BLOG 7

Racism is a theme that is constant through the novel. When Lily goes to Tiburon, she realizes how odd it is to stay in August's house. "Staying in a colored house with colored women, eating off thier dishes, lying on their sheets-- it was not something I was against, but I was brand-new to it, and my skin had never felt so white to me." Lily really never thought of herself as prejudice until she lived with August and her sisters. They lived in a beautiful home and had nice manners. She had never believed "colored" people could be as smart as she was; and when she realizes this, she is ashamed. "Lying on the cot in the honey house, though, all I could think was August is so intelligent, so cultured, and I was surprised by this. That's what let me know I had some prejudice buried inside me." When Lily realizes her attraction to Zach, it shocks her. "I was foolish to think some things were beyond happening, even being attracted to Negroes. I'd honestly thought such a thing couldn't happen, the way water could not run uphill or salt could not taste sweet. A law of nature." She then says, "Or maybe desire kicked in when it pleased without noticing the rules we lived and died by." White people and black people in this time period followed social rules unless they wanted to "rock the boat" and upset the harmony of peace that was holding on by a thread between them. Lily has to confront her prejudice in this novel of realizing her love for August and the Boatwrights, Rosaleen, the daughters of Mary, and of course, Zach is real and tangible and deeper than anything she ever imagined was possible.