Settings and Their Symbolism

1. Settings and Their Symbolism By: Melanie Sanchez Sabrina Herrero Itzak Hinojosa Justin Dear

2. The Quarter • Tightly compacted together • “Everybody knows everybody” • Located on the plantation • “Weather-beaten” • Very poor-looking • Trees, sugar cane • Everybody is waiting for something to happen

3. The Schoolhouse • Basic structure • Wood burning stove, two chalk boards, 1-6 grades, pews • Grant’s idea of a birdcage • Cycle of ignorance and never becoming a success • Bursts into tears  the cycle is broken

4. The Schoolhouse “My classroom was the church… My students’ desks were the benches… This was my school.”

5. Mr. Pichot’s House • The Pichot Plantation House • Where Miss Emma (and Tante Lou) worked most of their lives • This is how she was able to get the favor of visiting privileges • Where Grant spent his childhood • He does not like to go there anymore (bad memories)

6. Mr. Pichot’s House • Reflection of white expectation of black people • Uneducated • Nothing but laborers • “Mr.” or “Miss” • Expected to wait, however long • a harsh tradition of treating black people as inferior • highly racist  violation of human dignity

7. Mr. Pichot’s House “As a child growing up on this plantation, I could not imagine this place, this house, existing without the two of them here.” “Am I supposed to go in there too? It was you who said you never wanted me to through that back door ever again.”

8. Bayonne • Nearest town to the quarter • City hall, jailhouse, radio store, The Rainbow Club, etc. • Where Vivian lives • A clear split down the middle between black and white businesses • Represents the conflict of segregation and racism • Ex. Trial system

9. Bayonne "Bayonne was a small town of about six thousand… There was a Catholic church uptown for whites; a Catholic church back of town for colored. There was a white movie theater uptown; a colored movie theater back of town. There were two elementary schools uptown, one catholic, one public, for whites; and the same back of town for colored.”

10. The Jail Cell • Where Jefferson is waiting to be executed • 6*10, grimly set up • Sink, bed, washbowl, etc.  bare • window and tree* • Always depressed • Symbolizes death and hopelessness • Radio  only portal to the outside world • Notebook/pencil  Jefferson’s change in attitude

11. The Jail Cell "The cell was roughly six by ten… at the end opposite the door was a barred window, which looked out onto a sycamore tree behind the courthouse. I could see the sunlight on the upper leaves. But the window was too high to catch sight of any other buildings or the ground."

12. The Dayroom • Visiting space for the inmates • Wide space, open windows, tables • Where Miss Emma and the others come to visit • This is where Jefferson begins to break through his cycle of depression • Still a sense of imprisonment, yet symbolizes optimism and redemption