Jesmyn Ward

Jesmyn Ward is the author of the memoir “The Men We Reaped” and is, therefore, the protagonist of the book. She is a Black woman from Mississippi who grows up in a broken home. Her family struggles with poverty throughout her childhood. To escape the confusion and difficulty of her life as a young child, Ward turns to books and finds there worlds that make more sense than her own. Because Ward shows great promise as a child, her mother’s rich White employer pays for her tuition to attend private school beginning when she is in middle school. This opportunity allows Ward to break away from the cycle of poverty, violence, and drug abuse that plagues her community.

As a child and into her college years, Ward struggles with a poor self-image. She feels as though the world sees her as nothing more than a...