BLOG 6

After contrasting the personalities of Lily and Zach, two of the main characters, I found how different and unique each character was. Lily definitely had spunk, but her character as a whole, was insecure and fearful of what the future held. She lived in the shadow of her shameful past, and found it difficult to love and receive love. She felt unworthy of anyone's love and attention. Zach is vivacious and bold, ready to embrace the future and make a difference. He doesn't want to live the typical life many African Americans settled for during this time period; he is not willing to live in the shadows of anyone. While Lily was afraid of imagining any sort of bright future for herself, Zach loved the unknown and embraced challenges. When Lily suggests Zach could use playing football as a means to get into a college, Zach responds,"Why is it sports is the only thing white people see us being successful at? I don't want to play football. I wanna be a lawyer." Lily tells him she has never heard of any Negro lawyers, and she tells him, "You've got to hear of these things before you can imagine them." Zach's response is: "Bullshit. You gotta imagine what's never been." I think this line sums up who Zach is. Zach is not afraid to imagine things that have never been done before-- even in his relationship with Lily. Once she asks him if things would be different if she was a Negro girl, and he tells her, "We can't think of changing our skin. Change the world- that's how we gotta think." This is one of my favorite lines in the book.