Blog Entry #2

"Foolish and maybe even dangerous. He wondered if that generation--Misner's and K.D.'s--would have to be sacrificed to get the next one" (94).

One of the characters, Steward, worried about what the younger generation had to offer to Ruby. He did not think they were trained like his generation. When he calls them 'foolish and dangerous' he's implying that the decisions that they make our foolish and dangerous, and could affect Ruby in a non positive way. When he says 'sacrificed to get the next one' he's wondering if they'll go through anything tragic that the next generation will overcome. He's in fear of what Ruby's younger generations will become.

"And his cold, rheumy eyes would have narrowed at the sight of the Oven. No longer the meeting place to report on what done or what needed; on illness, births, deaths, comings and goings. The Oven that had witnessed the baptized entering sanctified life was now reduced to watching the lazy young" (111).

The leader of the men who founded Ruby, and created the Oven, which was an Oven where the whole town cooked, had meetings, relaxed, laughed, celebrated life, and death. The Oven was the center of Ruby's universe. Now that that that generation was gone, and the younger generation was lazy and didn't like to work for anything, the leader would have been disapointed. He would have been disapointed in what was being created. He would have expected more from the descendents of Ruby. 'Cold, rheumy eyes' would create the visual of his thoughts without him saying a word. They would have the look of disapointment, which is why the author chose the word 'narrow,' instead of wide because the word narrow is implying that his eyes would be going into a squint of disapointment instead of trying to open them wide and see the accomplishment.


"And just as Big Papa foretold it, if they stayed together, worked, prayed, and defended together, they would never be like Downs, Lexington, Sapulpa, Gans where Colored were run out of town overnight..." (112).

Big Papa was the leader of the men who founded Ruby. Downs, Lexington, Sapulpa, Gans, were towns that were the complete opposite of Ruby. In Ruby, there were no white people, only dark African Americans. Big Papa wanted his people to stay together, and not ruin Ruby. He wanted Ruby to be different than other African American towns. Although all of the people were not related, 'staying together, working together, and praying together,' would bring them closer to one another like a family so that Ruby would be a loving town without jelousy and hate.

"Love is not a gift. It is a diploma. A diploma conferring certain privileges: the privilege of expressing love and the privilege of receiving it" (141).

One of the people in Ruby believed that Love was not as sacred as it is portrayed to be. He believed it was education related. He gives Love a bad conotation. A gift is something someone cherishes, keeps forever, appreciates, and is thankful for. In his eyes people were fools if they even considered Love a 'gift.' A diploma is something a student receives for completing all of the requirements for their goals of education. In this case, Love is a diploma. He portrays Love as if it is only received when a person has completed their share of hard work inorder to receive it.


"Consalata looked at them through the bronze or gray or blue of her various sunglasses and saw broken girls, frightened girls, weak and lying' (222).

Consalata is the oldest woman living in the Convent. The Convent is where broken women go to run and hide from the outside world. Although all of these girls had different personalities, they were all the same. They were broken because of what they each had experienced individually, they were weak because they could not live anywhere outside of the Convent. 'Broken' implies that their souls were damaged, but can be mended seeing as broken is not a permanent thing. 'Frightened' implies that they are more than scared, but being frightened is never a permanent thing either, it can be cured with trust and security, which is what all of these girls do not give or receive to others outside of the convent. 'Weak' is the opposite of strength, the cure is to repliminish the soul so that it can continue, and grow. These girls needed repliminishing and believed they could get it from the convent. They needed their souls to have strength so that they could leave and continue their lives in the world outside of the convent. 'Lying' is caused whenever someone feels they need ot protect themselves or others, and in this situaion these girls felt as if they needed to protect themselves by lying because trust was absent from their lives.