General Clinger that his soldiers are not helping the nine when she says, “I could take care of myself and speak up to white folks, even if my mother and father sometimes feared doing so” (Beals 171). Melba is shown to be someone that does not just let herself be walked over. She knows that she deserves better than that. Melba fights to be seen as equal and will tell people when they are doing something wrong. Melba’s resourcefulness is key in the many experiences she went

When Andy showed up at the store Melba was in, she “tried to behave as though she were not alarmed” and “casually examined items that lay on the counter” so that she could stealthily move away from Andy (Beals 225). She knows that she needs to get away without making a big scene. The reader can see Melba’s cleverness here because she quickly thinks of a way to leave and find her family without causing more problems. Another instance of her cleverness is when the book says, “He complimented me, saying I was articulate and asked if I could write” (Beals 121). Melba is so well-spoken and clever that she can write an article on her experiences in an organized and sophisticated way and get multiple compliments on it. She knows how to word things and how to seem mature in her writing. Melba’s cleverness also appears when someone calls Melba and tells her they know where she lives, and Melba says, “I could not tell Mama and the others that he knew so much about us, so I choked back my tears” (Beals 61). She knows that if she tells the others, it will scare them. She finds a way to hide it from them to keep them out of fear. She quickly realizes what she must do. Melba must be clever so that she can quickly create plans to get herself out of terrible