The Water is Wide- Chapter 1 and 2

The sentence that stood out to me as being an extremely well written sentence was: “The forest outside the perimeter of the schoolyard was insane with insect voices and the dark seemed darker than any place I had been before.” I picked this sentence because when I read it I felt like I was actually in that schoolhouse with Conroy. I could actually hear the insect noises as well as see the darkness surrounding the schoolhouse. I think Conroy did a good job describing certain situations throughout his book in ways that make his readers feel as if they are there with Conroy at that given moment. 

                In the first chapter I was amazed at how honest Conroy was in telling his story. He spoke about his younger years when he would ride around in his ’57 Chevy and throw rotten watermelons at the black people in his community. I know that we as a nation have come a long way since the 50’s and 60’s but when I hear stories like this I honestly can’t fathom why anyone would do this to others just for enjoyment. Even though I don’t think that Conroy ever mentioned regretting the ways he behaved in his earlier years, I feel as though showed remorse in many ways. A couple examples being, trying to teach black history to his high school students at a time when “teaching a black history course was as common as a course in necrophilia”, as well as choosing to teach the black students on Yamacraw Island.

                I found chapter two to be very interesting. Honestly, I was not that shocked at how little the students knew, but at the way Mrs. Brown felt about her students. I expected the students to know little to nothing due to the fact that this was the whole purpose of the book- to read about how Conroy made an impact of the lives of students on Yamacraw Island. What I didn’t expect was the way Mrs. Brown spoke about her students. She described them as being “slow, lazy, retarded, and people who just can’t get ahead in life.” She also went on to say that the students need to be whipped, and that the “retarded people need to be pushed and whipped harder than anyone.” I felt as though Mrs. Brown didn’t have any hope for her students, and gave up on them just like everyone else already did. Unfortunately, I don’t think Mrs. Brown realizes the negative impact she is leaving on these students, and I believe her to be innocently ignorant to the issues around her.