Warriors Don T Cry Quote Analysis

“You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing which you think you cannot do.” This quote by Eleanor Roosevelt says that to grow as a person, someone must first be scared. People also have to do what they think is impossible to grow. The Little Rock Nine, who integrated Central High, were scared for their lives every day of their high school experience at Central High. The ideas shown in this quote are expressed in the memoir Warriors Don’t Cry by Melba Patillo Beals. Melba Patillo Beals was a member of the Little Rock Nine. Beals highlights conflict and metaphor in her novel and displays examples of Eleanor Roosevelt’s beliefs in action.

In Warriors Don’t Cry, A

Every day at school, Melba is forced to “look fear in the face” and “do things which she cannot do.” One day after school, Melba runs into Andy, and “he is going to kill her” (172). This quote shows conflict because Andy plans to attack Melba. This conflict between Andy and Melba is man vs man. When Melba runs into Andy, she is looking fear in the face because Andy might kill her. She afterwards borrows Links car to get away. This is something she thinks she cannot do because he is white and Melba is black and she believes he is a segregationist. At school “she knew to expect some kind of harassment” (148). This shows that at school, conflict happened every day with other students. After months of harassment, “only the warrior exists inside Melba now” (170). This shows that every day she goes to school and is attacked or harassed, she becomes more courageous, strong, and confident. Melba grew into a warrior who can “get hit across the back with a tennis racquet” and say “Thank you very much” to her attacker (170). Melba Beals Patillo’s high school experience describes perfectly how Eleanor Roosevelt’s quote is