"A Racist's Cry" Response

            Ansley is a young student who, on the first day of a new school year, finds herself in class with a domineering teacher, Mrs. Sherman. While disciplining an unruly student, Mrs. Sherman opens her students minds about the unacknowledged racism that can occur even within the classroom environment. 

One thing I enjoyed about the story was the immediate characterization of Mrs. Sherman via the dialogue opening. Readers immediately have a clear idea of her uncompromising need for discipline among her students and unconventional teaching style. There were occasional dashes of humor within this story that I also really enjoyed, like when the speaker describes her reluctance to speak based on her wish not “to be on Sherman’s shit list.” I wish this humor had been sustained throughout the rest of the story.

However, I felt some elements within this story were not clearly developed. I was unaware this story was in first person until the bottom of page two, which is the first point the “I” narrator entered the story. The reader has little idea of the narrator’s thoughts or feelings until near the end of the story, except through the narrator’s long section of dialogue in speaking to Mrs. Sherman. Given the tiny role of the narrator, it is difficult to grasp how she changes over the course of the story. Several key details are revealed about the narrator nearer the end of the story, like the fact that Mrs. Sherman is an infamous figure within the speaker’s family. This leads to questions in the reader the story leaves unanswered, such as: How does the speaker’s family know this teacher? Is it through an older sibling? This raises another question, one I found myself asking throughout the story: how old are these students, or what grade are they in? This scene would have far more resonance in a middle school classroom, than a high school one. In addition, the narrator has a seemingly overdramatic reaction to Jimmy’s description of his friend Justin and his girlfriend Ashlee. Jimmy’s description are a little rude, but definitely not deserving of him being condemned as a “horrible friend and boyfriend.” Lastly, the poem Mrs. Sherman read out loud didn’t seem provocative enough to cause such extreme reactions, like shock or embarrassment, among the listening students.