What Is The Thesis For The Lions Of Little Rock

Kara Burns

Ms. Gourd

Pre-AP 10th ELA

March 29, 2018

THE FIGHT OF THE KIDS OF LITTLE ROCK

Intro. Hook and thesis. The book The Lions of Little Rock is about young white child, Marlee becomes best friends with a mixed girl trying to pass as a white. She was eventually caught as a colored girl and was shamed for it. The African American culture is represented by Liz dropping out of school after being caught as a colored girl, Marlee’s maid Betty Jean, knows her place and knows not to speak unless spoken to, and Liz hiding her identity when calling Marlee because of her race. The culture also causes many cases of violence in the book, like her family getting death threats. But it also changes Marlee into making her a stronger person as well

Liz made Marlee a stronger person throughout their tough friendship. Once she became this stronger person, Marlee started to do things that made her a hero. On page 61, Marlee states “I was excited. No more waiting. I was actually going to do it. I was going to talk in class.” Before Marlee could achieve anything, she had to find her voice and she was excited about doing so. Even though Marlee didn’t get to actually speak in class, she eventually found her voice, that way she could stand up for what is right and wrong. Marlee started getting involved with the issue of segregated schools. She started a petition to fire school board members that shut down the Little Rock Schools, she even started going to WEC (Women’s Emergency Committee) meetings to help open back up the schools. On page 133, Marlee starts stepping up, “‘Are you going to the WEC meeting this Friday’ I asked. ‘Yes,’ she said. ‘Do you mind if I come too?” Marlee wanted to go through whatever it took to open back up the schools because she agreed with them being reopened. This is what being a stronger made her want to do. “STOP Wins Recall Victory: Purgers Thrown Off Board”, this quote from page 268 explains how Marlee became a hero. She fought for opening schools back up after being closed because of segregation, and her petition helped fire the board members that shut them

So, if she never talked then she couldn’t stand up for anything. Ever since she met Liz, she started to come out of her shell and do more. On page 164, Marlee states “And if I change, maybe other things will change too. Maybe Sally will be nicer. Maybe Mother and I will find more in common. Maybe the schools will reopen!” Marlee finally understood that if she changed then she could help change other things. Talking probably wouldn’t help change every problem, but it could definitely help some of the small problems that are happening around her. Liz helped change the mind of Marlee’s mother into agreeing with desegregation in schools. At first Marlee was forbidden to even talk to Liz after everyone found out she was mixed, but Marlee’s mom eventually comes around. “We’ve forbidden Marlee from meeting Liz in person too. But to deny them all contact seems to be inviting rebellion, don’t you think?” This quote said by Mrs. Nisbett is telling how Marlee and Liz’s friendship made her turn the other cheek and allow them to be friends again. She developed into a better person because of how Liz and Marlee are. But even though many people changed for the better, some changed for the worse. Like JT for example; he was very nice to Marlee and Liz at first. But once it was clear Liz was colored Jt’s attitude took a very hard turn. On page 189, JT rudely states “‘Negroes are not your friends,’ said JT. ‘They are