Warriors Don’t Cry: Chapter 14 Summary & Analysis

The first days of school in the new year are “frightening” because, without Minnijean, members of the Little Rock Nine think that any of them could be suspended next. Melba withdraws from French class due to an inability to concentrate and she worries about her ability to perform in her other classes. Minnijean is allowed to return to school on January 13, “with the proviso that she not respond to her attackers in any way.” Shortly thereafter, a boy throws what looks like a bucket of soup on her. He is suspended, but the others worry about “an all-out soup war.”

The segregationists become more vocal. Two hundred “hard-core segregationist students” protest the presence of the Little Rock Nine by being absent from school and attending a rally held by the Mothers’ League, speaking on “What Race Mixers Are Planning for Us.” The segregationists also organize an effort to phone the Little Rock Nine’s homes at all hours to harass them with bomb threats and hoaxes. On the day of another pep rally, Mrs. Huckaby suggests that the girls stay in her office. The students also have more meetings with Daisy Bates and the NAACP to discuss their problems.

Soon, Melba becomes depressed. When she starts to wish for death, Grandma India says that this would be just what the segregationists want. She gets Melba to find a project that she really likes to distract her from her troubles. She studies the Explorer, the satellite that put the U.S. in the space race. Grandma India reads about it, too, so that they can both talk about it for hours.

Mother Lois suggests that Melba extend Vince a standing invitation to come to Sunday supper. He agrees and comes by, even on days when she does not want him to. Each day, Grandma India and Melba pray for Minnijean’s strength. On Thursday, February 6, Minnijean is attacked again by the boy who dumped soup on her and a “ruckus” ensues. Her attackers accuse her of retaliation, including calling someone “white trash.” When she is sent home without a suspension notice, Melba is relieved. Then, Mrs. Huckaby gives Carlotta an envelope to take to Minnijean which contains an expulsion notice. Minnijean gives an interview with the Arkansas Democrat explaining the pressure she was under at Central and her isolation. Thurgood Marshall says in the article that he does not know how much more mistreatment the students can take.

One morning before school, a boy throws raw eggs on Melba. She returns home to clean up. Melba is embarrassed and Grandma India suggests introducing mind games—that is, smiling and being polite when she is abused to help defeat the segregationists’ purpose of making her an unhappy victim. Melba tries this immediately when two boys try to prevent her from pulling open a classroom door. She thanks them for helping her get exercise. They look at each other, puzzled by her response.

On Valentine’s Day, it snows and members of the Little Rock Nine are pelted with snowballs filled with rocks. Elizabeth Eckford’s father rushes out of his car to rescue them and he also gets hit. When Melba arrives home, Grandma India presents her with a Valentine’s Day card from Vince whom Melba thinks less about due to her preoccupation with integration.

Minnijean is officially expelled after a forty-minute hearing. NAACP officials arrange for her to attend a private New York high school called New Lincoln and to stay with the family of the renowned psychologist Kenneth Clark. Melba knows that she will miss Minnijean, but she is also a bit jealous of her ability to escape. On the other hand, the segregationists are wild with excitement for sending Minnijean north. A news article confirms that the National Guardsmen would stop all hall patrols but would remain in the building for “periodic checks.” Melba writes in her diary about the daily abuse that she suffers from emboldened segregationists, including being spat on and slapped by a girl, having a boy named Andy hold a wrench up to Melba’s face and make threats, and being hit with a tennis racket. Melba thinks that “only the warrior” exists in her now and “Melba went away to hide.”

By the beginning of March, Melba has sunk into a state of hopelessness. One day, while at school, she is jolted out of her melancholy by the voice of Andy, calling from a block away with a group of his friends. Another boy suddenly speaks to her. He has a head full of bushy blond curls and leans against a 1949 Chevy parked at the curb. He tells her that she needs to escape quickly. He devises a plan. He says that he will join in with the segregationists in taunting her and, when he does, he will put his keys on the trunk of his car for her to take, then to drive away. He says that his name is Link and that he will call her later. Melba does what he says. Though Andy claws at the locked door and runs alongside the car, she gets away.