White People and Black People Are Inherently the Same

When the novel opens, Ann Fay has had very little experience with Black people. This is because she lives in a segregated town during the 1940s. She slowly gains experience with a select few Black people, and as she does so, she starts to realize that people are not all the same but that Black people have had significant challenges that have helped them to grow.

Ann Fay’s first encounter with a Black family in the novel is at the train station. Just as the Honeycutts say goodbye to her own father, the Black family is saying goodbye to their father. The Black family is further down at the station because the men will not ride in the same compartments. Despite the fact that society separates them, Ann Fay realizes that at this moment, this family is...