Journal Entry #2
Pgs 29-56

5 Comments
-The mother did not allow racial preference to stop her from living a normal life. She did not allow the color of someone's skin affect how she viewed them. a perfect example of this was her veiw on Malcom X while most white epople disliked him she actually like him and categorized him with other civil rights leaders.
- When James and her mother were walking home they were mugged by two men. While James was frightened, the mother seemed not to be fazed.
James was unable to recognize why his mother was unable to be fazed when she was being robbed and confirmed that she has probably been robbed before.
- The mother's father was a traveling preacher and was not very successful. She would face a lot of discrimination because she was jewish in different communities. Her father bought a store and changed it to Old Man Shilsky and over the years there family became rich.
- The mother's father used to molest and rape her when she was a small child. She was unable to tell anyone because she was afraid of him and she did not have love for him. This accounted for much of her low self esteem.
- The mother was very religious and into God. She would not tolerate her children questioning and or making comments that went against it.

4 Question
What caused the mother to be unfazed by crime?
Why didn't the father change his occupation if buisness was not good for?
Why was the mother so religious and accepting with changing her religion?
Why did Richie stop going to church?

3 Vocabulary words
Stridency-harsh-sounding; shrill; grating Pg 29
Bourgeois- a person whose beliefs, attitudes, and practices are conventionally middle-class Pg 30
Balefully- harmful or threatening harm or evil; ominous; deadly Pg 31

2 literary terms
"Mommy's contradictions crashed and slammed against one another like bumper cars at Coney Island." Pg 29 This is an example of a simile.
"but it cost him his family, which he ran into the ground and destroyed." Pg 41 This is an example of Foreshadowing.

Summary Sentence
Often James was very worried about his mother since she was one of the only white woman in a black world yet her childhood experiences allowed her to grow and she became a woman of religion.