Bathrooms (Symbol)
Throughout the text, bathrooms symbolize the innate injustice of segregation. As a child, Melba is afraid to go to the "Colored" restrooms, hidden in dark corners of public spaces. When she enters the "White Ladies" restroom, she sees it is "bright and pretty," symbolizing the privileged position white people occupy at the expense of Black people.
The Black Law Student (Allegory)
Mother Lois explains when that the University of Arkansas slowly integrated its classrooms, the only Black law student was forced to sit separately from his white classmates, surrounded by a "white picket fence" that he and his white classmates "stumbled over." This brief anecdote is an allegory for the effects of racially segregated education. Segregation was created to ensure a racist, idealized "whites-only" America, represented by the white picket fence. The picket fence is an almost comically extreme measure that mainly harms the black student, humiliating and distracting him, but also damages the white students as well.
Cincinnati, Ohio (Symbol)
On a visit to her Uncle Clancey in Cincinnati, Melba experiences an integrated society for the first time. She enjoys accessing spaces denied to her in Little Rock, like fancy stores and movie theaters, and even befriends Uncle Clancey's white neighbors. After this culture shock, Melba holds Cincinnati as a standard for social equality. Cincinnati symbolizes Melba's hope for the future; she compares Little Rock to Cincinnati and hopes her integration will be the first step in making her hometown more like the "paradise land" she encountered in Ohio.
Architecture (Motif)
Throughout the text, Melba comments on architectural spaces that symbolize success, oppression, comfort, and danger. Melba compares her school, the tiny Horace Mann, to the sprawling, manicured Central High, correctly interpreting the differences in the schools' architecture as evidence of Arkansas' racial inequality.
Melba describes her own family home in loving detail, outlining how the familiar spaces evoke feelings of comfort and belonging. Daisy Bates' house, a sizeable modernist structure, is aspirational and impressive. However, Melba remarks that the "large bay window in the living room" threatens Mrs. Bates's safety, as segregationists could shoot through it. This architectural detail symbolizes how, by challenging the status quo and demanding justice, Daisy Bates and the Little Rock Nine endanger themselves.
War (Motif)
Throughout the text, Melba compares enduring violence at Central High to being on a battlefield. She uses military terminology, like "assess damage" and "remain mobile," to describe her responses to attacks and harassment. Modeling her posture and demeanor on the calm members of the 101st Regiment, Melba rises like a warrior to combat the hatred shown to her.
